schools
july17
2014
Vernonia School Board Report
At the July 10, 2014 School Board
Meeting:
$50 for elementary band students was
added to the schedule, although Super-
intendent Miller stated that the fee was
Board Elects Chair and Vice Chair- already being implemented, it just was
The Board elected Bill Langmaid as not on the schedule.
Chair and Jim Krahn as Vice Chair for
the 2014-15 school year.
Project Updates- Superintendent Miller
updated the Board on five current proj-
Board Approves New Hires- The Board ects. Construction at Spencer Park is
approved two new temporary hires for moving forward and is scheduled to be
the 2014-15 school year.
complete and ready for use next sum-
Laura Blacker has been hired to mer. Board member Ernie Smith ex-
teach 4 th grade, replacing Robyn Rich- pressed concern and asked about the
mond who is on maternity leave for the City’s plan for maintaining the new field.
year. Blacker has been working and The City will hold a Conditional Use
volunteering in the district for several Permit Hearing on July 17 concerning
years and just finished her student teach- the construction of the new shop build-
ing assignment in Vernonia last year. A ing. Following that process, the District
resident of the Vernonia community and can move forward with construction
active in the local PTA, Blacker served although it is questionable whether the
as the coach of the high school golf team shop will be completed in time for the
this past year. Blacker received her Mas- start of the school year. The football
ter’s Degree in Education from PSU.
practice field on the new campus is un-
Margi Fry will be the fifth mem- der construction. The District will move
ber of the K-2 combined teaching team. forward with construction of a new soft-
Fry has taught grades 1-8 over the last ball field on campus this summer and
five years, has a Bachelor’s Degree of will hopefully be ready next spring. The
Science from Warner Pacific College and District is hoping to complete the proj-
is a graduate of Gresham High School. ect with assistance from local contrac-
tors. The PTA has purchased the first of
Board Approves Student Fee Sched- three phases of new playground equip-
ule-The Board approved the Student Fee ment and will install that first phase with
Schedule for 2014-15 which includes volunteers before the start of the school
a $0.10 increase to full breakfast and year.
lunches for elementary, middle and high
school students. The Student Body Fee Board Liaisons Encouraged for Dis-
for high school students increased from trict Committees- Superintendent Mill-
$20 to $25. An Instrument Rental fee of er encouraged Board members to be-
PTA Purchases First
Phase of Play Structure
Installation Planned for August 22-23
The Vernonia PTA
is pleased to announce
that Phase I of a new
playground play structure
has been purchased for the
school campus. The PTA
plans to install the entire
structure in three phases as
funds become available.
Plans call for
Phase I to be installed
and ready for students on
the first day of school this
year.
The PTA has been
hard at work during the
last several years raising
funds to purchase and in-
stall playground equip-
ment. The purchase of
Phase I will cost just over
$7,000.
An installation
work party has been sched-
uled for Friday, August 23
and Saturday, August 24.
Work party leaders and
volunteers are needed.
“This is a huge
deal!” says PTA President
Melissa Zavales. “Our
kids and school have been
without a playground! We
are so excited and this
should be a huge and ex-
citing event for our com-
munity and students!”
A Grand Open-
ing celebration is being
planned during the School
Open House on October
9th.
Boosters
Buzz
Little Guy Football sign-ups
will be held at
Anderson Park,
6:00-7:30 PM
on the following
Wednesdays:
August 6th & 13th
The season starts
August 18th!
13
come a liaison to the numerous District
Committees which include: Curriculum,
Technology, Safety, Health & Wellness,
Talented and Gifted, Achievement Com-
pact, Career & Technical Education,
Sustainability, and Positive Behavior &
Intervention Support.
Board Assignments- The Board chose
assignments for several Committees:
Negotiations - Bill Langmaid, Ernie
Smith, and Greg Kintz; Policy Review
- Brett Costley and Cari Levenseller;
Facilities (Long Range Planning) - Jim
Krahn, Tim Bamburg, and Ernie Smith;
Vernonia Education Foundation - Bill
Langmaid and Cari Levenseller.
Substitute Pay Increase- The Board
was informed that the State has set a rate
of $171.52 per day for licensed teachers
for the 2014-15 school year. The Board
voted to increase the District’s substitute
teacher pay from $171 to $172 per day.
Board Approves Meeting Schedule-
The Board approved the 2014-15 School
Board meeting schedule. Meetings
will be held on the second Thursday of
each month at 6:00 PM with the excep-
tion of November when it will be held
on Wednesday, November 12 due to
a scheduling conflict with the OSBA
annual convention. Workshops were
scheduled for October 30, January 29,
and April 30. A Board retreat was
scheduled for August 21.
Aaron Miller has assumed the
superintendent responsibilities for the
Vernonia School District.
Board Assigns Designees- The Board
voted to designate Aaron Miller as Chief
Administrative and Budget Officer, as
Custodian of Funds, and as Represen-
tative of Federal/State Fund and Grant
Applications. The Board also desig-
nated US Bank and Government Pool
as Depository of Funds; Grove, Muel-
ler & Swank, P.C. as District Auditors;
Brown & Brown Northwest as Insur-
ance Agents of Record, Garrett, Her-
mann, Robertson, Jennings, Comstock
& Trethewy as Attorney of Record and
Vernonia’s Voice as Newspaper of Re-
cord. These were the same as last year,
with the exceptions that Aaron Miller
has now assumed Superintendent duties
and the Insurance Agent of Record has
changed their name from Beecher Carl-
son. The Board also voted to set a Bor-
rowing Limit of $150,000.
Schools Update: New Campus Softball Field
By Aaron Miller
The Vernonia School Dis-
trict (VSD) continues to move for-
ward with facilities development
on the new schools’ campus and
one of the next projects to be un-
dertaken is the development of our
sports fields. The Vernonia Educa-
tion Foundation (VEF) is charged
with raising funds to help with the
overall debt retirement of our new
facilities, but also with generating
funds to help complete these facili-
ties. A new, on-campus, varsity
softball field is the initial focus of
the VEF Sports Initiative.
The VEF Sports Initiative
Committee has worked diligently
to raise funds for our sports facili-
The
ties and their plan is to begin work
this summer on the softball field
at the new site. If all goes well the
softball field will be completed in
time for next year’s season. While
the majority of funding is in place
for this project, it will take a con-
certed effort by VSD staff, the VEF
and local volunteers to make this
lofty goal a reality.
Athletic staff, administra-
tion, VEF board members and the
field designers have been meeting
regularly to determine a plan of ac-
tion and are now looking for other
volunteers who are ready, willing
and able to help with the project.
Volunteers and/or donations to help
with these items would be greatly
appreciated. Here is a list:
Birk
the old house of music
“it’s not that far”
www.thebirk.com
• Excavation
• Dirt transport
• Purchase and installation of
drainage and irrigation systems
• Grass seed procurement
• Grass seed installation
• Fence and backstop construction
• Dugout construction
If you, or someone you
know, is interested in helping
out with this, or any other volun-
teer project at the schools, please
contact Aaron Miller at 503-429-
5891. Your help and support will
be greatly appreciated as we con-
tinue to move forward to make our
schools and facilities the best they
can be.
291
A
Street
call Kim
Lovable service at
a reasonable price
• Bathing
• Haircuts
• Nail Clipping
• Nail Polishing
• Specialty
Shampoos
