in other words
october2
2014
Voices From the Crowd:
My Thoughts on Vernonia Schools
By Katie Cook
I’ve had a year to reflect on the
choice we made to uproot our family after
seventeen years and move to Vernonia
and away from everything we know and
everyone we love, including our schools
and familiar teachers in the Hillsboro
and Beaverton School Districts.
When recently asked what our
thoughts were on our new school situa-
tion, my first initial idea was, “I thought
I was moving to a nightmare but possibly
ended up finding a little bit of heaven.”
We moved from extremely
overcrowded schools. My kids succeed-
ed much more in the class rooms in the
grade school when they had a good stu-
dent/teacher relationship. In other words,
the teachers knew the kids. In Washing-
ton County, once my children hit middle
school and high school, it became visible
that students became numbers. Classes
were overflowing and with these high
numbers came a disconnect between stu-
dent and teacher. With higher numbers,
individual needs were next to impossible
to meet. This brought the question, “Is
the time spent at school truly worth the
6 ½ hours that my children are there? Is
it even worth the teacher’s time?” Even
the sports programs were overcrowded.
Extremely talented players were not
able to play because there were simply
too many students crammed up into the
schools. Deserving players missed the
opportunity for experience and scholar-
ships due to the fact of the overcrowded
issue. Some of my family described it as
“suffocating.”
As a parent, I felt I couldn’t
breathe. I was subsequently consumed at
all times; consumed with finding other
options for my children’s education;
consumed with trying to find tutors;
consumed with searching for other op-
portune moments in sports; consumed
with over-volunteering to try to help
out; consumed with politics to try to fix
the budget problems and help avoid cut-
ting programs; consumed with keeping
up with my own budget because all the
money was going somewhere else to
make up the difference missed in school
and sports, the very system that I was
pouring taxes into already. It was, in
fact, suffocating and frustrating.
To top it off, essentials were be-
ing cut from the schools. PE, Music, Art,
and Engineering, were all being cut, and
along with it, quite honestly, the joys of
what makes school exciting. Learning
is supposed to be stimulating, full of ex-
perimentation. Motivation comes with
success which is usually accomplished
with hands-on projects. The schools
were cutting out anything hands-on and
defeating the purpose of learning the sci-
ences and math in the first place. The
lack of opportunity to experiment (math
in Music, Math and Science in Engineer-
ing, the science behind Home Econom-
ics and Shop and the need to understand
the science of PE and the physical need
for it) creates absent results of success,
which leads to lack of motivation, which
leads to boredom and a mundane, robot-
ic education system.
The day came when we made
a decision to buy a house. My husband
found a fixer upper in Vernonia. (Fixing
is something he learned with hands-on
experience with math and science at his
school.) After 17 years, it seemed a dif-
ficult leap of faith. Too often I heard it
referred to as “Vernowhere.”
Obviously, my first priority as a
mother was to visit the school. When I
approached the building, I was greeted
by a staff member who seemed very re-
laxed and welcoming. (In Washington
County many office workers seemed of-
ten overwhelmed and pulling out their
hair.) She could tell I was concerned so
she simply took the time to introduce
herself to my children and asked their
names. My thought was, “They have
TIME to talk with my children,” and it
all launched from there.
I noticed the ample time the
principal had to take with the kids and
my concerns. I observed the time the of-
fice staff had to show them their lockers
and assign my children to lockers near-
by familiar friends that they happened
to know already. I was aware there was
time for staff or class officers to intro-
duce my children to other students. They
took time to make my family comfort-
able. We invited two family friends
from Washington County to come to
my daughter’s graduation in May. The
unanimous comment was, “They actual-
ly had time to walk across the stage and
get their diploma before the next name
was called rather than the assembly line
in the city schools.” (When my son was
a senior, we were in the city and gradu-
ation took endless hours and I almost
missed him because it went so fast.)
Initially, a small school caused
concern but, in the end, I’ve never had
this much time to actually step back
and breathe. I knew the staff within a
Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-7
Lady’s Night Wed 5-12
few weeks and they knew my kids. My
daughter who began failing some class-
es in her old school became a straight A
student again. In her own words, “My
teachers know me and it helps me want
to do better.” My family found time to
fit in extracurricular activities because
that is exactly what they were. They
were “extra” instead of necessary activ-
ities needed to make up the difference
from what they missed during the day.
I found that I could replace “Consume”
with “Time to” in every sentence in the
above paragraph, as it became an op-
tion rather than a necessity due to the
fact that their needs were being met
at school. My volunteer time is not a
waste here. My children’s school day is
not a waste here.
The most telling sentence I can
share is a quote that became routine
from my oldest daughter’s mouth who,
mind you, was a senior when we moved
here. Referring to all of the unique
events available, she would exclaim,
“Man, we would never have been able
to do that at my other school.” (because
of too many students)
My youngest daughter in 8 th
grade loves it here. She didn’t know for
sure what she was interested in but it’s
all available to her to try because it’s
not overcrowded here. She knows her
teachers and they know her. She has
tried playing volleyball, basketball and
run hurdles. Because of the opportunity
to try it all, she has decided that only
volleyball and hurdles are in her future.
My son struggles in school.
But, for the first time in years, I find
myself saying things such as, “Boy,
that teacher responded quickly to the
email.” or “Did you know your teacher
called?” So, the way I would describe
Vernonia schools is “Connected.” There
is time and opportunity for these great
teachers to make up the difference where
the education system lacks.
Unfortunately, there is a but.
Vernonia struggles with budget cuts
like other schools. Vernonia struggles
with non-existent hands-on classes
like Music, Art, PE, Shop, and Home
Economics, including a dwindling
Engineering program, just to name a
few. In Vernonia, my kids are surrounded
with an incredibly amazing environment
for learning but the schedule options
are next to barren. This was the only
downfall when we moved here. This is
a HUGE problem. The basics are here
but the education color wheel provides
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Katie Cook
The Gopher
Steven Leskin
Stacey Lynn
Aaron Miller
Michal Smith
Grant Williams
Photography
Tracy Easlon
Scott Laird
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Have an article?
Contact: scott@vernoniasvoice.com
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PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
www.VernoniasVoice.com
only the primary colors. My children
had to reinvent themselves with much
argument. We cannot expect people
to move into this extraordinary school
environment yet only offer these
bleak options. We have got to sacrifice
somewhere so that more opportunity,
or in other words, the secondary, and
possibly, the tertiary colors of the
color wheel can be available. It is a
straightforward fact: Not all kids like or
respond to merely blue, red or yellow.
Consequently, VERNONIA, our schools
are connected to our students. This is
the perfect time to take advantage of our
new school. With the encouragement
and support of parents and community
members, maybe a change can happen in
the color wheel of our education system.
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