Sequim School Board directors are moving ahead with plans to update their policy about naming school facilities, possibly paving the way for a community effort to name Sequim high School’s athletic field after SHS “superfan” Myron Teterud.

Directors on Sept. 20 agreed to consider a more formalized process for naming or renaming school facilities.

The board looked at policies from the Tacoma and Northshore districts, policies that allow of the creating of committees to consider and recommend facility naming proposals but keeps the final decision on those proposals in the hands of school board directors.

“With any decision like this, there should be multiple stakeholders involved,” board director Eric Pickens said.

The new language would replace a 1958 policy that directors say limits their say in naming/renaming facilities.

Interim superintendent Jane Pryne said she would looking into having a draft of a policy ready for board directors to discuss and possibly vote upon at their next regular meeting, scheduled for Oct. 4.

For months, members of the Sequim Alumni Association along with other community members and Sequim High graduates have advocated naming the field on the main school district campus for Teterud — a decades-long supporter of community activities, and in particular local sports, who spent much of the past two years as a resident at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation.

Friends and acquaintances of Teterud had hoped to see Teterud see the field named for him while he lived, but Teterud died on April 29 at age 81.

More than a dozen community members offered their support for the move with written statements that board president Brandino Gibson read aloud on Sept. 20.

“It will serve to honor not only Myron but all Sequim alumni,” wrote Claudia Rogers.

Teterud should be memorialized in a special way, added SHS graduate Hailey Estes.

“Myron was one of the most memorable parts of my experience at Sequim High School,” she wrote.

Andrea McCauley, a Sequim High 1985 graduate, called the renaming of the field “a true venue” for Teterud.

“I was not a sports enthusiast … but I was an enthusiast of Myron,” she wrote.

SHS graduate Kris Kruse noted that Teterud was a fixture at games as well as throughout the community.

“He was super fan but even better person,” Kruse wrote.

“I’m glad we’re tackling this,” board director Brian Kuh said.

Leave of absence

Board directors approved a leave of absence for director Jim Stoffer to address a health matter, according to agenda language.

More transparency with public requests

The Sequim School Board in mid-August approved and adopted a policy (Board Policy 6030) requiring the superintendent to submit a monthly Public Records Transparency Report that includes a list of all public records requests received by the district.

At the board’s Sept. 13 regular meeting, district human resources director Victoria Balint detailed all public records request for the past two fiscal years, and noted that the board will see monthly records requests for those “who continue to have open reports and thus ongoing financial impact.”

The report, available here, shows about $58,000 in incurred staff expenses and about $42,000 in legal expenses.

Balint said the district used guidelines provided by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to calculate costs at an average of $50 per hour to respond to the requests.

Anticipated legal expenses in the report are nearly $270,000 — including about $150,000 in anticipated expenses to attorney Shannon McMinimee on behalf of assistant superintendent Jennifer Maughan, currently on administrative leave.

Several board members said the reports are good for transparency for the community at large.

“I absolutely appreciated the transparency,” Pickens said.

“All along I knew we had public records request, (but) wow, I had really no sense of the volume of work you and your team is doing,” board member Larry Jeffryes said.

“Visibility for the public is paramount,” Kuh noted.