AESD/ESD 112 provide purchasing power for all schools

In the spring of 2020, ESD 112 in Vancouver, WA, offered to get the best prices on PPE for school districts around the state. ESD 112 knew that through the AESD/ESD 112 purchasing cooperative program they had access to the best pricing on PPE at a fraction of the cost available on the Internet (ex: disinfecting wipes $1.95/100, but on the open market go for $8-9 plus shipping). The AESD/ESD 112 cooperative pricing was extended to all school districts, private schools, and tribal compact schools in Washington state that wanted to participate via their respective ESD. School districts were surveyed on interest level through their regional ESD superintendents. In the NWESD region, it became evident that our districts and private schools were very interested in taking advantage of this offer.

PPE Ordering Rounds and Timelines (as of December 2020)
Round 1 – Was administered solely by ESD 112 with orders submitted in July and PPE delivered to school districts in August.
Round 2  – Districts/private schools placed a Round 2 PPE order through the AESD/ESD 112 purchasing cooperative with orders submitted in November for delivery in January.
Round 2A – Following the submission of Round 2 orders, the Washington State Department of Emergency Services (DES) made available for free some of the PPE ordered in the AESD/ESD 112 Round 2 purchase. This PPE for the districts and private schools in the NWESD region was delivered to the NWESD Anacortes Office in December and was distributed based on the districts’/private schools’ Round 2 AESD/ESD 112 order at no cost.
Round 3 – TBD…this round will be managed through the AESD/ESD 112 purchasing cooperative and is tentatively scheduled for orders submitted the middle/end of January for delivery in early April.

Round 2 Begins
Statewide the second round of ordering required a coordinated response from all nine WA ESDs. Each ESD took ownership of regional ordering and submitted one order to ESD 112. Joni Morrell noted, “There were a lot of moving parts, it was logistically complex and the timeline for school districts to place their orders was tight!” Regionally, the NWESD sprung into action and formed a PPE team to coordinate, track, and manage the orders within our region. Superintendent Larry Francois managed communication with districts. Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Joni Morrell built a seamless order process on the NWESD website to collect the orders. Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Compliance Lisa Matthews handled pricing details and the order placement from ESD 112. Building and Maintenance Coordinator Darrell Ritchey was the critical “go to” person once the PPE arrived at the NWESD and Receptionist Bethany Hackbarth assisted in pulling and packing the orders for individual districts. Other NWESD staff were called in to help in person as they were available; it was a huge effort.

“I am quite honored to be a part of something that is so important to the safety and well being of all who will receive these items.” – Darrell Ritchey, Building and Maintenence Coordinator

When the shipments arrived…
In mid-December, the semi-trucks pulled up to the NWESD in Anacortes and began unloading the free DES PPE items. The NWESD lobby and rooms began to fill with boxes and pallets of valuable PPE. The Port of Anacortes provided a forklift and forklift driver to assist with unloading the pallets from the semi at no cost, which was a huge help to the NWESD. Bethany and Darrell had numerous conversations on the best way to organize and put orders together for each school. They formed a “Pick & Pack” system much like the way Amazon pulls orders. Darrell said he was thankful to be able to draw upon his past warehouse and order filling experience.

The remaining Round 2 orders started arriving in late-January. As soon as all items are received (anticipated by the first week of February), the “Pick & Pack” system will once again be implemented to put the individual school and district orders together.

“It was so gratifying to be part of this statewide initiative for such an essential service for our districts. This process, headed up by ESD 112 in Vancouver, has proven to be an invaluable way for our districts to realize significant cost savings while ensuring the safety of district staff and students. The NWESD region had 41 private and public schools/districts place orders, which represented 22% of the value of the statewide order this time around. The logistics and behind the scenes work and planning that has gone into this from our own NWESD staff has been outstanding – they have and will, continue to go above and beyond in support of our region’s districts,” said Lisa Matthews, NWESD CFO.

The NWESD extends our gratitude to everyone who was involved and who made this order possible. Together We Can…