Former Superintendent W. John Bohrensen Passed
John Bohrensen died Thursday morning after a short battle with Pancreatic Cancer. John was Woodland's superintendent from 1990-2000. He left an impact on Woodland, overseeing the district through significant growth, the expansion and remodel of the current WMS, CES, and the construction of NFES. He had friendships with staff and community members that lasted through his retirement. I considered him a friend. He will be missed.
Enrollment
Good news…. Enrollment is up to about 44 students above budget. A huge relief to our tight budget. Our hope is that we maintain the enrollment levels throughout the year.
School Safety and Security
Compass Consulting Group
One week ago Monday Vicky Barnes and I met with Keith Merritt. Keith is a principal with the Compass Consulting Group. The Longview-based company has a national reach and provides support to school districts to ensure that schools are safer and more secure. Compass’s work includes the evaluation of facilities, response plans, training, etc. In the next few weeks, Keith and one of his associates will begin working with our team to evaluate Woodland Public Schools through the lens of student safety. I anticipate that in the late winter/early spring (February or March) Keith will have completed his review and be prepared to present findings and recommendations to the board and administration.
Ongoing Campus Improvement
We continue to work to improve the safety of our campuses, particularly hardening the office areas to slow down any would-be intruders. Brian Wrigley has included some details in the facilities report. Additionally, we are installing additional protective fencing and moving fencing at CES to enclose the portable that we are using for the new fourth grade. This work is going very slowly because the subcontractors that we have asked to do the work are backed up and cannot get to us immediately.
Meeting with Cheif Kelly
I met with Woodland Police Chief, Jim Kelly today, his lieutenant, and one of the newest officers, "Bolo" (their new police dog). We discussed his perspectives on school security in Woodland Public Schools. With the preface that school facilities security is among the biggest challenges we face, his perspective is that the improvements we have made, and are making are significant and that, generally speaking, he believes security in our schools is very strong. I asked specifically about his opinion on locking entryways to our schools, Chief Kelly indicated that the way in which we have compartmentalized our offices is very effective and is of the opinion that any risk is more than outweighed by the benefits of keeping our facilities accessible and welcoming to our community. He stated that THE most impactful security measure we can have in place is ensuring our staff are aware and vigilant; immediately addressing any individual who does not belong and monitoring for anything that seems unusual internal or external to our schools. He suggested that if we were to consider any additional measures to harden our facilities it would be the installation of bollards to prevent vehicle entry to our schools. When we built WHS we installed bollards at both the front and back entry of the school building. He has agreed to work with our team as we engage with Compass to advise on safety, security, and response.