DAYTON—The Dayton School Board met July 1 for a regular monthly work session via Zoom. The board reviewed the middle and high school principal contract, and the 2020-2021 budget. This work session was Superintendent Guy Strot’s first regular meeting for the district.

The board reviewed the middle and high school principal’s contract. Board member Fred White noted that there was one area with non-inclusive language within the contract, and the board agreed to fix the language to read ‘his/her’ in order to be inclusive.

Business manager Paula Moisio presented the 2020-2021 school year budget. Moisio explained that there were items that had been budgeted based on contingencies. She said that the budget was particularly difficult due to so many unknowns caused by the current pandemic. Dayton School District is currently budgeted for 382 students for the upcoming school year.

Items that are tough to budget due to uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic include the Dayton-Waitsburg athletic combine as the district is unsure how sports will look in the fall.

Moisio said that Dayton School District should have roughly $122,000 coming in from the CARES Act funds. She said she has also applied for FEMA funds, but does not know for sure if the district will receive the amount requested.

Superintendent Guy Strot said that there are a lot of unknowns in the education world right now and he plans on taking things day by day, updating the board as he receives more information from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). He is optimistic that students will be safely back into classrooms this fall.