Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
During a Yelm Community Schools (YCS) Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Jan. 22, it was announced that the district has received a grant worth $743,000 for indoor air quality at Yelm High School.
According to David Fox, YCS maintenance and grounds supervisor, the district has received the $743,000 grant for indoor air quality through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
“This is for a project at Yelm High School in building 400 — the stadium building,” Fox said. “There are 10 classrooms down there that will be getting new gas HVAC units and getting updated with air conditioning. That’s huge for us to get. We get the work orders that come in — 79 degrees in the classroom when it’s warm outside. We’re really excited for this project.”
Fox added that the interagency agreement allows YCS to partner with the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. He believes that the school district can benefit from the partnership.
“This is a big deal that, number one, we got the grant, and number two, for anybody that’s been in those classrooms will tell you whether it’s hot out or cold. It is much needed,” Chris Woods, YCS superintendent, said. “They’ll get started this summer. That will make a huge difference.”
Additionally, Woods highlighted the potential YCS calendar for the 2026-27 school year. As it currently stands, next school year is currently scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, June 16.
“The challenge with the beginning spot is it only gives us one day cushion, and then Friday is Juneteenth — which is a holiday,” Woods said. “If we go beyond one snow day, we’re going into the next week (with school). It’s something to think about.”
The superintendent said he was asked by one of the district’s labor groups if it would be possible to start school the week before Labor Day in order to start earlier and avoid the extension of the school year due to snow days and Juneteenth.
“It’s certainly possible, but we do have some collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in a couple of our CBAs that we would have to come up with in an MOU in order to make that happen,” Woods said. “But that was a question that came up and something we’re talking about.”
The calendar for the 2026-27 school year will be brought before the school board for approval in February.
“I remember hearing a few years ago that the reason we have our present start date was because if you started school a week before that, because of the holiday weekend, we probably weren’t going to get many kids to show up,” board member Bill Hauss said.
Woods responded with, “I think many of us would also argue that even after Labor Day, there are kids that aren’t there. I think, no matter what, whether you start it the week before Labor Day or right after Labor Day, families tend to use that as their last vacation before school starts and we see a difference in attendance the following week for sure.”
Finally, Woods provided a bargaining group update, and noted he and Dee Dee Buckingham recently met with the PSE labor management group and had a very productive meeting. He noted they were able to work through and have good discussions on “many different topics.”
“Also, this week, we had our meeting with YEA and that was productive as well,” Woods said. “Really, we had some conversations about ‘how do we move forward and build trust?’ In our meeting in February, part of our meeting will be dedicated to talking about what can we commit to, from the district standpoint, and what can they commit to in order to help us improve those conversations and moving forward. One thing that we know is even when we disagree, we have to continue meeting and continue having conversation.”
