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.