The Tumwater School District board on Monday adopted a resolution formally recording the district's position in a boundary-change petition brought by residents near Ygrene Drive Southeast who asked to move from Yelm School District boundaries into Tumwater.
Assistant Superintendent Ben Rehrick described the action as a procedural formality requested by the Educational Service District and the deputy attorney general. "This is purely a procedural matter," Rehrick said. He explained that the superintendent and a board representative had already met with the Yelm School District and communicated an "agree to disagree" position informally, but the ESD's attorney required each board to pass a formal resolution to proceed. "The boundary review committee will not commence with their process until both boards have taken this action," Rehrick said.
The petition process began when a group of Yelm-area residents met the statutory petition requirements and submitted their request to the ESD. Rehrick emphasized that Tumwater did not solicit or recruit the petitioners; rather, once the petition was filed, the district had to respond according to the WAC process. "Any group of citizens can come together and take action and petition to be reboundaried ... as long as they meet the requirements in WAC 39234207," he said. He added that the district has offered to serve the petitioners if the committee's decision moves boundaries but also indicated the district does not want to harm relationships with Yelm.
Action: A motion to adopt the boundary-change resolution (recorded as "Resolution 022526" in the transcript) was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. The transcript records the resolution as adopted; individual roll-call votes were not captured in the public audio.
The next step in the process is the Educational Service District's boundary review committee, which will consider competing positions from the two districts and the petitioning residents. Rehrick told the board that the committee has a formal arbitration-like process and that both districts' formal positions must be filed before the committee proceeds. Tumwater staff will monitor the committee's schedule and report back to the board as the process continues.