Each year state law calls for each school district to go through two audits; an accountability report and a financial audit report. The audit took place between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011 and, just like the previous nine, found no blemishes on Issaquah’s record.

The accountability report examines how well the District complies with its own policies and state and federal laws such as the Open Public Meetings Act, bidding compliance, and enrollment reporting. Its results were released March 30 and concluded that the district’s “internal controls were adequate to safeguard public assets.” The Financial Audit Report, which measures the District’s financial statements and processes using Government Auditing Standards, was also issued March 30. In it, there were no findings of noncompliance or other serious problems.

To mark the 10-year milestone for the district, State Auditor Brian Sonntag wrote the school board a congratulatory letter.

“This accomplishment reflects the dedication of the district board and the district staff to strong oversight of operations, good internal controls, and accurate financial reporting,” Sonntag wrote.

During discussions about the city’s long term parks plans at the council’s May 14 meeting, Deputy Mayor John James proposed that the city plan to partner with the Issaquah School District on sports field improvements at Pine Lake Middle School, similar to the current fields at Skyline and Eastlake high schools.

The middle school is due to get new turf fields as part of the $219 capital improvement bond approved by Issaquah School District voters in April. James suggested the city set aside money for adding lights to the field in the coming years.

The city, which struggles to keep pace with demand from adult and youth sports teams during busy parts of the year, has funded improvements at Skyline and Eastlake in years past and has use of the field after school hours. City Manager Ben Yazici said it would be premature to earmark money for such a project when the city has yet to gauge whether the school district would be interested in partnering on the fields in the first place.

Councilwoman Nancy Whitten noted that the city and the school district have not always seen eye to eye on the Skyline field in recent years. In 2010, the district asked for an extra hour of playtime for the students, and suggested the city leave the lights on an hour later, until 10 p.m. During negotiations, district officials threatened to rescind the interlocal agreement for the fields. The idea drew the ire of several neighbors who had negotiated a 9 p.m. end time for the use of the fields several years prior.

The district and city eventually compromised, giving the district an extra half-hour of field time before the city takes over.

“It’s something that we’ll want to explore, but I don’t think we want to go gung-ho,” she said. “We had a bad experience with (Issaquah School District) on the Skyline field.”

Yazici said staff would be reaching out to the district about the idea in the coming months.

The Issaquah School District is wasting no time when it comes to putting the $219 million bond dollars into action.

The school board reviewed a preliminary schedule of projects and timeline for school construction and other district upgrades at its May 9 meeting. Some projects could begin as soon as July and others extend through the end of 2019.

“Somebody has to be first, and somebody has to be last,” said Jacob Kuper, chief operations officer for the district.

Phase 2 construction of Liberty High School and Phase 2 at Maywood Middle School are first in line with finishes projected by the end of 2013. At the caboose of the tentative timeline is the reconstruction of Sunny Hills Elementary School, which wouldn’t finish until December 2018.

Construction to improve Skyline High School’s stadium would begin April 2013 and run through September 2014. As a result, Skyline’s football team is likely to play away games for the entire 2013 season. Issaquah High School will have the same problem a few years later when its stadium remodel takes place from April 2016 to August 2017.

This summer, the district hopes to install artificial turf on the athletic fields at Beaver Lake and Maywood middle schools. It would then install turf fields at Pine Lake and Pacific Cascade middle schools the following summer.

“We didn’t want to take all the fields out over the course of the summer because it would be a huge impact on the community,” said Steve Crawford, director of capital projects for the district.

The tentative schedule only listed major projects, with repairs and other smaller projects bundled together to be done over the next seven years and possibly beyond.

“This is a draft schedule, subject to change,” said Kuper. “When you are talking about 80 percent of a decade, there are going to be changes.”

He and Crawford explained that there are a number of factors that influence the timeline, like permitting with different jurisdictions and whether or not construction is located in rural or urban areas.

A different contracting method

Crawford and Kuper also suggested using an alternative contracting method for the more complex project of relocating Issaquah Middle School, Clark Elementary School and Tiger Mountain High School. The method, General Contractor Construction Management, would replace the traditional bidding process.

Instead, the district would bring in a general contractor early on in the design phase to be a part of the multi-phase project throughout. By doing so, Crawford said the district would get the contractor’s expertise on things like materials and efficiencies. He said the district would negotiate costs with the contractor.

“I think there is the potential to save some money…we will know earlier in the process where the big costs are,” said Crawford.

Another area where it could save money, he said, is by potentially reducing delays. The threat of delays would be stronger, he explained, if three separate contractor bids are accepted for three different phases.

In this case, one general contractor would be responsible for the whole project. Ideally, each phase, including the relocation of three different student bodies, would be better synchronized if one firm is managing the entire process.

“The advantage is to shorten the timeline,” said Crawford.

The district’s preliminary timeline includes two possible schedules for the Issaquah, Clark and Tiger Mountain project. The first, using the traditional bidding method, estimates that the project would begin this month with its design and permitting phase and continue through the beginning of 2017. The target move-in date for students would be August 2016.

The second schedule, using one general contractor, would also start this month with early designs and permitting. Construction would finish at the beginning of 2016 with students set to be in their new facilities by August 2015.

District officials have not made a final decision yet and Kuper said that at this point and time, both avenues – going the traditional bidding route or using its alternative – are still open.

While Washington school districts are allowed to pursue the latter option, this would be the first time that the Issaquah School District does so. (see sidebar)

First, however, the district must get approval from the state. Washington’s Capital Projects Advisory Review Board is expected to review the district’s projects’ proposals later this month or in June.

No-bid contracts would still be

competitive

Should Issaquah School District officials decide to use the general contractor construction method, they must still abide by state requirements for how the general contractor is picked. Under state law, the contractor must be hired through a competitive process that involves the district publicly posting that it is looking for proposals.

The call for proposals has to include details such as a description of the project, reasons for using this method in the first place and a description of how proposals will be scored. The state also has guidelines for how the proposals are evaluated, including requiring a committee to do the evaluating. The applicants would be judged on their reputation, workload and the amount of work their firm could do itself. Finalists would need to submit a more detailed proposal, which would include an estimated maximum cost.

To make the final choice, those proposals would then have to be opened and read publicly. The public would also then get the chance to see how the finalists were scored.

Learn more about guidelines for capital projects at www.ga.wa.gov/cparb/.

Lillian Tucker: 392-6434, ext. 242, or ltucker@sammamishreview.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

Issaquah School District and Eastside Catholic High School officials sought to reassure parents and students May 11 after federal agents arrested a substitute bus driver for the Issaquah district and a former Eastside Catholic teacher for possession of child pornography.

Andrew Bernard Rekdahl, 29, faces child pornography charges after federal prosecutors said the Carnation resident shared explicit images and videos of boys online from his home computer.

Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Rekdahl at a school district facility May 10 after a monthslong sting operation.

Federal prosecutors charged him with one count each of possession and distribution of child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

Rekdahl served as a substitute bus driver for more than a dozen routes throughout the school district between Nov. 14 and May 10. From 2005 to June 2010 he was a science teacher at Eastside Catholic.

Officials at the school district and the parochial school said no complaints occurred against Rekdahl.

“This is obviously a very serious charge, and our first priority is making sure that he acted as a professional at all times while driving for us,” Issaquah School District Superintendent Steve Rasmussen said in a message to parents.

Rekdahl served as a substitute teacher at Eastside Catholic once after he lost his job due to budget cuts.

“Eastside Catholic is not presently, nor has it ever been, aware of any concerns regarding Mr. Rekdahl’s conduct during his association with our school,” Sister Mary Tracy, Eastside Catholic president, said in a message to parents.

Rekdahl was a well-liked teacher at Eastside Catholic. In 2010, students and parents raised more than $17,000 to support him as he underwent treatment for cancer.

In a customary procedure for bus drivers, school district officials cleared Rekdahl through mandatory state and federal background checks before he started driving in November. Both background checks accurately indicated a clean record.

Federal agents told school district officials no evidence exists to indicate any inappropriate or illegal activities occurred as Rekdahl worked for the district.

Following the arrest, school district administrators immediately stopped employing him.

The district is also investigating footage of him driving on bus routes. Officials confirmed he never activated or used his employee email account.

In May 2011, a federal agent created an undercover account on a peer-to-peer file-sharing website to target users sharing child pornography.

In January, the agent noticed a user named Hboyandy sharing explicit videos through the file-sharing website. Then, using a publicly available software program, the agent identified the IP address of Rekdahl’s computer.

The next day, the agent requested information from Comcast for the subscriber information attached to the IP address.

In April, Hboyandy again made explicit images and videos available for sharing through the file-sharing website.

The agent then obtained Rekdahl’s driver’s license photo from the state Department of Licensing and matched the photo against Rekdahl’s Facebook page.

In early May, the agent conducted surveillance on Rekdahl’s residence in Carnation and checked to see if somebody else shared the files through an unsecured Wi-Fi network attached to Rekdahl’s IP address. The only unsecured account near the home came from the nearby Carnation Library.

On May 9, the agent obtained a search warrant, and the next day, federal agents and Duvall-Carnation police officers searched the home and located multiple digital media storage devices. Rekdahl was not at home during the search, and agents entered the residence through the unlocked front door.

Investigators searched a laptop computer at the scene and discovered 194 files of child pornography.

Following the search, agents interviewed Rekdahl at a school district facility in Issaquah. During questioning, he admitted to sharing child pornography online. Agents arrested him at about 10:30 a.m.

The next day, as the school district and Eastside Catholic faced questions about the arrest, administrators used the Internet to share information and address parents’ concerns.

“We also believe it important to highlight on this sad occasion that Eastside Catholic maintains strong policies to address any inappropriate conduct by our staff,” Tracy said. “This is consistent with our unwavering commitment to the safety of our students and community as well as long-standing resolve to fulfill our Catholic educational mission.”

The school district posted a list of Rekdahl’s bus routes. The substitute bus driver covered routes throughout the district, serving elementary, middle and high schools.

The district stretches from Preston to Newcastle, and from Sammamish to Renton, and includes 107 school bus routes.

The district employs 24 substitute bus drivers, but only 10 are available on every day at all times of day. The others are available sporadically throughout the month. District officials did not specify Rekdahl’s availability, citing personnel privacy policies.

What to know

Issaquah School District administrators asked parents with concerns about substitute bus driver Andrew Bernard Rekdahl to email DriverConcerns@issaquah.wednet.edu. The district also posted a list of affected bus routes at www.issaquah.wednet.edu/documents/transportation/routes.pdf.

Reach reporter Warren Kagarise at 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com.

Among them was Sammamish’s own Margaret Mead Elementary School.

King County’s Executive Dow Constantine recognized the environmental stewards at the Earth Heroes awards ceremony April 26.

Mead was one of the four schools honored that day. The elementary school used to be the third lowest in the Lake Washington School District in terms of recycling.

Since finding this out, teachers at Mead, like Ellen Drummond and Dawn Pollock, have been working to turn the school around. They have established recycling stations, created posters, made a video and scheduled daily monitors to oversee the recycling program. All their efforts resulted in Mead reducing its garbage pick-up from twice a week to once a week.

Drummond and Pollock were among the award recipients at the April 26 event. The Issaquah School District was also honored that day for being an Earth Hero.

Issaquah earned recognition as a King County Level One “Green School District,” and several individual “Earth Hero” awards.

The district received the Level One rating because of its waste reduction and recycling practices.

At least 75 percent of a district’s schools must complete Level One school criteria in order for a school district to achieve that status.

“We own the land. If the county wants to condemn it then they can pay us and we’ll go find something else,” said Board Member Brian Deagle.

The board got the bad news at its April 26 meeting where it received an update about the recent recommendations of the School Siting Task Force.

In his presentation to the board, Steve Crawford, director of capital projects for the Issaquah School District, explained that one of the recommendations is for Issaquah is to basically give up the nearly 80 acres of land it owns on May Valley Road.

The $1.4 million property, which sits between Squak Mountain to the north and Cedar Hills Landfill to the south, is outside of King County’s Urban Growth Boundary.

The Urban Growth Boundary is a state-mandated area put in place by the county. In an effort to reduce sprawl and preserve open areas, growth is supposed to be concentrated inside the boundary. The Issaquah district straddles the boundary, with students living both inside and outside of it.

Following the logic that suburban sprawl follows new schools, the county last year decided to begin enforcing a 20-year-old regulation forbidding students who live inside the boundary from being served by a school outside the boundary.

For the Issaquah School District, that means the May Valley Road property would be off-limits to many of its students. If the district needs to build a new school, it will have to somehow find the money to buy new urban property to build on, instead of developing the land it bought years ago.

“I am worried about the finances of the crescent districts 20 years from now,” said School Board President Chad Magendanz. Issaquah along with Northshore, Lake Washington, Snoqualmie, Kent and Tahoma school districts are in similar situations, with students inside the boundary and school sites outside. Collectively, they own 18 properties outside of the urban growth boundary.

Magendanz’s worries were echoed at the meeting by the other members of the board. He suggested that the district fight the decision now, and might schedule a closed session on the topic since there may be a lawsuit.

Crawford pointed out the decision doesn’t make the property totally useless. Students from outside the boundary could still go to a school built on the property.

“Attendance population doesn’t stop at the urban growth boundary,” said Crawford. “I think this is realistically a better position than what was headed down the tracks last year.”

Crawford was one of the seven people representing school districts on the 29-person siting task force, which met periodically between December, 2011 and March. The group was formed last fall by the King County Growth Management Planning Council to look for possible compromises to the council’s original proposal, which was even more restrictive.

The group concluded its work March 29. Its recommendations included allowing for the use of sites with an identified immediate need, a chance for some districts to be compensated for properties that don’t have an identified need and flexible redevelopment options for schools that already exist on rural sites.

“Flexible redevelopment options for existing school sites (such as Endeavor, Pacific Cascade, Apollo and Maple Hills) is a key consideration,” Issaquah school district’s CFO Jacob Kuper told the school board in an April 25th email.

This is important, he explained, because normal land use policies say that those sites would be limited to a one-time expansion of only 10 percent.

“In my opinion, it’s not much better,” said Magendanz.

Next, King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office is expected to use the recommendations to propose new county-wide planning policies.

From there the proposal will need to be considered and approved by the Growth Management Planning Council before going to the King County Council for final adoption. All this, according to Kuper’s email, is likely to happen before the end of 2012.

During its April 25 worksession, the school board took the first step of looking at changes to graduation requirements. Any changes the board adopts would first take effect on this year’s seventh graders once they reach high school.

Soon after the discussion started, whether or not to require more science classes became the most pressing issue.

“I think science is very important for our kids,” said Board Member Brian Deagle. In 2011, after state education officials moved back the date when all high school students would be required to pass a biology proficiency exam, Deagle said he was not willing to just drop the requirement that Issaquah school students prove some baseline scientific knowledge prior to graduation.

“I think I have all the information I need to make my decision,” he said at the April 25 work session.

While the state sets the minimum for graduation requirements, individual school systems may set a higher standard.

Board Member Suzanne Weaver said that if changes are made the decision process should include input from parents and suggested that perhaps the board could lean on PTAs to broadcast the conversation. However, the board’s president, Chad Magendanz, warned that he didn’t want it to become an open forum.

“We don’t know that there is no need for community input until we have community input,” said Weaver.

According to district staff, 13 percent of Issaquah students don’t take three credits of science and 8 to10 percent of the total student population takes part in special education classes.

These two sections of the population had several of the school board members concerned over how those teenagers would be affected by additional demands.

The more rigorous we make the graduation requirements, the more support we need to have to help kids that are struggling, said Board Member Marnie Maraldo.

Weaver expressed concern for the amount of pressure that is piled on special education students.

Just like everyone else who wants to go to college they have to take three years of science, four years of English and other requirements, she said. On top of that they also have to take added special education classes.

“You technically don’t have an elective class until senior year,” said Weaver, “and that’s spent on fulfilling Fine Arts.”

“I want to know more about the 13 percent,” said Patrick Murphy, executive director of secondary education.

Weaver said that she forced her son onto the pre-college track and if she could do it all over again, she would have left his schedule more open to electives to see if anything sparked his interest.

“We could have a very production graduate who fulfills the minimum and chooses to focus on other stuff,” said Superintendent Steve Rasmussen. He suggested the board discuss the matter again at the summer retreat.

One thing they did agree on is that if any changes to the graduation requirements are made then they need to preferably be settled by October or November to allow schools time to make the appropriate adjustments to course offerings and class catalogues.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.

Prior to the election, supporters said they would need about 14,000 “yes” votes in order for the Issaquah School District’s $219 million bond issue to pass.

They nearly had that number in hand when just the first round of election results were released late Tuesday, the day of the election. As of Wednesday, voters cleared the 14,000 ballot hurdle.

As of Wednesday, according to King County Elections, the bond has earned 14,763 votes in favor compared to 6,419 against. That translates to 69.7 percent in favor; 30.3 percent against.

The district needed a supermajority of 60 percent of the ballots cast in order for the issue to pass. If needed, the county will post new voter tallies each afternoon. Elections officials said the special ballot will be certified April 27.

As initial election results were released about 8 p.m. April 17, district officials and school supporters were gathered at the home of district school board member Suzanne Weaver. School board member Brian Deagle said he was both surprised and not surprised by how easily the issue seems to be winning approval. He said he knows plenty of people still are struggling in the current economy.

At the same time, Deagle described Issaquah School District residents as persons who have always backed their schools.

If the issue passes as expected, Liberty High School may be the first building to feel the effects of the bond’s passage. Director of capital projects for the district, Steve Crawford said he expected Phase II of the Liberty renovation to be a high priority for district officials. Setting such priorities from among the dozens and dozens of projects to be financed by the bond sale will be the first order of business once election results are official, Crawford said

King County officials announced the decision the afternoon of April 11.

“These are thoughtful recommendations that will help deliver educational excellence for our children without sacrificing the environment of our rural areas,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine in a press release.

According to the county, the School Siting Task Force evaluated an inventory of 18 rural properties owned by eight school districts in King County. The county lists one such property owned by the Issaquah School District along Southeast May Valley Road. County information does not provide an exact address.

According to the task force report, the parcel sits between Squak Mountain to the north and Cedar Hills Landfill to the south. The report describes the site as having conservation value and recommends the school district work with county officials as well as leaders in Issaquah and Renton to find urban locations for any future expansion needs.

The property is listed as encompassing just over 79 acres with an assessed value of $1.4 million.

The Lake Washington District owns four such parcels along 194th Avenue Northeast (20.1 acres, $893,000), on the north side of Novelty Hill Road (36.9 acres, $1.45 million), near Northeast 95th Street (27 acres, $426,000) and on the south side of Union Hill Road (75.99 acres, $525,000).

The Issaquah School District was closed the week of April 9 for spring break. Officials there were not available for comment.

The county described all 18 properties as “straddling” the Urban Growth Boundary, established under state law with the idea of safeguarding rural areas and preventing urban sprawl. The county states the lands were purchased by the school districts involved with an eye toward future growth.

Besides the Issaquah and Lake Washington districts, other districts involved include Northshore, Snoqualmie, Kent and Tahoma.

“The questions of whether schools should continue to be sited in rural areas has been unresolved for more than a decade,” said Louise Miller, taskforce chairwoman and a former King County Council member. “I’m happy to have been part of its solution.”

“It’s been a productive and collaborative process,” said Chip Kimball, superintendent of the Lake Washington School District. “We’re pleased to have King County and the cities as partners in supporting academic achievement.”

According to the county, the task force looked at a wide range of technical information in developing its recommendations, including perceived public health benefits connected with placing schools closer to homes so that students can walk or bike to school.

“Children can do better if they can walk to a neighborhood school rather being bussed to a remote site in the rural area,” said rural area resident John Chaney, a task force member. “I’m pleased the task force was able to take a comprehensive look at our land use planning and develop solutions that will be lasting.”

Formation of the task force stemmed from an agreement between King County, Seattle, Bellevue, and the Suburban Cities Association in November to examine the question of whether sewer lines should be extended into rural areas.

The next step appears to be for Constantine to review the task force recommendations and propose new countywide planning policies. The county council will have the final say on any new rules, possibly in September.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

“We’re not doing anything outlandish,” said Steve Crawford, district director of capital improvements.

Crawford made the comment in September, answering questions from the school board prior to its vote to place the bond issue on the ballot.

At the same meeting, board members talked about issues of equity, saying they couldn’t appear to be playing favorites among the schools if they expected the bond to pass. One chief example held up was the plan to renovate the stadium at Skyline High School. The revamping will put the school on equal footing with other high schools in the district, said board member Chad Magendanz, who has since become president of the board.

The blueprint for Skyline

Under the plan that eventually won approval from the board, Skyline’s stadium would receive the most attention, at least in terms of dollars, getting a $6.4 million makeover.

“The problems we have are capacity and safety,” Ryan Gilbert, Skyline athletic director, said.

With safety in mind, except for a few top rows, officials removed all of the seats from the student section of the home side of the stadium. Those seats were loose, rusty and a hazard, according to Gilbert and others. Space is also an issue. While Skyline’s Spartans seem a fixture in the state football playoffs, they can’t host a playoff game without renting extra bleachers to meet state athletic association space requirements. But the extra stands are usually set up for weekly games, as well, Gilbert said. All in all, the school spent about $12,000 last year to rent bleachers, he added.

Currently, Skyline stadium seats 1,956, with 1,223 seats on the home-side bleachers. Skyline’s is the only high school stadium in the district with uncovered home-side stands. Under the renovation plans, home-side seating would grow to 2,500 and would be covered.

One other space problem at Skyline involves restrooms. The school regularly rents portable units, Gilbert continued.

Besides the added seating, Skyline also would receive additional restrooms, a new press box, added concession space and weatherproof storage.

Liberty bleachers

to be converted

At Liberty High School, plans call for converting the home-side bleachers to the visitor’s side. New, covered home stands would seat about 2,000 with a new press box on the west side of the field. Total cost: $4.8 million.

Presently, Liberty’s home-side, covered stands seat about 1,400.

“We are way beyond capacity,” Liberty Principal Mike DeLetis said.

He talked about seeing high schools, including the sports stadiums, as assets for the whole community. He said he enjoys seeing parents or even grandparents who once attended or played for Liberty in the stands watching their children or grandchildren on the field.

“It really is a community space,” he said.

Like Skyline, Liberty needs to rent bleachers in order to host playoff games. DeLetis said he likes the idea of Liberty being able to host regional play-off games not involving Liberty teams. The school would collect extra dollars from concession sales, he said.

Liberty Athletic Director Porter Stark said he believes the revamped stadium would pump up the school’s athletes and students. The new Liberty stadium would be on a par with other area stadiums inside and outside of the district, he added.

Porter also looks forward to eventual replacement of the natural turf on the school’s baseball fields. He described as a huge improvement the artificial turf installed on the infield of one baseball diamond last year. Putting new turf on the school’s other diamond would even out those fields, he said.

Issaquah would

get modest facelift

Coming off a rebuild of the entire school, Issaquah High School sports fields would receive the most modest facelift of the three high schools. The project carries a price tag of $1.9 million.

The school’s home-side stand would increase to approximately 2,100 from 1,500. Visitor-side seating would increase to 1,100 from 350. As at Liberty and Skyline, the school would receive a renovated press box.

During discussions of the bond package, school board member Brian Deagle described as “perfect” the atmosphere at an Issaquah High football game held at its current stadium. He commented that stadiums at Skyline and Liberty clearly are in need of refurbishing, but he didn’t necessarily feel the same about the Issaquah stadium.

Deagle later relented and voted with the majority of the board to place the bond issue before voters, including the stadium plans. He declined to comment further for this article.

“My vote in favor of the entire package is my definitive statement,” he said in an email.

The improvements to the Issaquah stadium have the support of the Issaquah High School Booster Club.

“The reasons for our full endorsement are many,” Patti Sheehan, president of the booster board, said. “As board members, we regularly witness the strong role that sports and activities play in the high school experience. Sports teams and many other clubs and groups regularly use the stadium or enjoy the stadium as fans coming together as a school community to support a team or event.”