Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2008)
2 News October Special E d it Bond could provide millions in funding for district _______________________________________________________ u M ary W ood _________________ Staff Reporter With financial struggles in the forefront of the public consciousness, funding public schools can seem like a too much of a sacrifice. However, the West Linn - Wilsonville School District has two money-saving measures on the Clackamas County ballot: one of these measures is a $98 million construction bond (3-308), and the other is a $37.5 million measure (3-307) to pay for teachers and staff. Neither measure would increase property taxes. The lack of tax increase is a way to provide stability for the homeowner, according to Roger Woehl, superintendent. The district makes sure it is paying off old bonds before it tries to pass new ones. The measure that would provide funding for 80 teachers and 80 classified staff members would give the district $7.5 million a year for five years. Dale Hoogestrat, school board chairman, told the Oregonian that the bond is necessary to go along with the construction bond. If the district can't hire new teachers and staff m em b e rs, tHey ca n 't m ak e n ew s c h o o ls . W ith o u t th is m ea su re p a ssin g , fu n d in g could be lost, and West Linn High School could lose teachers. "Class sizes would be huge," Woehl said. He estimates that some classes - _______________________________________________________ could have nearly 40 people. From the construction bond, approximately $59 million would go to the creation of new schools. A 500 student primary one of the most important goals of the bond. "We need a good place to learn for all students," he said. "We're keeping the quality of education Primary School will probably set the standard for the other construction. About four million dollars would go to improving athletic fields school would be created in Wilsonville, and a 300 student primary school with room for expansion would be created in West Linn. The West Linn school would like be completed after the Wilsonville school, according to Tim Woodley, Director of Operations. These schools would have all supplies ready by the time students and teachers high." Currently, there are 400 students in five schools learning in portable classrooms, and there are 160 students in leased facilities like the Arts and Technology High School. The bond would allow more students to be in permanent classrooms. Six million dollars would go to library- related expenses. New and and facilities. Turf would be placed on the football field at Rosemont Ridge Middle School, as well as on the softball fields at Rosemont and Wilsonville High School. The plan to resurface the softball fields was fueled in part by a desire to make the fields equal in quality to the baseball fields, in compliance with Title IX. Five million dollars o ccu p ie d the b u ild in g , in clu d in g lib ra ry b o o k s, im p ro v ed lib ra rie s w o u ld b e ad d ed to C e d aro ak P ark w o u ld b e sp e n t on food - related ex p en ses. O ld technology and supplies. This new school budget would also include a plan for rebuilding Sunset Primary School, as well as a plan for a future middle school. Woehl considers this Primary School and Stafford Primary School, and library renovations would occur at Bolton Primary School. Woodley told The West Linn Tidings that the latest remodel at Willamette appliances, pipes and wires would be replaced in the kitchens at Stafford, Bolton and Cedaroak. A new, large freezer would be placed near the district's main building to replace the old freezer in Wilsonville. For other miscellaneous projects, $24 million would be set aside. A small portion of this would be used to remodel the lower level of Bolton. It would also include district wide technology and a large sum to go towards maintenance for parts of schools that are degrading. Most of this would go to Sunset, the oldest school in the district. The 700 building is not planned as a renovation project, but it may be part of a bond in 2012 according to Woehl. Woehl does not see items being set aside or postponed. "With a bond, you make every effort to do what you said you would do," he said. Doing more could be a possibility too if money is donated. In the 1990's, $1.3 million was donated to provide artificial turf in Wilsonville. "Opportunities arise," Woehl said. He mentioned that when conservation projects are done, people are often willing to match money, which is something the district might take advantage of. "When you try to pass a bond its way too much money, but later on it's not enough," Woehl said. i If th e m e a s u r e s d o n 't pass, it's up to the school board to decide whether they'll be placed on another ballot in the future, but Woehl is sure it would come back onto a ballot at some point. National Merit commended students named a C alley L athrop ________ Staff Reporter WLHS is known for out standing academic achieve ments. This includes the tradition of numerous Na tional Merit scholars being named each year. This y ear nine sen io rs received the title of Com mended Scholars. They are: Kyle Brooks, Ryan Nesbit, Rohini Deb, Echo Thomas, Siena Combs, James Pe tersen, Veronika Jonsson, Sachie Hopkins Hayakawa and Alyssa Aramaki. "It’s basically just an honor. We feel proud of ourselves for being in the top five percent, it was definitely a surprise. There may not be scholarships but it can go on our college applications and make us look cooler," Aramaki said. In order to become a Com mended scholar, students must score very high on the PS AT... within the top 5% of the 1.4 trillion high-school juniors who took the test. "I am honored to be a Com mended Scholar. I didn't think about it too much when I took the PSAT, but putting some effort in paid off," Hopkins Hayakawa said. "I am put ting it on my college apps, and who knows, maybe it will help." According to nationalmerit. org, more than two-thirds or about 34,000 of the approxi mate 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT® receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstand ing academic promise. Although commended stu dents do not continue in the com petition for N ational Merit scholarships, some of these students are eligible for special corporate scholar ships. According to Carrie Guy, W elcom e Secretary, both private and public colleges take this accomplishment into consideration when review ing applications. National M erit Semifinal ists will be featured in the next issue. M r? Commended Scholars from the school were selected based on PSAT scores. Front row: Echo Thomas, Siena Combs. Second row: Veronika Jonsson, Alyssa Aramaki, Rohini Deb, Sachie Hopkins. Back row: Kyle Brooks, Ryan Nesbit, James Petersen. Seven semi-finalists were also announced and will have a chance to become finalists in February. Commended Scholars won't move on in the competition to become finalists, but they become eligible for special college scholarships. Photo by Marissa Ness
