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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2003)
TRIBAL MEMBER NEWS Van Pelt Promoted to Ranking Officer Jonathan Joins Duartes The Duarte family would like to welcome its newest member: Congratulations to Blair Van Pelt for her successful completion of Jonathan Cecil Bom Aug. 8, 2003 5 pounds, 12 ounces; 19 inches long Jonathan was bom two months premature at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Ore. We would like to welcome him home and thank all those for their prayers and gifts. Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and promotion to ranking officer of her stateside reserve unit. Blair’s unit currently is deployed in the Middle East, but the Army has al Jonathan Cecil Duarte lowed her to begin college and Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) studies at San Diego State University. Siletz Valley, con’t from page 1 supplement that program,” said Van. “The same applies to the social studies curriculum.” Also in early October the school opened the computer lab and started holding classes. All classes have access to the lab. The media center is now available to all classes, thanks to a staff member who can run the library. Van sent a survey to the students in early October to see what they would be interested in and then implemented an electives program that started near the end of October for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders. The girls wanted cheerleading tryouts and an individual is now work ing with eight girls. They’ve done fund raisers to help defray the costs of uniforms. The school will help them obtain uniforms, but will need parental involvement in that program. The boys wanted weightlifting. With the physical education teacher now aboard, boys now have a weight lifting class as an elective. Another interest was art, painting, and drawing. One staff member is a professional artist and will teach a painting/drawing class. A sewing elective also will be offered, utilizing the home ec room and sewing machines already available in the school. Other electives offered at a later date include a school newspaper through the computer lab and woodshop. At this point, the school needs to find individuals to take on these programs, 14 □ Siletz News □ possibly as a volunteer for one hour a day or as a consultant. The school finally received a full staff for special education services from the school district. This includes one full-time learning specialist, two full- time assistants, and one part-time learning specialist. The district also provides speech therapy and other related services necessary for our kids. “There’s been a lot of paperwork that’s been taken care of, so now they’re into providing direct services to kids,” Van explained. The cafeteria food is provided through a contract the school district has with a food service company and Van said the school has no real complaints. The kids say they like it and enjoy having choices. As far as the facilities themselves, everything has been examined in terms of safety or health violations. “We’ve corrected everything. The facilities are in good shape. On Oct. 9, the fire marshal was here and found very little wrong with the building,” explained Van. “We’ve been fixing everything up. We have some minor things we have to take care of, but we got a passing grade.” The school also held its first fire drill and Fire Chief Dave Edwards was present. “Everything went fair except we told everybody beforehand, so it wasn’t such a shock to the little ones until they knew what it was all about. Fire drills November 2003 Blair Van Pelt Debra Marthalier, Craig Whitehead, Bonnie Crawford, Debby Fawver, and Katie Lindstrom are sworn in as members of the school board for Siletz Valley School by Rosemary Landis. Bonnie, Debbie, and Katie were appointed to two- year terms. Debra and Craig were appointed to three-year terms. will be once a month and the next one will be a ‘free-for-all,’” said Van. Water samples from the school were tested and the results showed the water’s level of copper and other minerals fell within state guildelines. Even with the testing, Van said, “We don’t use the drinking fountains. We bring in bottled water for the students.” The Siletz Tribe provided a grant to re-roof the school building from its Charitable Contribution Fund. “We’re very appreciative of that, not only re-roofing but also fixing the big gym. The clapboards on the outside were beginning to leak, so we got both of those taken care of thanks to the tribe. “The biggest thing is we’ve had a lot of volunteers from the community that have come in and have put in a lot of hours to help us get the building the way it is now,” Van said. “We’ve had volunteers in classrooms help teachers and I’d like to commend the community for that. They’ve been really very supportive of the facility, classes, and teachers.” In addition to assistance with the building and in the classroom, many volunteers helped organize the Halloween celebration on Oct. 31. School board members are putting together a Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 3 and the Restoration mini pow wow on Nov. 14.
