By Brenda Sexton-The Courier-Herald
In a special meeting July 2, the Enumclaw School Board agreed to enter into an utility easement agreement with the city of Enumclaw that will allow the city to run a wastewater discharge pipe through Enumclaw Middle School property along state Route 410.
Much to the relief of school board members, the agreement, which was approved with a unanimous vote, has the city changing its original plan to run the 36-inch pipe from its new waste water treatment facility on Semanski Street, on the inside of the school district's berm along 410 to the highway side.
The agreement also includes language regarding future land use and compensation. The agreement calls for the city to pay the district 45 cents per square foot, 60 percent of fair market value, or approximately $5,200.
The city is also expected to return the area to its original condition. The work is scheduled to be done before the start of school in September.
At the same meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Thunder Mountain Middle School Principal Darin Adams, who will take a position as principal at Mount Baker Middle School in the Auburn School District.
Adams said for the past three years he's been looking for an opportunity to work in the same school district that his kids are enrolled. Taking over the helm at Mount Baker puts him in the same halls as his eighth-grader and also makes it easier to be near his son, a junior at Auburn Riverside High. It's also closer to his Lake Tapps home.
“It's nothing against Enumclaw,” Adams said. “I've been a student, teacher and administrator here. I'd just like to be where my family is.”
Adams is a 1981 Enumclaw High graduate, who taught in the White River School District for five years before moving to Enumclaw Junior High School where he was a teacher and dean of students. After three years, he accepted a position as assistant principal at Kilo Junior High in Federal Way before returning to Enumclaw where he planned and then opened Thunder Mountain in 2000.
Superintendent Mike Nelson said Adams' position will be posted until filled.
“Whoever takes over Thunder Mountain,” Adams said, “is coming to a great school with great kids and a great staff.”
In other business, the board:
€ hired Enumclaw High School teachers Eric Stevens and Sarah Russell, Thunder Mountain Middle School teacher Corrie Agnew and EHS Native American Specialist Katherine Calvert.
€ rehired retired Enumclaw High athletic director Tim Tubbs.
€ rehired EHS teacher Kent Polhemus-Basting, Thunder Mountain teacher Kimberly Stone and Sunrise Elementary School teacher Jeri Freeburg.
€ approved additional hours for EHS counselor Necia Engebretsen.
€ accepted the resignation of Westwood Elementary School health room professional Mara Wyland.
