TONASKET – The Tonasket School Board approved a Tonasket High School Class of 2011 senior field trip to Silverwood during the board meeting on Monday, April 25.

The board heard a presentation from senior class officers Haley Grillo, Flor Maldonado and Brenda Ramos regarding the trip, which is scheduled for June 1. The group said the tickets to Silverwood would be $17 each while chaperones and bus drivers would get in free. They’re planning for 60 students from the total of 79 seniors to go on the trip, however since they’ll be taking two buses, if all seniors choose to go, there will be room for them as well as the appropriate number of chaperones.

To attend the field trip, the girls said seniors would be required to be passing all of their classes, to have a 90 percent attendance record for the year and to have no unexcused absences in the three weeks before the trip.

“If there is a lot of skipping before the trip, it will be canceled,” Maldonado said.

“We’re trying to turn our senior trip into a reward for good behavior,” Grillo added.

The girls said the group would leave Tonasket at 5 a.m. to get to Silverwood by 10 a.m., when the park opens. The group would be home by roughly 11 p.m. that night. The girls stated they already have a list of both parents and teachers who are interested in being chaperones on this trip.

“We haven’t had a class trip since eighth grade and this is a final goodbye for us,” Ramos said and Grillo added that hopefully this will start a tradition for the school.

“A lot of kids in our class already want to go on this trip and they’re already willing to keep their grades up, not skip class and stay out of trouble,” Maldonado said.

“We already have kids trying to give us money,” Grillo told the board.

Before making the motion to approve the trip, Board Member Lloyd Caton said he doesn’t have a problem with rewarding a good senior class in this manner and that he feels the class is setting a wonderful example for underclassmen. Board Member Catherine Stangland seconded the motion and the trip was approved.

Tonasket High School Vice-Principal and Athletic Director Kevin Terris than gave the board a presentation about the school district’s Title IX assurances. He said the school district is in compliance with offering an equity education that encourages both sexes to pursue their goals and interests regardless of what gender they are and by offering co-ed courses and materials that are screened for sexual bias and prejudice before being taught. The district is also in compliance with equity in athletic programs and Terris said he has yet to have any coach tell him they feel their athletes are not receiving the equipment, supplies or access to facilities they deserve based on the gender of the athletes.

As far as substantial proportionality, the district is in compliance with the first section in which the percent of girls playing sports is within five percent of the percentage of the school population that is female. The district does not have a plan to try to bring proportionality up, which Terris said most districts don’t, and the district also does not actively follow through with athletic interests, although Terris stated that for the district to meet compliance in this standard, they would have to offer any sport any athlete showed interest in, even sports like polo and horse riding, and the district clearly can not afford to do that.

He stated that the district can improve on the balance of male to female coaches.

The board then approved the first readings of Policy 4315 Regulation of Dangerous Weapons and Policy and Procedure 2410 Graduation Requirements. They also approved raised the traffic safety fees to $393 per student, though they did not want to raise the fee.

Finally, the school board officially approved the hiring of Jay Tyus as Tonasket Middle School principal as well as Mike Larson as the new girls’ varsity basketball coach.