Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2015)
Polk County Education/News Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 7, 2015 13A CHS to try new grading system Elementary schools Board changes grading policy at the high school for the fourth time By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — The Central School Board adopt- ed a policy formalizing the grading process at the high school, aligning the system used throughout the district. This is the fourth grading policy used at Central in as many years, said Ben Gor- man, CHS English teacher and president of the Central Education Association. “That’s been rough on parents, students and teachers,” Gorman said. “However, we feel very posi- tive about this one.” The system is standards- based and has been used at Talmadge Middle School for a few years now. “Students are coming out of our middle school and they’ve been having (stan- dards-based grading) the whole time,” said Superin- tendent Buzz Brazeau. “It’s not different for them. What we’re working very hard at doing is align- ing the system, so students are graded the same way in high school as they are in middle school,” he added. Unlike last year’s system, more responsibility will be placed on students when it comes to homework. “The new system is a bit complicated to explain to students and parents, but we think it’s a good repre- sentation of our values, honoring primarily aca- demic achievement (85 per- cent), but recognizing the importance of regular prac- tice and other career-relat- ed behaviors like atten- dance (15 percent),” Gor- man said. The system is meant to ensure that students don’t move on with high grades while lacking the skills to be successful in the next class, he said. “We don’t want them to be sent on just to fail at a higher level,” Gorman said. Grades will return to a 4.0 grading scale, without the presence of Fs. “The lack of the traditional F reflects our belief that a student who hasn’t received credit yet isn’t a failure forev- er,” Gorman said. “He or she may simply have late work to do or a few skills to acquire before acquiring credit.” Instead of an F, parents and students will see an NC, or no credit. Brazeau said everyone knows an F means no credit has been earned. “Philosophically, all we’re doing is not telling a kid he’s a failure,” Brazeau said. “All I’m saying is if a stu- dent hasn’t earned credit, they know they haven’t earned credit. We don’t have to tell them they’re a failure.” Homeless count mixed for county schools State report reveals most students without adequate housing since 2010-11 Statewide, 20,524 students were consid- ered homeless during the 2014-15 school POLK COUNTY — year, a 9 percent in- More than 140 students No. of students % of enrollment crease and the highest attending schools in Dal- number since the las, Central, Falls City Central 84 2.7 2010-11 school year. and Perrydale experi- The majority of enced homelessness dur- Dallas 35 1.08 those students, 15,298, ing the 2014-15 school were “doubled-up.” year, according to a state Falls City 22 15.4 The largest increase report released last week. was students in the For the purposes of the Perrydale not reported .67 “unsheltered” catego- report, homeless stu- ry, growing from 1,842 dents are defined as: liv- Source: Oregon Department of Education in 2013-14 to 2,272 last ing in shelters; staying in year. a motel; sharing housing Each school district with relatives or friends; has a homeless liaison or living in a car, tent or Graphic by JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer who identifies and other substandard hous- Dallas and Falls City saw increases in homeless students. provides support and ing. services to students According to the report tives or friends. The total Thompson said that some released by the Oregon De- figure is up from 23 in the of those students are living and families experiencing partment of Education on 2013-14 school year. in a mobile park in town in homelessness. To contact the homeless Thursday, two local school Fa l l s C i t y ’s n u m b e r trailers that would be con- districts saw increases in jumped to 22 from 14 in sidered in “substandard liaison for your district, call the district’s office or go to the number students con- 2013-14. The 2014-15 num- housing” in the report. sidered homeless: Dallas ber accounted for more In Central, the number www.ode.state.or.us/Go/H and Falls City. than 15 percent of the dis- fell from 93 in 2013-14 to omelessEd. For more information Dallas has 35 students or trict’s enrollment. Of those 84, or 2.7 percent, last year. 1 percent of enrollment, 22, half are in the unshel- Perrydale had too few stu- about the report or to see with 27 “doubled-up” or tered category. dents considered homeless details from each district: www.ode.state.or.us/home. sharing housing with rela- Su p e r i n t e n d e n t Ja c k to list in the report. By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer 2014-15 homeless student count at capacity for class By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — The three elementary schools in the Central School District are at capacity, classroom- wise, said Superintendent Buzz Brazeau at Monday’s board meeting. Melissa Rincon, fifth-grade teacher at Independence Ele- mentary School, advocated for smaller class sizes. “I would ask the board to work with the district to work with us in lowering class size,” she said. “We ap- preciate a full-time assistant to share between two class- es, but there’s a bigger issue.” Rincon has 34 students in her class, less than the 37 she expected, she said. Her class has the highest enroll- ment at IES, with the small- est number at 15 in Karla Archer’s bilingual kinder- garten class. The average class size at IES is 25.5. Pam Young sent an email to the Itemizer-Observer say- ing that at Ash Creek Ele- mentary School, teachers and students have lost com- puter labs, special education classrooms and Title 1 class- rooms because those rooms were needed to meet the needs of full-day kinder- garten. “Title 1 interventions are taking place in our hallway areas with particle boards for separation,” she wrote in the email. At ACES, the average class size is 25.4, with the highest being 35 in Dale Claussen’s fifth-grade class and the low- est being 17 in Sarah King’s kindergarten class and in Elizabeth Mansoor’s first- grade class. Monmouth Elementary School’s class sizes average 26.1, with two classes at 33 and one at 19 students. Board Chairman Steve Love said that Brazeau would “share some insight about capacity” at the board retreat scheduled for later in October. The board will discuss “whether it’s time to do some additional work about facilities and get to some de- cisions about what it would look like this fiscal year,” Love said. The board retreat, open to the public, will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 24 at the Henry Hill Education Support Center. Come to the FREE HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION EVENT! OBITUARIES Continued from Page 9A Lawrence Fredrick Wildman Feb. 5, 1946 – Sept. 24, 2015 Lawrence Fredrick Wild- man, 69, of Dallas, died Sept. 24 in Dallas. He was born to William Olin Wild- man and Frances Lorraine Harper Wildman in Tampa, Fla. He graduated from New- berg High School in 1964 and Oregon State University in 1968. Larry and Pat own Wild- man Farm in Dallas, pro- ducing cherries, blueberries and blackberries, with a seasonal summer fruit stand open yearly to pro- vide locally grown produce. A favorite hobby of his was restoring a 1949 Packard Convertible and a 1949 Packard Sedan. Larry was excited to see the farm, his children and grandchildren grow and prosper. He and Pat met at and at- tended Peoples Church for 32 years. He has served the Lord since childhood. Survivors include his wife of 32 years, Patricia L. Wild- man; children, Lisa R. Wild- man, and Matthew J. Wild- man; stepchildren, Michelle K. Talmage, Michael J. Far- rell and Travis L. Cibolski; and seven grandchildren. Memorial service was Sept. 30 at Peoples Church in Salem. Warner Riley ‘Sparky’ Atkins Jr. Nov. 30, 1962 – Oct 5, 2015 Warner Riley “Sparky” Atkins Jr., 50, of Dallas, died Monday. He was born to Warner Atkins Sr. and Irma Talley in Prineville. Warner had worked in con- struction and retired in 2012. He was a big teddy bear with a heart of gold. He would do anything for anyone. Warner enjoyed music, collecting guitars, classic vehicles, and Harleys. Most of all Warner loved his family and his dog Riley. S u r - vivors in- clude his wife of 23 y e a r s , Kathy; son, Matthew Bonillas; brother, Shane Talley; one grandson; and extended family. Services are tentatively scheduled for this weekend. For details contact Dallas Mortuary Tribute Center, 503-623-2325 or www.dal- lastribute.com; which is handling arrangements. DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2015 TIME: From 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. LOCATION: Independence Riverview Park (100 Main Street)__ SPONSORED BY: Polk County, The Cities of Dallas,_______ Independence, Monmouth and Salem OSU students dig to the bottom of flooding By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — Every win- ter those living in a square mile zone near Sheldon Av- enue in Falls City experi- ence frequent and sudden flooding. Thanks to more than 18 months of detective work on the part of Oregon State University students, namely Joe Kemper, residents are closer to finding a cause. Kemper, a master’s de- gree candidate in the field of water resources engi- neering, is using the project as his thesis subject. He hopes to find feasible fixes for residents who have been dealing with the problem for decades. Last winter was mild, so landowners were spared sig- nificant problems, but that hasn’t always been true. “In years past, roads were covered and septic tanks quit functioning,” he said. About a year ago, OSU dug a well in the middle of the flood zone to monitor ground water levels through the rainy season. Kemper said when sensors were placed in the well, the water was 12 feet below the sur- face. That rose to about 2 feet below the surface by the end of December. At that point, any major rain event could trigger flooding. “What we found was that it’s a combination of surface water and ground water (causing floods),” Kemper said. Kemper is now applying the data to the properties affected by the seasonal del- uges. The well, plus radar testing to map the bedrock in the area, will give proper- ty owners options to miti- gate the flooding temporar- ily. “It’s October; the rains are coming,” Kemper said. “I would like to help find low- impact, cheap ways to resolve the problem short term.” Tracy Young is one such landowner. She’s lived off Sheldon Avenue for eight years and has had flooding problems each year. Water falling on the hills above her house is chan- neled on to her property, so it doesn’t take much rainfall to cause a problem. She said Kemper is mapping the bedrock on her property to find ways to redirect the water. “We are trying to find out why it fills up with ground water so quickly,” she said. “Now we are going to find out where the sandstone layer is that prevents the water from going deeper.” Kemper will finish his re- port this spring and his ob- jective is to provide the data necessary for the city or landowners to apply to state agencies for funding to in- stall long-term fixes. “You could throw money at the problem and find a solution, but the city doesn’t have $200,000 to spend and neither do the landowners,” he said. “Our main goal is to create a booklet of options based on scientific observa- tions.” Kemper said that part of the project — the engineer- ing and science — has been enlightening, but he’s learned the most from work- ing with city residents. He said people in Falls City have put plenty of time into the project, including Falls City High School students who assisted with field work. “Good science is great at finding solutions,” he said. (But) “involving the com- munity affected is the best way to get results.” Solution on Page 8A