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,
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Siletz News
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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.