March 17, 2022
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V E R N O N I A’ S
Volume 16 Issue 6
Reflecting the spirit of our community
The Little School House That Could
The Mist School is a throwback to the old,
one-room school houses of yesteryear,
offering blended grades and small class
sizes. Students, teachers, and parents love
the unique approach to education, while
embracing some modern updates.
By Scott Laird
On a recent unusually cold but sunny day in Febru-
ary a young girl on the school playground boldly introduces
herself to a visitor, and asks excitedly, “Do you want to see
the cocoon we found?” before rushing off with some class-
mates to a play structure and pointing out the furry blob
tucked into a crevice. The teacher explains the students have
been observing the cocoon for several days, waiting expec-
tantly to see what might emerge.
Inside, a small class of older students sit around on
couches and the floor working on a history lesson, listening
while a boy reads his imagined letter home to Europe from
Jamestown, the new world colony in Virginia where hun-
dreds of settlers had died from starvation the previous win-
ter. The rest of the class offers the student helpful ideas and
constructive criticism on how to improve his assignment,
while searching through both an online and book thesaurus,
looking for alternative words to use in their writing projects.
Later, a teacher asks her younger class if anyone
would like to stop working on their math assignment and
have library time. About half the class heads across the hall
with a teaching aide, picks out some reading material from
the shelves, and settle in for some quiet time, while the rest
of the class continues learning addition and subtraction.
Welcome to the Mist School, the remarkable, four-
room rural elementary school that is part of the Vernonia
School District (VSD), where students are encouraged to
learn for themselves and explore their interests, where older
students assist the teacher and help their younger school-
mates learn new lessons, where community members vol-
unteer to teach students life skills like cooking and crafts,
and where students can learn at their own pace and instruc-
tors can teach more than just the three regular
Rs, and expand to teach valuable life skills like
resourcefulness, respect, and responsibility.
The Mist School offers students and
their families an alternative to the larger class-
rooms at the District’s main school building
of 550 students. Students seem to thrive with
the individual attention they receive in the two
blended K-2 and 3-5 grade classrooms. Teach-
ers appreciate the flexibility the setting offers.
And parents love the family atmosphere, the
open communication with teachers, and the
support the school receives from the Mist and
Birkenfeld communities the school serves.
Sena Wilmot is in her 30 th year in edu-
cation and her second year at the Mist School
where she teaches the 3-5 grade class. “As an
educator, I believe in raising the whole child,
so the Mist School really aligns with my teach-
ing philosophy,” she says. “It excites me to see
students get excited about learning. We talk a lot
about being a community of learners – it doesn’t
matter where a student is in their skills, every-
one has something to contribute, and we help
each other to learn. And it’s so easy to foster
that philosophy in this environment. We just
have more freedom to encourage students to ask
questions and use critical thinking, and then we
can dive in to things. It’s just more of an or-
ganic way of learning.”
“At Mist we’ve put kids together in-
tentionally, and then developed our program
so we can implemented the curriculum at different years,”
says Vernonia School District Superintendent Aaron Miller.
“I think there are a lot of advantages to having multi-level
classrooms. There are so many things you can do with them
together, and there is a wide range of skills to build on, and
help each other move forward.”
In addition to Wilmot, Celeste Avy teaches the
K-2 class, Tabetha Groshong is the instructional assistant
School District Relaxes
COVID Restrictions
The Vernonia School District has an-
nounced relaxed COVID protocols, including
making the wearing of masks optional for all
students and staff.
The change was announced in a let-
ter dated March 9 from Superintendent Aaron
Miller which was addressed to students, staff,
inside
3
Ants on the Move
9
Vernonia SK8 Progress
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Library Art Exhibit
and the community. New protocols took effect
March 12.
Miller wrote that the new protocols
were based the Ready Schools Safe Learners
guidance provided by the Oregon Department
of Education. In addition to making masks
optional, the new protocols also address quar-
antines, isolation, and contract tracing guide-
lines.
According to the new protocols staff
and students will no longer need to quarantine
if exposed to COVID. Anyone that has tested
positive for COVID or shows two or more
symptoms will be required to isolate at home
for five days and then be fever-free for 24
hours before returning to school/work. Masks
will be optional in the school building and on
the school bus, although it is strongly recom-
mended that anyone who tests positive contin-
ue to wear a mask during days six through 10.
“The ultimate decision on masking
will rest with students and families to make the
best decision for themselves,” wrote Super-
intendent Miller. “As a District, we support
whatever decision you choose to make and
will not tolerate any unkind or discriminatory
behavior based on your choice to continue to
wear or not.”
“Personal Choice is the new rule, and
we ask that parents reinforce at home that wear-
ing a mask is a personal choice and regardless
of the reason, each student, staff member, and
parent will now get to make that decision for
themselves… and either choice is ok and ac-
ceptable,” continued Miller in his letter.
In other changes, the District is now
approving facility use requests for community
meetings and events.
for the classes, and also teaches phys ed while serving as
part-time custodian, nurse, and recess monitor, and Megan
Peterson is an educational assistant with the students part-
time. Because only two classes share the library, gym,
and playground, there is a lot of freedom in how teachers
structure the school day. Recently a local volunteer from
the community began teaching students to crochet, telling
the boys that fishermen use those skills, which manages to
continued on page 8
Candidates Set
for May 17 Elections
Heimuller will not seek
re-election for County
Commissioner seat
The March 8 deadline has
passed for this year’s May 17 primary
election and all candidates are finalized.
House District 31, formerly
held by Democrat Brad Witt, has three
candidates running. Democrat Anthony
Sorace from Scappoose will run unop-
posed. Sorace is a software and sys-
tems engineer for various companies,
treasurer for a non-profit foundation,
and a youth minister, who has experi-
ence as both a Precinct Committee
Person for the Democratic Party of Co-
lumbia County, and as a Delegate to the
State Central Committee for the Demo-
cratic Party of Oregon.
Drew Layda and Brian Stout
have both filed to run as Republicans
and will face off in the primary for the
right to run against Sorace in Novem-
ber. Stout lives in Columbia City and is
a small business owner of Sign & Shirt
Works in Portland. He is a Precinct
Committee Person for the Columbia
County Republican Party and was un-
successful twice in runs against Witt for
the District 31 seat. Layda is a Navy
veteran who has worked as a com-
mercial diver and lives in Multnomah
County, just across the Columbia Coun-
ty line. He is currently a Precinct Com-
mittee Person for the Multnomah Coun-
ty Republican Party, was the Libertar-
ian and Green Party nominee in 2018
for Oregon’s 1 st Congressional District
election, and has been involved in the
Libertarian National Party in the past.
Only two candidates filed
for former State Senator Betsy John-
son’s District 16 seat. Melissa Busch,
a home health nurse from Warren will
run unopposed as a Democrat, while
State Representative Suzanne Weber, a
Republican who won election to repre-
sent District 32 in 2020, is also running
unopposed. Weber is a former school
teacher, business owner, and City
Councilor and Mayor of Tillamook.
In Columbia County, the big
news is that current County Commis-
sioner Henry Heimuller did not file to
run for re-election for Position 2.
Four candidates have filed to
run for County Commissioner Position
2: Jonathon Barkclay from Deer Island,
Brian Brust of Rainier, Kelly Niles of
Columbia City, and Kellie Jo Smith
from St. Helens. Barclay is the director
of maintenance for a hotel management
company. Brust is a drywall finisher
who grew up in Scappoose, lived in St.
Helens for 20 years, and served for four
years in the U.S. Marine Corp. Niles is a
long-time wildland fire supervisor with
the Oregon Department of Forestry. He
is the current Chair of the Columbia
City Planning Commission, Chair of the
Columbia County Homeland Security
Emergency Management Commission,
is Vice Chair of the Columbia River
Fire and Rescue Board of Directors, and
continued on page 4