The community meeting went quite well, I thought. Jim Keene, who used to be the superintendent of the school district in the early 90s, did a great job of putting the challenges into perspective.

Jim noted that 25 years ago, local people were asking whether it wasn’t time to upgrade our local facilities. The Keene’s three children attended the district, a fact they recall now with pride.

There were about as many folks there as I had thought would be able to show in mid-December (looked like around 30; I didn’t actually count), and several diverse groups were represented, showing support.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers‘ aide, Sheila Stalp, attended with encouraging words. “This seems to me to be one of the most worthwhile projects that Cathy McMorris Rodgers can be involved in,” she said.

She said our representative in Congress for the 5th District in Washington would be heartened to find progress and efforts like that meeting and this website. She urged community members to put aside differences they may have in order to come together on this project, noting, “the unity issue in the community is huge to the congresswoman.”

Entities represented included Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, PEO, the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and probably some I’m forgetting right now.

How many new school efforts can boast the support of the local senior center?

Were you there? What did you think? Were you not there, but wanted to be? If so, what would you have liked to have learned or said?