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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2019)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK SILVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT Santiam Canyon passing bond to build new high school Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK The Silverton High School band during the West Albany vs. Silverton High School boys basketball game in Silverton on Jan. 25, 2019. MICHAELA ROMÁN / STATESMAN JOURNAL Boosters beat drum for music program support School board chafes after advocacy group hires specialist to evaluate district curriculum, offerings Christena Brooks Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK For many young musicians, fifth grade band is a rite of passage. It entails handling instruments for the first time, learning to read music, and making a cacophony of strange new noises at home for nine months. The loss of fifthgrade band in the Silver Falls School District has already hurt middle school band, and high school band will be the next to suffer, said a music specialist who surveyed the district last month. His numbers show middle school band dropped from 127 members three years ago to just 37 now. “(The) enrollment decline in band grades 58 demonstrates the probable complete collapse of the high (school) band program within three years,” Dr. John Benham, author of “Music Advo cacy: Moving from Survival to Vision,” wrote in his status report. That wasn’t all. General music in struction is woefully lacking in nearly all the district’s 13 schools, most of them K8 schools with no music classes at all, he said. Five teachers, working a combined 3.76 FTE (full time equiva lent) offer all the certified music in struction to a district of nearly 4,000 students. “It is obvious that there is an insuffi cient number of faculty to provide in struction to every school in the district,” he wrote. School board members haven’t re sponded publicly to Benham’s report, which they received last month from the local nonprofit Silverton Friends of Music. Neither did Supt. Andy Bellando participate in the music specialist’s survey. “There’s never been a real willing ness to work with us, and that’s why we hired Dr. Benham," said Sarah Weitz man, president of Silverton Friends of Music. "To help us mediate and facili tate … maybe even help us hear some stuff from the administration. But we were shocked when the administration responded with a complete shutout.” See MUSIC, Page 3A State bracing for wave of retirements Ben Botkin Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Patricia Whitfield remembers when police agencies sent fingerprint cards to the Oregon State Police by mail. She joined OSP’s criminal history records unit as a clerical assistant in 1979, when fingerprint matches were searched by hand and lasted for hours. Today, Whitfield directs OSP’s Crim inal Justice Information Services Divi sion, managing about 100 employees who support police statewide and proc ess fingerprints aroundtheclock — pulling records in minutes — whenever people are booked into jail. But Whitfield’s career also illustrates a looming, twofold problem for Oregon. She’s one of the longesttenured state employees, and her peers are re tiring at an increasingly rapid rate. Nearly a quarter — 24.7%— of state agency and executive branch employ ees either are, or will become, eligible within five years. That’s 8,844 employ ees. At the same time, state workers’ jobs have become significantly more techni cal, more specialized and harder to fill. Potential impacts on agencies vary. The Oregon Department of See RETIRE, Page 2A Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Vol. 138, No. 23 News updates: ❚ Breaking news ❚ Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: ❚ Photo galleries Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal Patricia Whitfield, director of the Criminal Justice Information System Division of Oregon State Police, is interviewed in her office in Salem on May 2. Whitfield has worked in state government for nearly 40 years. QEAJAB-07403y The Santiam Canyon School Dis trict’s $17.9 million school bond is passing by a slim 6 to 5 margin in the May 21 election If the bond measure passes, con struction would start on the new buildings to replace the current high and middle schools, which were built in 1956, in the fall of 2019 and students would start school there in fall 2020. The bond would also pay to build a new cafeteria for the elementary school, an auxiliary gymnasium and an outside play area – including a bas ketball court – in the middle of the campus. “Honestly, I’m excited to start build ing our future,” Santiam Canyon su perintendent Todd Miller said. "A lot of hard work and thought went into these plans.” If the bond is approved by voters, residents would pay $2.45 per $1,000 of assessed property value, approxi mately $245 per year for 25 years. The Santiam Canyon School Dis trict is one of the few districts in the Willamette Valley which has yet to pass a bond. The last time the Santiam Canyon district put a bond measure to voters was 2008 when it asked for $14.5 million, but it failed 61 percent to See BOND, Page 3A Randy Wildman holds a largemouth bass he caught in Fall Creek Reservoir. CHRISTINA MURPHY / OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY Draining Ore. reservoir aids young salmon Chris Branam Oregon State University CORVALLIS – A new study finds that the lowcost, extreme draining of a reservoir in Oregon aided down stream migration of juvenile chinook salmon – and led to the gradual disap pearance of two species of predatory invasive fish in the artificial lake. The study is published in the jour nal Ecohydrology. The elimination of largemouth bass and crappie from Fall Creek Reservoir, about 30 miles southeast of Eugene in in the Willamette River basin, could have management implications for reservoirs that have been invaded by certain species of fish that eat other fish, according to Christina Murphy, a recent Oregon State University doctor al graduate and lead author on the study. “Even though the strategy appears extreme, it’s both helping juvenile sal monids pass downstream and pro See DRAINING, Page 3A ©2019 50 cents Printed on recycled paper saturday morning NEVER TASTED So GOOD! BREAKFAST Made Fresh on the Grill Every Saturday Morning 7:00AM to 10:30am Saturdays Only $ 99 5 EA. TWO FRESH EGGS, TWO STRIPS OF BACON OR TWO SAUSAGE LINKS OR ONE SLICE OF COUNTRY HAM, YOUR CHOICE OF HASHBROWNS OR HOME-FRIED POTATOES AND TOAST. MAKE YOUR SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST AND GROCERY SHOPPING ONE CONVENIENT STOP! HAVE YOUR BREAKFAST READY WHEN YOU ARE. ORDER AHEAD ONLINE AT WWW.ROTHS.COM/ORDERS