(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake school board Monday evening took no action on a proposal for before and after school services from the YMCA, meaning the district will stay with the BASS Program for now. That was a recommendation made by administration.
The Director of the BASS Program has been accused of misspending more than 400-thousand dollars from the program. Meg Waltz has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on bond awaiting trial.
Superintendent Tim Grieves says in making the recommendation, administrators felt it was important not to rush to any judgement in the case. Grieves added the school district is prepared to take over the program should the BASS Program be shut down for whatever reason by the state or someone else.
The proposal from the YMCA would have cost an additional 10 cents an hour for each child. School board members said their decision should not reflect negatively upon the Y. Elementary School Principal Jon Weibers told the board the Y program is structured similar to school, but says BASS is already very familiar to many children.
School board member Cliff Garvey said he recently visited the BASS program and said the children seemed to be very comfortable with their surroundings.
