Chris Cook – Forks Forum photo
Steel beams and trusses are being erected by Primo Construction workers at the site of the Forks High School addition project on Spartan Ave.
Unlike Port Townsend and other Olympic Peninsula school districts school enrollment is stable within the Quillayute Valley School District (QVSD).
QVSD Superintendent Diana Reaume said Tuesday evening at the QVSD board’s bi-monthly held Tuesday evening, April 26. that enrollment in the “brick and mortar” QVSD schools are are holding steady.
There are expectations that a large class of kindergarten students will enroll later this month, she said, enough students reportedly to fill four Forks Elementary School classrooms in the fall.
However, the number of full time students enrolled in the online Insight School of Washington has dipped a bit under budget this school year, Reaume said. The online school is comes under the jurisdiction of the QVSD, though almost all the students reside outside of Forks in school districts spread across the state.
Attempts in the Legislature to cut back funding for some of the online students is facing a strong lobbying effort in opposition, Reaume told the school board. The for-profit online schools might file a lawsuit if such legislation is enacted, she said, based on the state’s constitutional mandate to provide basic education to all students.
Long-time Forks High School teacher Val Giles and Forks Middle School teacher Lesley Stewart are among the teachers being feted at a retirement party being held at 4 p.m. at the Forks Elementary School Library.
OAC Services Project Manager Kasey Wyatt updated the school board on construction progress on the new Forks High School addition. She said Carlsborg-based Primo Construction is erecting trusses and steel framing for several of the buildings being constructed. Concrete foundation work has tested out fine, she said, and the project is keeping within budget. Wyatt said she will provide a report on how close the construction company is to keeping on schedule. She said work was slowed some over the winter due to the heavier than expected rainfall and other factors.
The school board is scheduling a walk-through with Wyatt of the project set to coincide with a board meeting in May.
