Future Uncertain: OC To Agree On Site By May Or Dissolve

For the last 10 months, the future location of Clearwater-Orchard Public Schools has been uncertain. At Wednesday’s advisory board meeting in Clearwater, that discussion escalated to where now the future of the school itself is uncertain.​

Per a motion by the Orchard advisory board, the schools have until May to resolve their location differences or dissolve their interlocal agreement. 

The latter is something Superintendent Dale Martin hopes does not occur. Toward the end of the 43-minute discussion Wednesday, Martin reminded board members to keep what’s best for students at the forefront of their decisions.

“We need partnerships. We need to have somebody we can count on, and this has worked well up to now, and I would say a lot of parents would agree that it’s been good. The Cyclone community has been good,” Martin said. “That’s what we hope to get to in the end and get away from some of these things we’re picking at each other about and getting back to feeling good about things. Again, adults have got to be able to work that out, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”

Changing site location for Clearwater-Orchard has been discussed for nearly a year. The boards have spent months discussing possible locations and ways to rotate locations. They even engaged in a workshop last week and spent 7 hours face to face with a representative from the Nebraska Association of School Boards trying to reach an agreement.

The current arrangement has the high school in Clearwater, middle school in Orchard and both communities educating preschool through fourth grade. Clearwater board members have refused to consider rotating locations, and Orchard members are refusing to keep the current arrangement in place because they say it does not clearly specify how the locations will be decided in the future.

The boards have discussed various scenarios, including having the high school in Orchard and middle school in Clearwater. 

Orchard board president Candice Hoke said she disagrees with the Clearwater board and that the present arrangement is not working for the majority of the district.

“We’re tried to come up with solutions and not saying they were perfect, but rotation will not be discussed by your board, which is fine so we will no longer discuss that,” Hoke said. “But the one thing we said we would not discuss is leaving it the way it is, so I don’t know how you think that’s a solution.”

Clearwater board member Regina Krebs called the motion to dissolve an ultimatum and questioned how her board could come up with a solution that would fit Orchard’s criteria. 

“We’re trying to define what parameters you want us to come up with or this amazing decision or proposal when you’ve shot down so many of them,” she said. 

The two items both boards appear to agree on is that neither want to bus young students to either location and both want a permanent agreement on where the school will be located. 

Because they agree on those aspects, Martin said he’s optimistic the two communities can reach an amicable agreement on where the classes will be located.   

“I am optimist because that’s what I need to be is optimistic. I’ll continue to have that door open or try to keep that door open for that to happen here as long as we possible can, so yes, I am optimistic,” he said.

The advisory boards will meet again in March, although it’s not clear if they will have a decision by then or if it will come closer to the May deadline before making a decision.