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Board hears proposal to move district’s Transitions program into Columbia Elementary’s west wing
Summary
District staff recommended relocating the Wenatchee School District Transitions program from portable classrooms at Westside High School into the available west wing of Columbia Elementary, citing space, accessibility and a lower estimated cost to meet ADA needs; the board will discuss potential action May 13.
WENATCHEE, Wash. — Wenatchee School District staff presented the district’s case April 22 for relocating its Transitions program — a community-based program serving students with disabilities aged 18–22 — into the west wing of Columbia Elementary.
Staff said the Transitions program, which provides vocational training, community-access practice and job coaching, has outgrown temporary portables at Westside High School. Bethann (last name not given in transcript), who described program operations, said the program places students in community jobs, names Central Washington Hospital as a current employer partner and said staff work toward fading job-coaching supports when students demonstrate independence on the job.
Bethann said the program recently grew because state rules were updated to let students remain in school services through the school year in which they turn 22; she said that change added seven students to the program this year. She described the current portables as a temporary location with limited bathroom space and constrained ADA access, and she said making the portables meet accessibility needs would reduce classroom instructional space.
District staff proposed using the Columbia Elementary west wing — a portion of the former elementary the district is keeping for district programs — to provide a more permanent home with six classrooms, a separate entrance and dedicated parking. Officials said the Columbia location would be more central to community employers and to the tech center, allow teachers and staff to be colocated, and would reduce the expense of required ADA upgrades compared with renovating the portables.
Finance and facilities clarifications provided by staff estimated costs of roughly $25,000 to address the identified needs at the Westside portables versus about $55,000 to prepare the Columbia west wing to the same standards. Staff said the Columbia option would require some ADA work but at a fraction of the cost that would be needed to renovate the portables to meet current code and program needs.
Board members asked about funding for special education and the program’s model. Staff said the district receives state funding to support students in transitions programming and that the program is staff intensive, requiring many paraeducators; staff said funding is available for the added year of services up to age 22 under recent legislative changes. Board members also asked whether the Transitions program admits students who have not completed four years of high school; staff said the district’s current Transitions model enrolls students who have completed four years of high school and that other districts use different intake models.
District staff said the board will receive a formal discussion and potential action on the proposed relocation at the May 13 board meeting.
Sources: presentation and video by district staff at the April 22 Wenatchee School District board meeting.
