march6 2014
VERNONIA’S
volume8 issue5
reflecting the spirit of our community
www.vernoniasvoice.com
District Recruits Task
Force to Explore Four-
Day School Week
The Senior Center
is Not Just for Seniors
By Scott Laird
One big change that Harrison has
made is opening the Thrift Store on Satur-
The Vernonia Senior Center offers day’s so customers can now shop as well
Approximately seventy
all kinds of services and programs for se- as drop off donations during the weekend.
people were in attendance at the
niors, from help with meals, heath care assis- “That is really important as a link to a lot of
Town Hall Meeting, convened
tance, exercise class-
people,” says Harri-
by the Vernonia School District,
es, entertainment and
son.
when Superintendent Dr. Ken Cox
more. It’s a place
Harrison took over
introduced the idea of a four-day
for senior citizens
as the volunteer man-
school week for Vernonia school
to gather with their
ager of the thrift store
students.
friends, get answers
just over a month ago
The Town Hall was held
to questions, and hear
and has been trying
on Tuesday, February 25 at the
about what’s happen-
to do more outreach
Vernonia School Commons. The
ing around town.
into the community.
four-day school week was the final
But the Ver-
“A lot of people I’ve
item on the agenda, which includ-
nonia Senior Center
talked to didn’t even
ed discussions about current Dis-
isn’t just for senior
know the Thrift Store
trict funding and debt, construc-
citizens. And some
was here,” says Har-
tion of New Spencer Park, how
recent changes are
rison. She also says
the District will use the $250,000
emphasizing
that
she is bumping up
Career and Technical Education
even more.
against some precon-
(CTE) Grant they received this
Lila Harrison
ceived ideas about
year, and the Vernonia Education
Lily Harrison is the new manager of the
is the new manager
what the Thrift Store
Foundation’s Sports Initiative.
Vernonia
Senior
Center
Thrift
Store.
of the Senior Center
is. “We have almost
The audience seemed
Thrift Store and Sheila Kruger is the new no teenagers that ever come in,” says Harri-
most interested in discussing
cook in the kitchen. Both ladies have made son. Her hope is to expand the store’s clien-
the idea of the four-day school
some positive changes and are hoping to at-
week. Dr. Cox made it very clear,
continued on page 9
tract more customers who will utilize the ser-
vices the Senior Center provides and that are
available to the entire community.
“I think sometimes people are inhib-
ited to come in here because they think it’s
just for old people,” said Harrison during a
recent visit to the Senior Center. “And it is
for older people. But it’s also here for ev-
eryone in the community to use. It can be a
really great resource for people. I would like
to see people get in the habit of coming down
and know what is going on here.”
Everyone melcome
One good thing about shopping or
eating at the Senior Center is that the money
Starts at Pat Knight’s House
you spend there helps support senior center
Bridge Street & State Avenue
activities. Your support helps pay the utilities
and keep the doors open.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
Monday,
March 17th
5:15 PM
inside
6
baby and
toddler time
11
community
helps spackmans
12
vhs winter sports
13
boosters buzz
free
Playin’ in the (Ukulele) Band
from the moment he introduced
the item on the agenda, that the
concept was exploratory. “I’m
here to listen to anything you have
to say,” said Cox. ”We want to get
your input on this, but the purpose
of this topic being brought up to-
night is so you can put your name
on a list of people who are going
to study a four-day school week.”
Cox suggested forming
the Task Force which would be
made up of teachers, parents, stu-
dents, other school staff, adminis-
trators and community members
who could investigate the idea and
find answers to numerous logisti-
cal questions for the District. Cox
began passing around a sign up
list for audience members to sign
up and be part of the Task Force.
Cox noted that there are
197 school districts in the state of
Oregon, with approximately fifty
of those currently operating under
a four-day school week.
Cox mentioned several
initially raised challenges and
questions to the idea, including:
deciding which day of the week
would be dropped, impacts to
the length of the school day and
school year, daily scheduling for
both teachers and students, sched-
uling for teachers to ensure they
are working a forty-hour work
week, activities for students on
days when there is no school and
potential cost savings.
Cox was vague when ad-
dressing specific questions and
continued on page 13
By Scott Laird
For some people, playing
music and performing in front of
an audience just comes naturally.
Lowell John Mitchell is one of those
people. Mitchell is a natural with the
guitar and several other instruments,
comfortable playing and singing in
a variety of styles and genres. If
you’ve ever had the pleasure of see-
ing him play live, you know he loves
an audience.
But not all of us are as gifted
as Lowell Mitchell, or as comfort-
able in front of a crowd. Many of
us, who are not naturally musically
inclined, dream of being able to pick
up an instrument, step on stage with
their band, and play a song. Most of
us would never dare to actually do it.
Lowell Mitchell just might
be able to make those dreams come
true.
Mitchell has begun teach-
ing people in Vernonia to play the
ukulele. He holds weekly classes on
Thursday afternoons at 3:00 PM at
the Vernonia Schools. Classes start-
ed seven weeks ago with a handful of
folks who have regularly been join-
ing him and are quickly picking up
the chords and strumming along.
“Anyone can play the ukule-
le,” says Mitchell. “It doesn’t matter
if your tone deaf, I can get you play-
ing the ukulele immediately.”
Lowell Mitchell has been
playing and teaching acoustic music
professionally for a long time. He
continually plays shows and private
parties around the Portland region,
sitting in with some of the best musi-
cians in the area. He recently played
a Valentine’s Day show with north-
west legend Baby Gramps. He cur-
continued on page 10
