The Edmonds School Board voted 5-0 Tuesday to authorize Superintendent Nick Brossoit to sign a sale agreement for the Civic Field property to the City of Edmonds.

The Edmonds City Council unanimously approved an agreement to purchase the field at 310 6th Ave. N. from the district earlier this month. The board also voted 5-0 to declare the property as surplus.

The city has been leasing Civic Field from the district, and it has served as the site of many popular events, including the Taste of Edmonds and the Fourth of July fireworks display. The city will pay about $1.9 million for the field, with grants and city funds.

Also from the School Board meeting:

– During the public comment period, Dionna Anderson of Lynnwood, who is African American, described to the Board what she felt were discriminatory practices in hiring in the district. Anderson, a 1996 Edmonds-Woodway graduate who has a degree in political science from Seattle Pacific University, said she applied for six jobs in the district recently and was turned down for all of them. Most of the hiring committees she encountered were all white, she said. Anderson has volunteered for the school district, said she took the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Civil Rights training, and also has a child who has graduated from the Edmonds School District.

“Until you work on changing the culture in the schools nothing will be successful,” she said.

Brossoit thanked Anderson for sharing and for the issues she raised.

– The Board also voted 5-0 to approve Resolution No. 15-59 to declare as surplus the site commonly known as Esperance, 7821 224th St. S.W. in unincorporated Edmonds.

– The district’s Director of Business and Operations, Stewart Mhyre, gave a year-end financial report for 2014-2015 to the Board. The district’s actual enrollment for 2014-2015 was 19,694 students, 24 below projections. The district’s general fund revenues were $218.4 million while its expenditures were $220.2 million. The beginning fund balance was $16.26 million and the ending fund balance was $14.4 million. Local levy and basic education revenues were used to meet a $6 million shortfall to meet the district’s special education budget, mostly because of the state’s funding was inadequate to meet the needs of students. Transportation funding expenditures were $575,024 greater than the state funding provided, and local levy dollars made up the difference. The district’s ending fund balance when it comes to capital funding for 2014-15 is $152.9 million. Most of that money comes from the 2014 bond ($145.9 million). The district’s debt service fund started with $19.1 million with $35.4 million revenue and ending fund balance of $18.4 million after $36.3 million in expenditures.

– Board members Kory DeMun and April Nowak attended their final board meeting for their current terms on Tuesday night. Long-time board member Gary Noble thanked Nowak for her service over the last year, saying she brought a “fabulous perspective” to the board including her viewpoints as “a person of color.” Noble also praised DeMun for the business experience he brought the board, which was “more than the rest of the board members combined.”

Nowak and DeMun both chose not to run for re-election. In the general election earlier this month, Carin Chase edged Bill Willcock to take Nowak’s seat and Susan Phillips, who previously served on the board, ran unopposed for DeMun’s position.

— Story and photo by Tony Dondero