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Camas to Present Aquatics Center, Sports Fields Plans June 18

Camas, WA — Camas City administrators, under the direction of Camas Mayor, Shannon Turk, are working long hours making preparations to present new Community Aquatics Center and Sports Fields plans to the public on June 18.

With the demolition of the Crown Park pool, and limited public use of the Lacamas Athletic Club pool, the city feels an urgency to go forward with plans that will be open for public discussion at an Open House on June 18 from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Lacamas Lake Lodge.

“Regarding the Community Aquatics Center, the highest priority is with a leisure and competitive pool,” said Camas City Administrator, Pete Capell in his report this week to City Council. “We are dealing with a tight timeline. A second phase would have a two-court gymnasium and community rooms. We had a preliminary application with public works and community development. They’re been adjusting the concept better so that they can eliminate major concerns or fatal flaws. From here, there will be a follow up meeting with the design team on June 14. There will also be a process to create renderings for the project. There will be an elevated view from Lake Road. Renderings are water colors and will create one with a complete build out.”

City leaders will ask people what programs they think are most important. They will also develop a website so people can see what’s happening.

Aquatics Center
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“On the 18th we will ask people what elements should be in this first phase,” said Capell.

This summer they will develop and refine designs for the aquatics center.

Expect to see an initial mailer in your mailbox any day now. A second mailer in early July will tell Camas citizens what they heard, and where they’re headed. There will be a July 15 council meeting to discuss public feedback, and where things are at. There will also be a booth at Camas Days.

In addition, a 54-acre site within Camas city limits is in negotiations to be purchased for a sports field complex.

“We haven’t acquired it yet,” said Capell. “It’s a prime site we’ve been trying to acquire and it’s going very well.”

City staffers are under tight deadlines as the general obligation bond (which would pay for a large portion of the centers) needs to be ready by August 9.

“What we end up putting on the ballot for the community aquatics center will be the input from the community and the final plan will be decided by council,” said Capell. “We will make it whatever size is most appropriate. Kathy (from Finance) has been working with bond council to determine the steps required to meet ballot requirements. She is helping us from the financial side.”

Turk is pleased with the progress.

“I’m super excited,” she said. “I look forward to seeing the website when it’s ready. The sports complex concept is great in that it broadens our ability to use sports fields. Everyone will get the benefit of these sports fields. Good things are happening.”

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Common Myths, Misconceptions About Discovery High School + PBL

Discovery High School Principal, Aaron Smith, addresses Common Themes and Myths:

Discovery High School does not have AP courses.

Myth buster alert! While Discovery may not offer as many AP courses as a large, comprehensive high school, we have selected a handful of AP courses which all students will experience. Our AP courses are less about covering a tremendous amount of content and more about themes and processes, thus being more accessible for all students. They are also much more adaptable for a project-based environment (like the real world). Beginning next year, all Discovery freshmen will take AP Human Geography as their social studies class, while our sophomores will have AP Seminar for their English class and AP World History for social studies. AP Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, and academic research skills. A perfect fit! In addition to having the option to take the AP exam at the end of the term for possible college credit, our AP for all approach will result in a 100% participation score for AP offerings at Discovery. Why is this important? A 100% participation score is more attractive to universities when compared to a lower participation score at a school with many AP courses. Bonus! 

It is not possible to take four years of math at Discovery. 

Wrong again! Our students will have the same math pathways and opportunities as our other high schools, including pre-calculus and calculus.  

Discovery High School does not have as many electives.

There is no getting around it. A smaller high school program cannot offer as many electives as a much larger school. However, we will continue to add options as we grow and have other flexible and personalized pathways. We will continue to offer Spanish as a world language and hope to add Mandarin as well. Additionally, we have courses such as coding, music production, guitar, and multimedia and film where students can spread their creative wings. We also offer design and engineering courses operating out of our world-class fabrication lab led by Bruce Whitefield, the highly successful Camas Mean Machine Robotics coach. Lastly, our commitment to passion projects gives students the opportunity to dive deep into an area of interest and to explore possible career paths. 

Discovery High School
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Discovery is not a high school for college-bound students.

This one is absolutely false. Ultimately, colleges and universities are seeking students with a high GPA, competitive SAT scores, and additional interests outside of their classwork. Discovery High School graduates will receive a transcript with a traditional GPA that looks like any other high school. In fact, Discovery students have more opportunities to improve their GPA based on our standards-based and growth-mindset approach. In other words, we believe students should have multiple opportunities and avenues to demonstrate their learning and growth, versus a more rigid approach focusing on homework completion and one-chance exams. Lastly, institutions of higher education are looking for students who can demonstrate skills beyond memorizing content. A portfolio of projects and an ability to articulate Discovery’s emphasis on developing their success skills of collaborating, communicating, creating, critical thinking, and time management will help our students stand out in a crowd of applicants. Just ask one of our model schools and mentors, High Tech High in San Diego. High Tech High is a well-rounded project-based school that has been around since 2000. They also have a 98% success rate when it comes to college admittance. 

Running Start

Due to the nature of our flexible schedule and focus on collaboration, the learning experiences at Discovery High School are not designed to support part-time students. However, students may attend Discovery High School until their junior or senior year and then transfer to CHS if they wish to go the Running Start direction. This would not impact their credits or path to graduation. Our Discovery juniors and seniors will focus on internship opportunities for learning beyond the classroom.

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Local Teacher’s Union Responds to Camas School District Layoffs

Shelley Houle, President of the Camas Education Association (CEA) answered several questions about the upcoming Camas School District (CSD) layoffs.

22 FTE positions are being eliminated. Have all 22 teachers been notified?

As Superintendent Jeff Snell said it looks like most of those layoffs will be taken care of through attrition. Nobody has been contacted about being laid off, which happens on May 15. Human Resources has those details.

How will these layoffs affect the classroom?

It’s still a loss of FTE so I do fear it will impact students when we have less teachers overall. Classroom size could be impacted, but it will still be below what our cap is. It’ll depend on enrollment.

Did the budget committee make enough non-teacher cuts?

I was only there for half of the budget committee meetings. What we discussed is there shouldn’t be cuts in just one place. There was a shared vision that this would be done equally. I had two other members from CEA that were there, Jenelee Hurz (Math TOSA) and Miranda Jarrell (teacher at Dorothy Fox). We weren’t there to represent any special school or class type, we were there to be part of it, to listen and learn and to advocate for our members, and to advocate against impacts that affect children. We weren’t there to save particular jobs, and we had a student-focused approach to it. We spent many hours in with the committee, and I feel like we were well represented.

I’m disappointed that we don’t know the impact to SB5313 (bill that increases school levy lid) yet. I would loved to have pushed the pause button and see the impact of that levy lid. The May 15 date affected our decisions. Maybe some cuts will be reversed when we get more money from the levy lid.

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What happens with the levy lid in 2020? Will that help CSD?

That’s where the SB5313 could increase the capacity to collect what is already approved. I think we’re all waiting to see what that means. I predict there’s the potential to collect $6 million more dollars, but we have to be careful about what we ask our constituents to do. CSD has some hard decisions to make. We hope we can the reverse the cuts to be able to increase FTE in areas where we feel some negative impact from loss of teachers.

CSD is waiting for direction from OSPI.

Is Camas above the prototypical model?

Yes, because we use levy money because we do more than the state funds.

Did CEA ask for too much in raises last year?

No, it’s what our teachers deserved — a professional wage. If we go all the way back to August, we assumed layoffs would happen. This is because we go above and beyond the prototypical model. We want all of our members to stay and earn the wage for the work that they do.

Editor’s Note: This is what CEA Lead Negotiator, Mark Gardner said on September 3, 2018 regarding layoffs: https://youtu.be/Lu4DGMN5rl He didn’t think there would be layoffs but was concerned CSD was above a sustainable teaching staffing level.

Houle continues: The state really pulled a big one by changing the funding model. It really created a challenge for everyone to figure out how to best make it work. We would have loved an increase in special ed funding. You’re not fully funding education if you don’t fully fund special education. Jeff and I had shared Legislative priorities — funding for safety positions like counselors and nurses.

It was interesting going up there. I think progress was made in several of the bills. Delinking 10th graders passing the state tests was a good thing. They didn’t make complete fixes, though. Some needed changes were made like SB5313 with the levy flexibility will help many districts.

The number of 22 layoffs was not surprising to me because we did need to stay close to prototypical.

We’re all in this together. I feel that PSE (classified staff), CAEOP, and CAP (Gary Moller) are all part of this. We have a shared vision in that we wanted our students to be minimally impacted by those decisions.

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Washougal’s Jemtegaard Middle School Wins 2019 Whole Child Award

Washougal, WA — Jemtegaard Middle School (JMS) is the recipient of the 2019 Whole Child Award chosen by the Washington State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The Whole Child Award acknowledges and honors a school that makes significant contributions to student learning by creating a school culture with programs that exemplify two or more of the five tenets of The Whole Child Initiative: Healthy, Safe, Engaged, Supported, and Challenged; as well as serve as models for all educators across the state.  

“Our staff can think of no bigger honor than to be recognized for striving to meet the many needs of our kids,” said JMS Principal, David Cooke. “It takes a lot of work, but the results are worth it.”

JMS received their award at a school assembly on Wednesday, May 8, as well as a check for $500, sponsored by SHAPE Washington. 

“Equity and meeting the needs of the Whole Child is what drives the work of administrators, teachers, staff and community members at JMS,” said Cooke.  “We continue to listen and learn from our students so that we can improve to give each one the best chance of success. We focus strongly on equity and supporting the Whole Child.”  

Sustainable support protocol

JMS has a sustainable Student Support Protocol to foster a positive working relationship with peers and teachers for students to feel safe and supported in the classroom. Their Student Support Flowchart works to eliminate disruptive and/or off task behavior that can be damaging to the relationship between the student and teacher.

“Our primary process goals are to keep students in the learning environment as long as possible, allow teachers to keep teaching, even following problem behavior, and provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their behavior and have a voice in the refocus process,” Cooke said.

JMS
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“The most effective way for students to learn is to be in the classroom with a quality teacher every day,” said Cooke. “With this new student support process, out of class time was reduced to five minutes for minor issues and up to 20 minutes for major issues for the majority of discipline referrals.”

As a result, this method is showing results with an 80 percent drop in disciplinary referrals this year, minimal suspensions and a high approval rating from staff. Many students with prior disciplinary referrals last school year are having minimal discipline concerns now. 

Restorative practices

Restorative practices also play an integral role in repairing relationships and restoring safety after bullying occurs.

“Traditionally, bullies were punished through exclusionary discipline,” said Cooke. “At JMS, we use restorative practices to bring all parties together so that the victim and family can explain how the bullying has impacted them and what they need from the student doing the bullying in order to feel safe.”

Their findings show that in 100 percent of bullying cases this year, with clear expectations and procedures for Restorative Circles used, none of the students violate the conditions after the meeting or continued bullying at JMS. Parents and guardians also appreciate the opportunity to meet each other and support all students.

“There are many people who support our mission including parents, community and educators across the district,” Cooke said. “As a team we have created a school that our students, staff and community can be proud of.”

Club 8 for students

An example of this teamwork is the Club 8 after-school program that helps keep students engaged in additional learning opportunities including arts, science, leadership activities, and more. The program is two years old and meets on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The name represents an 8th period of the school day for learning.

“The goal of this program is to address an equity issue related to lack of extracurricular opportunities for students on free and reduced lunch who don’t have access to transportation,” Cooke said.

Club 8 not only provides a bus ride home to remove the transportation barrier but provides all students an afternoon snack. The program regularly has around 90 students in attendance for a school just over 500 (not including 7th and 8th grade athletics with 40-70 students per season.) The list of Club 8 opportunities continues to grow along with community support.

Community service with students

Adding to the positive culture of JMS, the entire student body works on community service projects. Students pick the project that interests them the most which includes building bird houses for local parks, making animal toys for a local shelter, creating positive posters to hang on the hall walls, and helping run games at the elementary school recess and more. 

“I’m proud of the hard work the Jemtegaard school staff and community does to educate the whole child,” said WSD Superintendent, Dr. Mary Templeton. “They have embarked on a journey to shift the culture of the school, focusing on identifying ways students may fall through the cracks, and ways in which they can provide resources to keep students engaged in learning, encourage safe choices, and provide students with the problem solving skills to succeed in the classroom and beyond.” 

Founded in 1956, as Washington State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, now known as Washington State ASCD, is a community of all educators committed to promoting promising practices to ensure ALL students are safe, healthy, engaged, supported and challenged.

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Camas City Council To Revive Ward Meetings With Residents

CAMAS, WA — After several years, Camas City Council is bringing back ward meetings to encourage residents to share ideas, concerns, and questions with the elected officials who represent their geographic area.

“As community and regional growth continues, the City of Camas wants to make sure that all residents keep having a voice in the issues that affect them,” said Mayor Shannon Turk. “I believe the smaller setting of local ward meetings will have a big impact on making valuable connections across Camas.”

Residents are encouraged to locate their ward by visiting the Clark County Maps Online website, clicking the Search tab and entering their street address or tax ID number.Ward meetings will occur twice this year, once in the spring and once in the fall. The first set of upcoming ward meetings will be held in April and May 2019, as follows:

  • Ward 1 – Sat., April 27, 1-3 pm, with Council Members Deanna Rusch and Melissa Smith, at Camas City Hall Council Chambers, 616 NE 4th Ave.
  • Ward 2 – Sun., May 19, 12:30-2 pm, with Council Members Bonnie Carter and Steve Hogan, at Camas City Hall Council Chambers, 616 NE 4th Ave.
  • Ward 3 – Mon., April 29, 7-8:30 pm, with Council Members Ellen Burton and Greg Anderson, at Dorothy Fox Elementary Library, 2623 NW Sierra St.

The format of the spring ward meetings will be casual to allow residents to bring their own ideas, concerns and questions for discussion with their council members as well as the Council Member at Large Don Chaney and the mayor. The format of the fall meetings will be more structured, with a set topic that is specific to the ward. Council members from other wards will attend one another’s meetings to get a sense of key themes across the community; however, they will not take part in the discussion.

City Council
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“By trying out various formats, we hope to see what works best for the citizens and council/mayor to communicate on ideas and issues,” said Turk.

Starting in 2013, the annual September State of the Community event was launched to replace ward meetings, which ceased in 2011 due to decreased attendance. The event is held each September and features presentations by the mayor, Camas School District superintendent and other local leaders such as the Port of Camas-Washougal director. The event is expected to remain part of the City’s public outreach continuum.

The decision to reinstate ward meetings was inspired by the success of recent town hall meeting with state legislators.

About City of Camas

Located in eastern Clark County, City of Camas is home to approximately 23,000 residents. Camas boasts a vibrant historic downtown, approximately 60 miles of trails, numerous hi-tech manufacturing industries, and a state-leading educational system. From its origins over 100 years ago as a paper mill town, Camas continues to successfully blend a mix of cultures, values, and vision. For more information, visit www.cityofcamas.us

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Washington Timbers FC Selects Lifetime Promotions to Run Snack Bar

Lifetime Promotions, the region’s Dippin’ Dots distributor, is pleased to announce they’re managing the snack bar at Harmony Sports Complex as part of a multi-year agreement with the Washington Timbers Football Club.

“One of our goals is to raise $20,000 for the Washington Timbers,” said Dennis Beffehr, the owner/operator of Lifetime Promotions. “The snack bar will proudly serve Dippin’ Dots and a whole lot more. We’ve been working on the menu, and want to provide good service to all the athletes, and all their family and friends.”

Their big opening is this Saturday, April 20, and the snack bar will open at 7 am every Saturday and stay open until the last game — all throughout the summer season. And, they’ll proudly be serving Hidden River Roasters coffee, which is based in Camas.

“Dennis and the Timbers already have a nice partnership with his ice cream entity and his donations to the club, and we thought it would it great to continue that relationship long-term and give them a permanent location,” said Michelle Beard, Soccer Operations Manager for the Timbers. “The money they will raise will go toward our scholarship program to help those in need to play soccer. I would encourage families to check it out, and know that it’s part of the Washington Timbers program. There will be more options. Money spent there is a direct benefit to the club.”

Washington Timbers FC serves thousands of youth throughout Clark County with their numerous athletic programs and events. To learn more, visit www.WashingtonTimbers.com

Menu items:

Lifetime Promotions
Snack Bar Menu.
Concessions
Lifetime Promotions will be managing the concessions stand at Harmony Sports Complex.
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CSD Budget Committee: 9 Considerations to Balance $8.2 Million Deficit

As Camas School District (CSD) grapples with an $8.2 million budget deficit, the School Board listened to a budget committee update Monday night that outlined nine major considerations to resolve the challenging financial issues.

Mike True and Mary Tipton, who volunteer on Superintendent Jeff Snell’s special budget committee, explained in detail the methodologies used to analyze the thorny issues in front of them, as well as their commitment to finding the best possible solutions.

The special budget committee was formed to take a deep dive into how CSD spends its money, find ways to reduce expenses, and ultimately provide Snell with overall considerations on how to balance the budget, which was thrown into chaos following “McCleary” legislation, legislative fixes, loss of voter-approved levies, and collective bargaining agreements. Approximately 225 of the state’s 295 districts are dealing with similar budget deficits.

School board member Connie Hennessey said that although the process is painful, she also sees this as an opportunity to shine light on inefficiencies throughout CSD. Seventeen community members, from various and diverse backgrounds, are on the committee who meet regularly to find solutions. The urgency of their work is in part because the current bargaining agreement stipulates certificated staff must receive layoff notices by May 15.

“We’re dealing with extraordinary circumstances and I appreciate everyone on this committee,” said True. “This isn’t easy work, but we don’t want to bury our heads, this is our community, and we want you to know our desire is to preserve as many programs as possible — we don’t want to cut programs entirely as they will be hard to bring back.”

Scholarship
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He also emphasized this is a year-to-year approach, as CSD doesn’t know how future legislation could change the funding model.

True addressed the first four points, which are as follows:

1) Use of Fund Balance:
a. Using fund balance allows CSD to address the budget gap over two years.
b. Access fund balance in year 1 (2019-20) at a reasonable level, but could potentially lead to additional reductions in 2020-21.
c. The committee believes it’s important to maintain the fund balance at 5 percent of the annual operating budget. This allows for emergencies and 2-4 weeks of continued operations in the event the state doesn’t provide funding in a timely manner.
d. Future justified uses of fund balance may include preservation of programs, additional of staff to reduce overload, where justified and appropriate, and short-term opportunities where there is a known strategy to refund.
e. Future uses reducing unrestricted fund balance levels below 5 percent are not recommended for addition of programs, addition of staff, or compensation increases for existing positions.

2) Advocate for legislation that provides sustainable district funding.

3) Work towards preservation of CSD program opportunities for students during the funding model transition, which includes the following:
a. Avoid cutting entire programs.
b. Establish program evaluation metrics for future analysis of impact and efficiency.
c. Pursue opportunities to enhance program support funding from PTA/CEF/Boosters and other supporting organizations and initiatives.

4) Preserve student access to counselors.

Budget Deficit
School board members listen to budget committee members Monday night.

Tipton addresses points five to nine, which are as follows:
5) Close staffing alignment to the state prototypical school funding model while preserving the goals of CSD. Reduce teacher on special assignment staff to a minimum level that keeps support for target district initiatives.
a. Protect class size — contractual class size target
Elementary: 24
Middle School: 30
High School: 31
b. Manage staffing to avoid increased overload, as defined in collective bargaining agreement.

6) Maintain appropriate security levels and protocols.

7) Reduce non-staff expenses: 7.5 percent reduction goal.

8) When pursuing capital projects, continue to consider the impact on operating expenditures.

9) As future funding becomes available, consider the following:
a. Prioritize service levels to our students, community and staff.
b. Prioritize program and extracurricular funding for students.
c. Growth of fund balance to appropriate levels.

“This is our report about our guidance to Jeff, who will be finalizing his recommendations to the board in the next few weeks,” said Tipton. “We’ve had a board member at every budget committee meeting, for which we are grateful.”

True said the committee members all come from different places and levels of understanding.

“I’ll go on the record and say that Mary and I have made a three-year commitment to be a part of this,” said True. “As processes move on, we’ll continue to look at fund balance and uses within that fund balance. It’s not an enjoyable process. There will be reductions.”

School Board member, Corey McEnry, said: “We’re thankful for so many stakeholders as we wrap our heads around this.”

Budget committee members present in the meeting acknowledged the challenges they face with making the considerations. “It’s really hard to understand,” said one member.

The School Board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 12-03, which is a Modified Educational Program that authorizes Snell to move forward with a budget model.

Snell said he will continue to work with legislators advocating for better funding, and that CDS staff will work through the budget committee’s considerations to draft staffing models for the upcoming school year.

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Help Beautify Downtown Camas At The Annual Spring Clean-Up & Planting Day

Camas, WA, —On Sunday, April 28th from 1-4pm, Downtown Camas will have a “spring cleaning” with weeding, litter pick up and flower planting. The Downtown Camas Association (DCA) invites community members to come share in this annual grass roots effort. Journey Community Church in downtown invites the volunteers to come early at 12:30pm for a grilled burger and hot dog lunch served by Journey volunteers.

In honor of Earth Day, which was started by Camas native Denis Hayes, the Downtown Camas Association, volunteers, local students, Journey Church, City of Camas staff, and other community members will be helping with:

•  Sidewalk and landscape bed clean-up

•  Weeding

•  Planting flowers and plants

•  Bark dust spreading

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Volunteers meet in front of Journey at 4th & Birch (304 NE 4th) to sign in. Journey will be serving lunch to volunteers starting at 12:30pm. All ages welcome to volunteer. Bring your own shovels, spades, buckets, wheelbarrows and garden gloves. Wheelbarrows are especially needed. Garbage bags and rubber gloves are provided for litter pick up. 

“We love to see the transformation of our town within just a few hours,” says Carrie Schulstad, DCA Executive Director. “Everyone comes together in a grass roots way, has fun and gets to see what a difference they make in the aesthetic and charm of our downtown. All ages can participate. Thank you to the City of Camas for all your help, to Journey Church for providing lunch and to all the wonderful volunteers that come rain or shine to beautify the town we love.”

The downtown improvements are done just in time to make downtown shine for the Annual Camas Plant & Garden Fair in Downtown Camas on Saturday, May 11th.

  • Planting Day
    Planting along 4th Avenue.
  • Planting Day
    A completed project.
  • Planting Day
    Craig Schulstad planting shrubs.
  • Planting Day
    Two girls volunteering to help out.
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Camas City Council Eyes New Aquatic Center Site; To Seek Public Input, Vote

At the Camas City Council workshop meeting Monday night, the council unanimously gave direction to city staff to prepare a general obligation bond this November to fund the construction of a new aquatics center.

The news is a major breakthrough in the years-long battle to build a new aquatics center to accommodate the growing demands of all competitive and recreational swimmers, as well as address learn-to-swim and health-related programs.

“We gave staff direction to look at the Buhman property, which is adjacent to Fallen Leaf Lake, across from Heritage Park,” said Camas Mayor, Shannon Turk. “The land, which is just over six acres, is already owned by the City of Camas, and Camas residents have made it very clear they want a new pool. I feel this is a positive step forward.”

Monday’s motion gives staff direction to prepare a general obligation bond that will be presented to voters on the November ballot. The general obligation bond would fund the construction of the new aquatics center.

“Council will look at other sites in Camas, as well, and to look at getting a general obligation bond, which is putting a vote to the people on whether they would be willing to pay for a new pool,” said Turk.

Aquatics Center
Archived plans for a pool site near Fall Leaf Lake.

Over the past several months, Camas has been meeting with Washougal to build a community center that has a pool, and Turk said it was time to change the direction.

“Although we’re not saying no to a partnership with Washougal, we feel it’s in our best interest to go forward without them,” said Turk. “The meetings with Washougal weren’t moving this forward.”

City Council member, Melissa Smith, agreed.

“The bond amount hasn’t been determined, and this directs staff to look at property and put in a phased approach,” said Smith. “Timing is in November, and we would have to know the bond amount by August 6.”

Smith added there is potential to buy surrounding parcels, but that’s very preliminary.

“We could accommodate the needs for a 50,000 square foot pool facility,” said Smith. “If we went further and wanted to add more, there would be potential for that.”

Turk said this general obligation bond would be offset by the retiring of the Camas Public Library general obligation bond, which happens in 2019. “This bond would be offsetting,” she said.

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Smith said the city staff will also exhaust every possible site, and that preparing this for the November ballot is a super tight timeframe, but doable.

“We have to take advantage of the momentum,” said City Council member, Don Chaney. “Shannon embraces this. We have a chance to do it. If the people say no, they say no. The challenge will be to make the timeline. The community will see that we heard them.”

The city has made numerous failed attempts to build a new aquatics center over the years, but Turk is determined.

“We’re not going to fail anymore,” said Turk.

Chaney said this location is optimum.

“People talk about location,” said Chaney. “I have a different view, it has to be a destination. It’s like Crown Park, and a competitive pool will bring money to downtown. This plan has full council support. We are re-engineering the intersection there, and that will be a big improvement. It was a great meeting today. Everyone should be happy with that meeting.”

Aquatics Center
A pool concept used in Camas pool planning.

Camas has been feeling the effects of losing access to aquatic centers over the past two years. First, the Crown Park Pool was closed, and then Camas High School swim teams were no longer allowed to use the Lacamas Athletic Club’s pool.

“It’s been a real challenge,” said Dave Peddie, a part of the 2018 State Champion Camas High School Boys Swim team. “Losing our home pool hurt us.”

Local residents have also been dismayed at losing the Crown Park Pool, feeling like their children are missing out on great summertime experiences, as well as the loss of valuable swimming lessons.

“This is great news,” said Darlene Lumbard, Head Coach of Columbia River Swim Team. “This is a chance to build a pool for everyone. We can all come together with a good design to reach all the things our community needs. A center encompasses all kinds of things with a competitive pool. Building the right aquatics center will have everything from competitive to therapeutic. It should have all the necessary programming.

“A well-run aquatics center has a private team, a high school team, recreation, learn to swim, scuba, kayak training, water therapy, silver sneakers. I would prefer a deep end because you can do so much more with a deep end. You can do synchro, diving, and water polo. This is a great opportunity to build the right pool. There’s no diving in the community, and there are a lot of gymnasts here. The deep end should go into a five foot, and then maybe with an L to it, where you have your learn-to-swim pool. You can put in your therapeutic work there, as well. This is so exciting!”

The next article will look at aquatics center design options and what they can do for a community.

Gallery: Examples of Aquatics Centers

Aquatics Center
Aquatics Center
Aquatics Center
Aquatics Center
Aquatic Center
Aquatics Center
Aquatics Center
Aquatics Center
Pool
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Pool
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Washougal SD Superintendent Templeton a 2018-19 ‘Superintendent to Watch’

Washougal, WA — Dr. Mary Templeton, Washougal School District (WSD) Superintendent, was recently selected a 2018-19 “Superintendent to Watch” by the National Schools Public Relations Association.  She will be recognized this summer at the 2019 NSPRA Seminar in Washington D.C. with the 14 other honorees from around the nation.

The award recognizes district leaders with less than five years of experience as a superintendent who exemplify dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.  Templeton was hired in Washougal in July of 2018 and is a first-time superintendent. She previously worked as a teacher for 15 years and an administrator in Spokane for the last 11.

“Communication is critical for letting our stakeholders know about the great things that are happening in our schools,” said Templeton. “It is exciting to help Washougal rise to become one of the top performers in the state of Washington.”

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the transformational leadership, community engagement, and relationship building Mary is engaged in,” said Cory Chase, WSD Board President, in a letter of recommendation sent in support of Templeton’s nomination.  “She has demonstrated dynamic leadership, fast-paced decision making, and shown the value of strong communications in the district’s efforts. I’m proud of our district and am certain that Mary is on the right track to help us achieve great things.”

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In his letter he went on to site examples of Templeton’s efforts including her connections with civic groups, parents and staff, her work to lead development of a new strategic plan, and her communications efforts during and at the conclusion of bargaining with the local teacher union.

“As one of several new superintendents in the region this year, Mary quickly became a highly respected leader among her peers,” said Tim Merlino, Superintendent Educational Service District 112 in his letter of
recommendation. “Her knowledge and passion for education, coupled with a dynamic energy and warmth, has made her one of the ‘go-to’ superintendents in Southwest Washington.”

He went on to point out that Templeton’s style of “leading through listening” is a quality greatly admired by the more than 400 WSD employees she guides.

“Mary effectively utilizes all communication strategies, both new technologies and traditional vehicles, to reach her audiences,” he said. “While her involvement in big-picture state-level education issues is admirable, she also takes time to visit one-on-one with a variety of stakeholders. She has made it her number one priority to get to know staff, parents and community members through conversations and in informal settings. She is always present in schools, hallways, classrooms, and athletic and performing arts events.”

“Our future is bright in Washougal,” said Templeton.  “And with a continued focus on communication, we will make sure the community is involved with us as we exceed our own expectations and aspire toward excellence.”

  • Templeton
    Mary Templeton with elementary school kids.
  • Templeton
    Mary Templeton.
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