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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2017)
8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 Local 5J: Board position vacant, Supreme Court comes to BHS BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com Thursday, September 21st, the Baker School District 5J School Board held their monthly meet- ings at the City Council Chambers. This meeting was the last for board member Melissa Irvine, whose family is re- locating and she turned in her letter of resignation at the last meeting. The board thanked Irvine for her time and work she had put into being a part of the board and community. “Obviously we’re sad- dened on one end, to have you and your family leave our community, but I hope that you understand that you’ve left this a better place and I’m sure the community you’re going to will be better because of your family and you being there,” Superintendent Mark Witty said to Irvine. “I guess I would just say, as much as I appreci- ate you all, I feel like for everything I have given, I have gotten back,” said Irvine. “I’ve gotten back in friendships, I’ve gotten back in learning how a school system can work to- gether to attack our goals, and I’ve seen so many great things happening in the school district because of the board, because of the superintendent, because of every person who works here. And I feel like Kevin and Andrew are the longest standing members of the board and that they have worked very hard to de- velop goals and to get the district heading in a great direction. And I know that there are going to be more opportunities for the goals and aim of the district to include input from differ- ent parts of the community and different parts of the staff and I just know that there’s great momentum here. And so, again, I just want to say for everything that maybe I’ve helped along I feel like I also was helped along and I feel stronger and better able to move to a new place because of my experiences here, so thank you Baker and the public of Baker for putting me in this position, it has been an honor.” Irvine was presented with a plaque, reading “Thank you for your outstanding and dedicated service as a member of our Board of Directors.” She served from 2015 to 2017. With her resignation, the board declared position #5 on the board vacant. With that, they are seeking letters of interest to fill the vacancy. The term expires June 30, 2019. Letters of interest must be submitted to Cathy Martin, Board Executive Assistant, and received no later than Thursday, Octo- ber 12th by 5 p.m. Board Chair Kevin Cassidy is also available by appoint- ment for those who have questions or would like to discuss the work of the board. At the meeting, the board presented Cer- tificates of Outstanding Recognition to Dr. Thomas Joseph of the China Pro- gram and Eric Layton of the June Experience. They also had a certificate for David Laws, the China Program Summer Facilita- tor, but he was not present for the meeting. Baker High School counselor Silas Turner and Principal Greg Mitchell gave a presentation on Career Guidance. In the slide show, they discussed their plans to help students make the transition from high school to post-second- ary, whether it be a career field, a technical institute for training, or a college setting. Mitchell explained the Oregon Diploma has three real domains to it and they focus on the 24 credits that everyone needs in the state of Oregon. He explained that there is a large domain called Personalized Learning, a state requirement, that is made of three components; the 4 Year Plan & Profile, the Career Related Learn- ing Experiences (CRLE) and Extended Application. “Education Plan & Profile, this is the interesting thing, the process should begin no later than 7th grade and continue through 12th grade with regular annual updates,” explained Mitch- ell. “This is really what the state is asking us and we wholeheartedly agree with it, is that from 7th grade on, you should be having an annual persistent discus- sion with students explor- ing where are the career fields out there, where are my aptitudes, and how do they align with what pos- sibilities there are.” For the CRLE, the slide stated “Students will dem- onstrate knowledge and skills in personal manage- ment, problem solving, communication, teamwork, employment foundations and career development”. The third, Extended Appli- cation, is “the application of knowledge and skills in the context of the student’s personal and career inter- ests and post-high school goals”. Turner went on to explain the general scheme for the Personal Learning Plan (PLP). Students begin with awareness; who they are and what are their strengths. They then move into City passes ordinance vacating Allen Street BY GINA K. SWARTZ Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com City Council Convened Tuesday evening for their final September meeting. Mayor Downing called the meeting to order and Councilor Thomas lead the pledge of allegiance and gave the invocation. City Recorder/Human resource manager Julie Smith called role with all Councilors present. Mayor Downing moved the meeting forward stat- ing the next item on the agenda for the evening was the consent agenda that consisted of the minutes from the last Council meet- ing held on September 12, 2017. Councilor Joseph moved to approve with a second by Councilor Thomas. The motion to approve passed with a unanimous vote. Mayor Downing next called for citizen participa- tion for any matter that was not on the evenings agenda. With none, he moved the meeting forward. Third Reading of Ordi- nance #3358 Vacation of Allen Street As required by law, Mayor Downing officially opened a public hearing regarding the issue. Lanae Bootsma-Jones stepped forward to address Coun- cil. Bootsma-Jones advised Council that she has plans to build an office building on the parcel of land that Allen Street currently oc- cupies. Those plans are for a portion of the building to occupy part of what is Allen Street. Bootsma-Jones stated in a letter to Council that her Father had acquired the property in the 1990s with the understanding that the street had been vacated in 1982. That vacation was rescinded in 1997. The road currently dead- ends into I-84 and is not a maintained street. Boots- ma-Jones advised Council she has been working to locate utilities and has provided Council with an easement report and stated that utilites on the property appear to run along the edge of the property with the exception of Cascade Natural Gas whom she is still working with to locate their lines. With no other public comment Mayor Downing then closed the public hearing. Councilor Joseph moved to have the third reading of the ordi- nance by title only. Councilor McQuisten made a second to that mo- tion with each Councilor voting in favor. Planning Director Holly Kerns then read the ordinance by title only. She stated that no further comment had been received on the matter. Councilor Joseph moved to approve the ordinance with a second by Coun- cilor Thomas. Council unanimously voted to approve the ordinance. City Manager/Director Comments City Manager Fred Warner advised Council that he had been in contact with County Commis- sioner Bruce Nichols in regard to the SAFER grant that the City recently was awarded. That grant pays in part for additional firefighters but the City is required to pay a portion as well. In a discussion at a prior meeting Council talked about ways that money could be raised to pay their portion of the grant, one of which was to ask the County to help with funding since City ambulance service is provided to the entire County free of charge. Warner stated that he was working with Nichols to put together a meeting between City Council and the County Commissions to discuss the matter. SEE CITY COUNCIL PAGE 10 Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press Former Board member Melissa Irvine receives a plaque for her three years of service. exploration, finding what their goals are and what they are interested in. Students then look into scholarships and finan- cial aid and that does not always include college. Students are able to go into working their trade and learning skills. Turner explained that it is a process and subject to change as they go but they want students to start exploring. Carson Lien, ASB President, presented to the board, explaining the high school has many events coming up including pep night and homecoming. For the pep night themes; freshman is Fresh Prince of Bel Air, sophomores is Shrek, juniors is Greek Mythology, and seniors is Pirates of the Caribbean. Pep night is October 4th. Lien also explained that the Oregon Supreme Court will have cases at the Baker High School Audi- torium on October 17th. The event is open to the public and they will have times for questions and an- swers between cases. Lien also explained a NASA Engineer will also visit the Baker School District on October 12th. Jessica Dalton, the Food Services Director, sent written recommenda- tions to the board. She explained; “For the first time in six years, both FSA and Sysco submitted bids for our food/non-food purchases, with Sysco’s bid coming in at the lower price.” Dalton explained that, after reviewing their deliv- ery schedules, she suggests they move their business to Sysco for the 2017-2018 school year. She also noted that Meadow Gold was the only submission for milk and they were her recom- mendation. The board approved the Food/Non Food Bids, Milk Bids, and Produce Bids only if Sysco is doing the produce bids. They will clarify if Sysco is doing the produce bids. Board member Katie Lamb is now one of the board members on the Long Range Facility Plan- ning Committee. The board voted unani- mously having Andrew Bryan for the OSBA Legislative.
