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