News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Recently the GCDSD upper brass forced a 4-day school week for the future. They act like this is new but this option has been going on for a long time nationally. The TV coverage the superintendent boasted about, that he was in, said the DOI Foundation’s research does not support this schedule. It actually leads to negative academic effects. Embarrassing! With the 4-day format there will be a significant number of school days lost. So now when students or staff are absent it will have a greater negative impact. Over 275, close to 94% of s...
Remember LR grad Cade Egbert. I see him from time to time and he always gives me a big smile. Cade was special as an athlete. He may not have been the most talented, but no matter what year you think of, he would be a starter for any of the Raiders past basketball teams. Cade was always exciting to watch and passionate about the game. He was ultra-competitive and fearless, but most importantly he was having fun. I’ve never seen a high school athlete attack the basket as hard as Cade. He would score, draw a charge or be shooting free throws. I...
In my last thoughts shared in The Star, I mentioned that I had hoped that the upper brass in the GCDSD would start to be accountable for the downward spiral of dysfunction created by their superintendent. I love our local school district and I’m proud that all of my kids were Raiders, but this organization is at the lowest point I’ve seen in forty years. We need genuine leadership where people are valued and heard, and progressive change is made on necessary prioritized challenges. Instead, we have a pattern of selfish, reactive management whe...
A while back a person told me I’m always fighting for the underdog. I liked Underdog as a kid but was more of a Popeye fan. I was hoping the GCDSD high brass would not feed me more spinach. However, more cans were opened with leaps of abstraction by the GCDSD Board. Blaming the failure of both levies on the pandemic and reminding us that elections have consequences is unbelievable. These disastrous results are due to their poor decision making over the last few years. This is a self-inflicted wound that they’re responsible for. Now they want to...
Previously I’d mentioned how much I appreciate The Star seeking input by polling our community about the upcoming school levies. People need to be heard and I’m proud of those who’ve studied the issue and logically responded. Maybe the only real avenue they have. It takes courage to go against the establishment, but I can tell you these folks are not against kids. They see a lack of balance and dysfunction over time. Most of us love our local school district but the elected officials and superintendent are out of touch in many ways. Looki...
In life it is very important to make progress from being fully aware of current reality and learning from the patterns involved. We should always strive to improve and find balance from our mistakes. This is not happening at the highest levels in our school district. There are excessive fiscal requests and repetitive unanimous decisions that are not logical to me. We need servant leadership, a diversity of viewpoints with equity in mind. People need to be valued and heard with genuine collaboration so progressive solutions can be found....
Cheers. This is a festive time of year and I want to cheer on a few who make our community wonderful. First, I want to thank our Raider Cheerleaders. Almost two dozen students turned out and they are rockin’ our athletic events. I would love to have a cup of coffee with the head coach who’s been at the helm for almost four decades. Our local athletic director was voted Athletic Director of the Year and deserves it based on the challenges of the last two years. We are lucky to have him as a leader of two systems and a coach in our school dis...
I want to thank the GCDSD Board of Directors for making sure their coaches are being fully compensated and that each sport is getting an assistant for various logical reasons. Thanks for stepping up and doing the right thing. I respect our volunteer local board members who try to find balance with issues and will always be questioned. As board members they nor us educators are health experts. They’re doing their best with the COVID-19 challenges. The recent approval for school staff to get vaccinated is tremendously helpful and addresses the “s...
When I see Kenny Hoke he always waves and makes my day. Every time this happens, I think about the state championship basketball team he was on back in the days when the rim and net were real baskets. Since Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam combined into the Grand Coulee Dam School District there has only been one Raider team that has won a state championship. That championship was in Track & Field. Raider Track & Field has won multiple team state trophies. It also has had more individual state champions and medalists over time than any other Raider...
My wife, who knows me well after 47 years, says I’m the most patient person she has ever met. When you combine this patience with the actions of putting others first and practicing sound human dynamics, learned from Gonzaga’s leadership program, you’ll see why I’ve finally been speaking up about our local school district. The GCDSD means so much to me, but these important qualities are not practiced at the top level of this organization. When someone talks about my opinion, they need to realize I’m speaking for me and a lot of people who have...
School finance is becoming more and more challenging. When we keep losing ground we cannot continue to make up the deficit by asking our community members to fill the funding gaps. For factual information look into all Washington state school ballot measures. Most districts are asking for $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property values. One in our region is asking for $2.50 per $1,000 but not continuing with their capital projects measure to balance the costs for their voters. If the GCDSD would have kept their levy total at $1.50 it would still...
Our small community has many exceptional people. I want to take a moment to highlight just a few that have earned my admiration over decades, years or recently. Their messages during this extremely challenging, chaotic time are wonderful and heartwarming. Roger Lucas – I’ve known Roger for decades. Like fine wine, he just gets better over time. I look forward to his articles because he knows that simple things in life are by far the most rewarding, and his sense of humor always makes me smile. Almost 70 years ago, sneaking away with his gir...
Whether you’re a local CEO of an organization, business owner and/or a community member, I’m thankful for many of you who’ve been appreciative of the thoughts I’ve shared about our local school district. I’m especially thankful that most of you know me and realize how much I care and how hard it was for me to finally say something. School district officials are ignoring current reality when they keep informing people that issues can be resolved by following the chain of command. This has not been working for quite a while. Also, blaming f...
As Superintendent of the Wellpinit School District, I am very fortunate that all of my staff have been at work in person. This has taken extensive collaborative preventive preparation and is due in a large part, to the support and actions of the Spokane Tribe. The Spokane Tribe arranged for COVID-19 Vaccinations for my staff. This tremendous gesture has given assurance and confidence to everyone involved and we are extremely thankful and grateful. If possible, I would appreciate it if the Colville Tribes would help the Nespelem and Grand...
Thanks, Donna DeWinkler, for the thoughts you shared in The Star Newspaper recently. Tolerance of a diversity of viewpoints is always healthy. Everyone needs to have a growth mindset and be open to learning from each other. We get better together when different perspectives are valued. Often times we listen to others but we don’t validate that they have been heard. It is time in our local school district, that we love, for a new progressive direction to be taken that has true collaboration from all stakeholders involved. Donna went old s...
Wow, it was great to hear from Ray Gilman in The Star newspaper last week. Ray served the Grand Coulee Dam School District as an administrator for decades. His loyalty and longevity were amazing. He is aware of what is going on with funding in our local school district, regionally and statewide. Our school district is in the “B” school classification. “B” schools are the smallest size-wise in Washington state. With our student population, we are grossly over-staffed with administrators. Ray is spot on about the district office, but there is ove...
During my college years I worked for the USDA Forest Service on fire crews and in the Red Zone at Mount St. Helens after the volcano erupted. These jobs were very time and labor intensive. I admire, appreciate and am extremely grateful for all of our firefighters during these unprecedented, challenging times. Your relentless, unwavering, courageous efforts to keep everyone safe are amazing. Many thanks, John M. Adkins...