Jim Allen

Spokane Public Schools officials said Tuesday that they are nearing an “interim solution” to fill its open director of safety, risk management and transportation position. The position opened when Santos Picacio resigned after he was confronted with allegations made last year in court records that he abused his wife and suffers from long-term mental health and substance abuse issues.

The West Coast Conference schedule announced Tuesday morning has the Bulldogs playing at BYU on Jan. 2.

Capping a summer of conversation and revision, the Spokane Public Schools board of directors is poised to adopt a $461 million balanced budget for the upcoming school year.

The district will continue its scratch-cooking program and will be offering smoothies to students at middle and high schools in the next school year. Though staff reductions hit lunchrooms hard, the district will continue to offer nourishment in the mornings and nutitious options when the lunch bell rings, said Doug Wordell, director of Nutrition Services for Spokane Public Schools.

Katie Campbell can’t wait to taste the gelato. Kayleigh Truong is looking forward to some team bonding. Jill Townsend just wants to soak in the history.

Once again, there’s a shortage of school bus drivers. This year about a dozen are needed, though Durham School Services might hire more to take some of the pressure off their full-time staff.

Already penciled in on Tuesday, the general election field for the Spokane Public Schools board was etched in stone Wednesday night after additional votes were tabulated.

The Salvation Army gave away about 5,000 backpacks on Wednesday as part of its annual charity event to outfit kids with back-to-school supplies.

Aspiring minds think alike, especially when they’ve been in close proximity for 18 years.

Two of the three races for the Spokane Public Schools board appeared clear cut after initial results came back from Tuesday’s primary election, but the Position 1 race was far from decided.

Shawn Woodward has been on the job for only four weeks, but Mead’s new collaborator-in-chief is off to a fast start.

Spokane Public Schools still has several unanswered questions about next year’s budget. But don’t expect the district and school board members to reinstitute full days for elementary students on Fridays next year.

The district’s board of directors has authorized up to an additional $3.6 million for next year’s budget. That could mean a combo of options, including reducing class sizes, eliminating so-called “combination classrooms” that unite two grade levels and bringing back more custodians to improve cleanliness at the district’s buildings.

The coffee roaster and world-traveler famously offered to clear the lunch debt of impoverished students in northeastern Philadelphia this summer, only to earn an initial rebuke from school board members there. Carmichael said his inspiration to erase the debt came from his own childhood in Spokane.

Sooner than expected, Jill Townsend is back on the basketball court – which is a surprise to absolutely no one at Gonzaga.

According to the district, the money raised would reinstate some paraeducators lost in recent cuts, maintain nursing staff at current levels, increase safety and security personnel and expand learning opportunities for non-traditional students.

For the Gonzaga women, this has been no average summer. And it’s about to get even better.

When one of the most important positions at Spokane Public Schools opened up this spring, Santos Picacio took one look at the job description and smiled. The job: Director of Campus Security, Student Transportation and Risk Management for a district that serves more than 30,000 students.

Among the issues at hand: With $3.6 million in spending from reserves, how can they most efficiently spend money to better serve students?

One of the top high school wings in the nation has given an oral commitment to play for the Gonzaga women’s basketball program in the fall of 2020.

The Spokane Public Schools’ annual four-week STEM camp draws upward of 300 kindergartners through eighth-graders each at Chase and Shaw middle schools.

The job will last for only two years, but the winner of the Position 4 race has a chance to make a big impact on the Spokane Public Schools board of directors. The three candidates – Erin Georgen, Bill Baxley and Kevin Morrison – have staked out differing positions on several key issues, including overall district priorities, the arming of campus resource officers and whether the district should put a supplemental levy on the November ballot.

Whoever wins the race for Position 2 on the Spokane Public Schools board of directors, expect them to take a cautious approach on budgetary issues. All three candidates – Luc Jasmin III, Kelli MacFarlane and Jenny Slagle – support more fiscal restraint as the district deals with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. All three support – or at least are open to supporting – the district asking voters for a levy to prevent recent budget cuts.