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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1978)
I County comment Specialist need pondered Lee Irwin, Publisher Sue L ifk y. Editor Bob Blumhigm. Asst, Publisher . Caroline Duff. Office Maned* Douglas Gantenbein. Staff Reporter Ray Tipton, Advertising Manager Published w eekly Thurtdayt by The O utlook Publishing Co So» 68 Sondy O regon 8 7 0 5 5 Second c lo u postoge paid ot Sondy Oregon 668 5548 SUBSCRIPTION RATES In M ultnom ah ond Clockomas Counties per yeor ................... *5 00 Servicemen ony a d d re s s ............ In N orthw est ond Pocihc Coast States outside Oregon per yeor ...............*7 00 ‘ 5 00 O utside N orthw est ond Pooh« Coast stotes per y e o r .................................. ‘8 00 In O regon outside M ultnom ah ond ‘6 00 meaoer NÊÎ Page 2 F wp X pep ■ s I ■■ P u W is h o rs ■ KW Association Represented Nationally by U S SUBURBAN PRESS INC IB No. 4 Sandy Post, Sandy, Oregon 97065 Thurs., Jan. 26, 1978 Question: The Right Budget? Tuesday evening the Sandy Union High School budget com m ittee put its stamp of approval on a $2,702,182 budget for the 1978-79 school year. W hile labeled “ fiscally con se rvative” by Superintendent Jack Peters, we believe there is another word that more appropriately fits the document: Uninspired. In adopting the budget the board failed to display either leadership or im agination, opting instead to stick almost to the le tte r w ith a budget proposal that covers ju st the bare needs of the district. While it is true that the board com m itted itself to expenditures of at least $61,000 above the original budget, it should be noted that almost this entire sum w ill be covered by a surprise state allocation of $53,004 that the board received just Tuesday morning. Had this large allocation not come, it is probable that the board would have reduced even this modest addition, most of which goes towards the purchase of buses. While we agree w ith the opinion of the board that there is a lim it to which a com m unity can be taxed, it seems that the board is fa r more interested in serving the taxpayer than they are the student. Left off the budget, for example, is a proposed career center that would have helped give students needed jo b guidance during a dek- ade that has seen the employee’s m arket depart forever. Both vo c a tio n and college bound students are in need of all the help they can get if they are not to become a num ber of the unem ploym ent roles. And in axing funds for the resurfacing of the school’s track, the board showed that it is quite w illin g to “ pass the buck” on that expenditure to another, future board. The cu rre nt track surface w ill not last forever, and it seems certa in that the cost of the job w ill rise ra th e r than fa ll. Also, while several vocational program s at least appeared on the lis t of funding candidates, not even discussed were any ideas to benefit the student m in o rity that has become one of the most neglect ed— the exceptional student. It is true th a t the d is tric t is w o rkin g on an application fo r state funding of a gifted and able program w ith d is tric t m atching funds, it stands to reason that a responsible board should be w illin g to take its own in itia tiv e when good students are w asting their tim e in classes fa r beneath th e ir capabilities. C ertainly, these program s cost money, and this is not a wealthy d is tric t. B ut we believe that Sandy High patrons are interested in providing fo r education. We also believe that the budget board should be w illin g to propose and if need be defend program s that could im prove the quanvy»of that education. The w orld is changing and Sandy is changing. The board serves no one by sim ply standing its ground. (DGG) letters to the editor Generosity To the Editor: The Cub Scouts of Welches Grade School, Pack 173, would like to thank the members of Mt. Hood Lions for the help and generosity with regard to the paper drive and yearly fund raising event. In prior years the cubs have been preoccupied all through the year w ith various fund raising ac tivities. With the Lions generous help, we w ill be more able to concentrate on activities for the boys. Again, we thank the Mt. Hood Lions for their support. Their help w ill go a long way in making 1977-78 a very good year for the Welches Cubs. Sincerely, Alan M. Jensen Cubmaster - Pack 173 N ew options Back To Basics, We Hope We were delighted to read that the U n iversity of Oregon and P ortland State U n ive rsity are doing something to m ake sure their graduates can w rite w ith some degree of proficiency. Oregon has for several years required rem edial courses for those students who cannot demonstrate “ basic w ritin g s k ills ” and Portland State plans to im plem ent the same sort of program . In the olden days, such classes were dubbed “ bonehead E nglish” and it was no pa rticu la r disgrace to end up in one. A lot of today’s • engineers, for instance, learned how to w rite in such a course. But somehow, somewhere along the line, the a b ility to use the language became low p rio rity in fa r too many high schools. We taught a lot of things so students could “ cope” w ith today’s society but we didn’t teach them how to w rite. A ll too typical is this gem. w ritte n by a student on a Gresham- area high school newspaper (only the name has been changed): “ B illy besides being a startin g linem an on the va rsity football team last season he is particip ating now in va rsity baseball where he is doing very w ell as there starting catcher adn he is also doing very good as he shows to be one of there good h itte rs .” That fro m a high school senior. W hile we applaud the rem edial courses at P ortland State and Oregon, i t ’s obvious they w ill touch only a fraction of high school graduates. To restore some semblance of literacy, we have to in s till a new respect for the language as fa r back as kin d e rg a rte n . S im p ly sta te d , schools—and parents—must give firs t p rio rity to w ritin g and speaking skills Knowing how to com m unicate is a whole lot more im portant than balancing a check book On cutting state spending Details are lacking but two Republican state senators have form ed a new group. The Public Interest, which m ay rock a few boats. The two—Bob Smith of Bum s and L B. Day of Salem—want to put lim ita tio n s on legislative staffs and salaries and in addition, would require that any state budgetary surplus be returned to the tax payers. These they would accomplish by in itia tiv e petition Also on th e ir tentative list are in itia tiv e efforts dealing w ith im provem ents in education and in higher education budgeting. Again, details are lacking but their efforts may meet con sid e ra b le success, p a r tic u la r ly that which would return budget surpluses in the form of property tax relief. In fla tio n has caused the state to receive much more than o rig in a lly anticipated from the income tax. R ather than expanding state spending to use the surplus. Sm ith and Day propose it be returned to the taxpayers An idea which obviously w ill earn widespread approval with what to me are some intriguing possibilities-and problems. W hile ch attin g w ith It is, of course, quite ob Clackamas County Com vious that a m ajor problem missioner Ralph Groener the lies in the presence of the other day on the subject of situation that makes it false, mistaken or slanted necessary. For example, a news stories about county business that appears in the professional employe, close public press, the com to the office of the com missioners, rather brashly missioner described what at stated that “ we just don’t go first glance appears to be a much for news releases, we fine idea and a workable let the reporters come here solution to the problem. and pick up what they want.” Groener, serving his first The firs t problem in this stint as chairman of the example is that the young board of commissioners, professional man who made offered the suggestion of a that statem ent does not c o u n ty in f o r m a tio n occupy a policy-m aking specialist, a sort of a press position outside the narrow secretary to serve the entire limits of his professional county administrative and re s p o n s ib ility —but young service community. and inexperienced, or lazy, The suggestion and our reporters quite conceivably conversation did not go into do not know that, or care. the matter in depth nor much The second problem is the beyond the present problems overly eager county employe created by ind ivid ua l who may occupy a position in department heads and other county employees who in an already controversial program, who too ardently dependently originate news uses his or her position and releases that should have contacts with the press to put been coordinated with one or forward a partisan side of a more other departments or still questionable activity. offices having a vital concern Another problem arises in the same subject. However, since our con from the p o litic a lly am bitious, and still another versation I have given the from the employe or official suggestion considerable having personal or outside thought and have come up financial interest and access to the press through his of ficial position The list of problems one might encounter in putting the concept of a county in fo rm a tion specialist into effect is paralleled by any punishment that I certainly list of good reasons why it do not find objectionable. should be adopted—except Parent of Five Children, there are more and better Jeri Richardson reasons for having such a 41050 SE Albeier Rd position than there are any Sandy, Ore 97055 real problems in getting the job clone. Food chemicals The main point must be Dear Editor: that such a position can not Have you ever read the and must not be made to ingredients on the food you stand alone eat? If you have, I think that What this rapidly growing you w ill agree with me that county really needs is an the “ food” we eat is no information specialist in the longer food. office of a county om M any c h e m ic a ls , budsman, high up and close preservatives, a r tific ia l to the county’s governing fla vo rin g s, colorings, and body, firm ly dedicated to the many other things are added same concept of promoting , that one can barely and protecting the health, pronounce let alone eat. safety and welfare of all of N a tu ra l scientists have the people of the county proven that many additives There are those in the cause cancer and re ta r county who believe that if the dation. Many other such side effects are predicted to governing body put in a little more earnest effort along appear in later generations, that line we just might be as the chemicals take time to able to get along a little do their initial damage. longer without a public in Recently, English scien formation specialist, or a tists made the discovery that special ombudsman sodium nitrite and nitrate cause cancer Yet has the United States prohibited the sale of meat and other products containing these preservatives? The simple answer is no, the big businessess would suffer too much by it. State Rep Ed Lindquist Now if a person doesn't (D-Jennings Lodge) has start to wonder if the food scheduled a town h all commission is protecting the meeting on Wednesday, Jan. U.S. citizens from im 25, at 7:30 p m . The session purities, i t ’s about time to will be held in the board room at Clackamas Com /Page 4 munity College. By Bill Sanderson To the Editor. The article “ High school study hall causes fu ro r" may have left the impression that I believe in “ c o d d lin g '’ students On the contrary! Students w ith violent behavior problems should be expelled This week’s Tim e magazine has examples of classroom violence, in cluding attacks on teachers These students should be expelled and dealt with in courts of law. not sent to “ special’* rooms within the school so they won't cause trouble, or transferred to other schools to start new behavior problems I know that learning can be hard work, but hard work can also be enjoyable. We are kidding ourselves if we think detention study- halls have worked in the past 25 years. Obviously they have not or we would not have more behavior problems 25 years later Better methods than m ilitary camp atmospheres in our schools across this nation must be developed! Direct results of overorganization, due to our complex society appear as our students enter college When asked. “ What do you wish to become?” the reply is, “ I don't know, you tell me." When asked. “ In what direction do your talents Be?’’ the reply is generally, “ Gee. I d id n t know I had any The issue I raise is not of criticism of any one person, teacher, or administration (Sandy is an example close to home ) We are dealing with concepts, new ideas, facing facts about what works and what does not work, and perhaps admitting to our selves that we must allow our young adults the right to direct their lives It is in grammar school we “ organize“ them, teaching the expected excepted behavior in our society It is in grammar school they are (or SHOULD BE> prepared for high school, and told about decisions they SHOULD be allowed to make in their lives to be respon sible people. It is in high school we need to open doors, not lock them, build bridges not walls, turn kids on not off. Words like “ purge" the schools, words that condemn young people of polluting the atmosphere w ith th e ir music, words that blame the condition of the schools on the clothes young people wear, were spoken by a superindendent of school at a luncheon in Oregon recently. The superin dendent was from Con necticut ( it isn ’t ju s t “ Sandy, the sadness is all over. Hall monitors and detention study halls are Sandy’s contribution to the sadness. Our schools at a high school level do not need “ more options in the disciplinary process'.” They need b etter methods of dealing with the m ajority of students who want to learn what unique human beings they are. They need to tap the inner resources, to turn young people on, to discover the contribution each person has to offer the world Turn on. Not off. It is rare for discipline problems to occur when a student is busy idscovering his potential. It IS work, but it also can be exciting. There are teachers who skillfully tap the potential of their students It is rare indeed when THAT teacher has a discipline problem One wonders how many of our teachers really tap our student’s potential! I was fortunate to have a journalism teacher who did not let a week pass without standing in front of the class and saying. “ Do you know how much potential you all have? Do you know what you all mean to me? I am the luckiest woman in the world, to be teaching people who w ill some day do great things!” This teacher won the governor's award in California for the most ad vanced high school jour nalism class She did not have a discipline problem Many of her students have done “ great” things We m ust get beyond discipline options to trust options We must expect miracles and we w ill receive them No stereo ever played without being turned on An individual that’s turned on is going to make beautiful music: Glenda Barbre Parents for Student Rights Box 244 Rhododendron. Ore 97049 time to think up punishment methods without the need being there I agree that the m ajority of students are attending school with good a ttitu de s and are certainly trustworthy. The ideal s itu a tio n would be where no need for punish ment existed. That situation does not exist anywhere that I know of, in or out of school. The only time we have to be concerned about the punishment is when rules are broken. No one is going to “ force” a child to read, or do physical labor if he is at tending school with the right “ trustworthy" attitude. Expelling “ troublemak ers” is much easier said than done And what have you gained by doing it? That is also punishment and should be the last resort, as far as I am concerned I'm sure the school ad ministration would prefer for parents to handle th e ir c h ild re n ’s lack of a tte n dance, etc., but if it has no effect on the student then the school has to attempt to curb the situation by the punish ment they feel best. Students still have to attend school and do a certain amount of work in order to graduate. I strongly support the high school’s efforts in keeping some s im ila r ity to an organized learning in stitution. where they are still concerned enough about young people to have rules and the courage to enforce those rules by means of Meeting slated Barbre's letter To the Editor: In regards to a letter to the editor in the Jan 19 Sandy Post from a Glenda Barbre. concerning the high school's methods of “ punishment " The high school ad ministration does not have Jimmy Givoth And Jimmy Toketh Away...
