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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1981)
♦—SANDY (O r«.) POST Thur*., F«b S. »»«, (S«c 1) The Sandy Post Editorial & Opinion Von Braschler, Publisher Caroline Duff, Office Manager Mark Floyd. Editor Dan Dillon, News Editor Letters to the editor: Readers hot over school flap GUEST Editorial: N o drug problem by Judy Bowman of Sandy Mother of 6 teens & ex-teens Parent involvement needed M r McMahan Principal Sandy Union High Dear Sir, 1 agree w ith some of v o ir statements made in the Sandy Post in reply to reports made by the Hoodland L u th e ra n congregation concerning the lack of discipline, etc. of students at Sandy High School May I add that if they feel it if so bad here, than they should take a look at the schools in Portland sometime Your statement, •Everyone has got to be involved” . . . . “ when we load up we load up together.” is very im portant and something we all have to work on. com munication being of the utmost importance. I have received much T lak” lately, especially from some friends and many chirch-involved people. The pressure and the new trend in our country is to get the better students out of the public schools and put them into private schools, so they can get a better education and not be exposed to the e vils" of the world. I have found that the education isn’t necessarily any better in the private schools I t ’s just that the parents are forced to be more involved, because they have to pay the tuition out of their own pockets to send the kids there Somehow tax money that we all pay for education just doesn't hurt quite as much as having to "fis h ” it out of o ir pockets. Because parents are forced to be involved, then they are going to help their kids w ith their studies, they know the teachers and what is being taught. The parents also have to help mtrans- porting the students to and from school Students that are a discipline problem are expelled — at a financial loss to the parents You can be s ire not too many kids are kicked out of school, because then mon and dad would have to be responsible for them — not the school. I have found that those parents who yell the poudest about the school are tnose who don’t want the responsibility of teaching their kids what is rig h t or wrong or how to help the student through classes where they have to learn to think and work out problems of their own How many of the concerned parents took the time to talk to the teachers they have “ heard' about How many are listeirung to gossip and believing it? I ’m not saying all the things they have heard are inaccurate, but I believe many of the things are exaggerations. If it turns out that all the claims made by the Lutheran congretion are true, then someone had better clean house, possibly starting at the top I have found that over the last few years things have really changed in our schools. The responsibility has shifted from the parents and students to the teachers. It is the teachers responsibility to teach a subject, even though often 50 percent of the students may come to class with no pencil or paper The students have all their Tights' and no responsibilities This is brought about by their parents, who may feel the same way — it's up to others to do things for them They themselves aren’t to be held responsible for their actions, whether i t ’s raising their children or holding down a job Only parents whose teens end up in ja il or are involved in a fatal accident are finally made to realize that they have failed to teach their chiltken how to accept responsibility as well as basic moral values It's so easy just to let the schools teach morals, as well as reading, w riting, math, and civics and if "m y kid' ends up taking drugs or drinking, then it's the school's fault Of course, that way I don't feel any guilt or responsibility. When are parents going to wake up? This idea that lockers can't be searched without warning the kids firs t is a fine example of the lack of responsibility of all adults involved This includes parents who make up dumb laws to protect the guility party and harm innocent people It seems to me that when a child or teen is on school grounds, the school is responsible for him Because the child is not of legal age, then to protect them as well as others, action should be taken to seize anything that may be harmful to the health of one or many — especially, if it is an illegal item that was bought illegally. There is a law that is supposed to prevent sale of liquor to minors, but it s the kids parents who are providing it for them That is when it is tim e parents should be forced to be held responsible for their children I know that often when a teen is kicked out of school or even flunked out of Cass because no homework was tirn e d out of school or even flunked out of class because mi homework was turned in, or he hit the teacher, or he came into school totally stoned — then the p a re n ts come "ro a rin g ” to school to punch-out” whoever was responsible tor kicking their child out of school. The student is to go to school It s the school s responsibility to teach the kid But what parents don’t realize is that school, especially high school isn’t to be used as a babysitting agency. If the child doesn’t want to stay, it is very easy to get out of school. Sandy High has a hall monitor and also one out in the parking lot. Any teen when challenged as to where he is going between classes or in the parking lot can say he's sick, or has a doctor's ap pointment and leave Many parents provide the students w ith cars or some means of transportation Then it’s those parents who are upset when they find their child has been skipping classes or going out to the car to smoke or (Fink They blame the school for not watching It's the school's responsibility , rig h t” W rong! 1 feel that schools should make strong rules and standards and stick by them no matter who the child's parents are. I know one school in the area that has made a strong effort to uphold certain rules If the rules are broken, then the parents are called and told to come and get their child. The parents don’t want to have to accept responsibility for their child, but i t ’s time they have to. This idea that because of the distance some students live from school you can’t expel them seems to be a very weak excuse to avoid conflict with the parents. If an administration can’t stand conflict, then they had better get people strong enough and concerned enough to make rules sure, even some waves — and stick to them. I know of one disciplinarian who has been involved in education in different schools for years who would like to be hired into the high school to help clean it up He could do It, too. from what I know about him. Kids that are in school just to cause trouble should be sent home* for mom and dad to babysit. There are s till some kids» in school, believe it or not, who want some college preparation, so they can get a good job when they get out into the working world. These students are the ones who are prevented from getting a good education, because the teachers spend too much time disciplining and not enough tim e teaching The administration keeps sending the trouble-makers back into the classroom, because "they are here to learn " How about the others in the room who are there to learn something from the class’7 Do they have no T ig h ts" at a ll” The students should be required to bring pencil and paper to class and if w ill not. then send them home If teachers are to be solely responsible for the student and his actions while in school, then pencil and paper must be required for entrance to class The child can go to sleep on his pencil and paper, but at least he can’t use the age-old excuse. “ I don’t have anything to w rite on" when an assignment is given Many of the better, more qualified teachers, are le a vin g the teaching profession because of the constant " lip ” they get from the kids, from the parents and the vandalism and theft to their things in their desk at school and at their homes The teachers have no rights and seem to be at the mercy of those lawless ones who seem to have all the rights these days Those teachers still hanging in there" at the schools should be backed by the ad ministration, but aren’t in many cases when conflicts arise The teachers also should be talked to by the parents who should know what their children are learning in school. Most parents who have visited the teachers at the schools these days are amazed at the knowledge the teachers have Teachers at least at the high school level, aren't allowed to teach any class they aren’t trained in For example, if a teachers has a major in college in math then he doesn’t teach science He teaches math only. This wasn’t true in yesteryear when a teacher could teach nearly anything, no matter what he majored in college No more. So the parents who complained about teacher preparation obviously didn't know what they were talking about Also, a teacher is required to take six hours of college courses every three years to keep his teaching certificate Even if he has a masters degree, this is still a requirement It's no wonder many people are leaving the teaching field Does anyone realize what kind of wages teachers make these days’7 Most people who work in a fa irly good job — construction or steel m ill — make a lot more than teachers Also, they don’t have to spend their evenings in correcting papers class preparation or nights involved in extra curricular activities games or danr.es Some teachers are required to attend each school function Someone has to police these school activities How many parents wixild take this responsibility’7 It's all the teachers responsibility, rig h t” Who pays for these things” It's y o ir taxes and mine Parents should be more responsible, they should know where their tax money goes and where their kids are. what their tea« hers are like and whal they are teaching their children I am a student at Sandy Union High School. I would like you to know that drugs are not a m ajor problem at Sandy. Drugs and alcohol are not a peer pressure problem either F or one th in g , peer pressure is re la tiv e ly unheard of around here. You don't have to (kin k or smoke or take drugs to “ fit in " as you have put it. 1 fit in, and I don’t do any of those things Kids that take drugs are going to do it, whether their friends do or not. Most of the kids that do the stuff you have mentioned do it. because they have problems at home. Also our athletes are not the type that get grades like "fo u r D ’s and two F ’s.” I have talked to an uniden tified teacher and asked him if he had ever known of any student-athletes w ith g ra d « which are that bad. He replied, "Once "in h is" high school teaching years Also our athletes do not get high before an athletic event. To top that off, most of our high school athletes are on the honor roll. The average GPA fo r the v a rs ity volleyball team was 3.4, and the cross country team ’s was 3.6. Athletes want to win on thier own — to know that they can do it without the help of drugs The way this article was put, you would think the moment the bus driver opens the bus doors, smoke comes billowing out. as the students come stumbling down the stairs, red-eyed and either stoned or drunk. Also, the way you put it, you would think our teachers go to bed with their (male or female I students. Our teachers are decent people. just like anyone else in the com- munity. How many lockers have teachers etc. come across that have booze in them ” Most parents don’t buy their kids booze. How do you expect us to go to college with an article like that It is really going to ruin our reputation. I feel the article was very one-sided Why don’t you get facts from the other side i the students) before you make accusations like that? Our school has more spirit than it ever has before. I think it is about tim e you get your information straight Darby Binder School improved I have been a concerned resident of the Sandy Union High School district for seven years and have seen a small high school struggle to im prove its uiiage in the com m unity. instill a sense of pride in its students and improve their education. As a businesswoman in Sandy, I have visited with many of these students, participated in then- classes and had contact with many of them as customers. The Sandy Post has taken a meeting with seven people Legislator's report: Senate chan schedules by KEN JERNSTEDT Dist 2k Senator The legislature has now been in session for more than three weeks and continues to proceed at a pact* that could be outdone by a snail Because inform ation on two of the main issues before this Session — the budget for the b ie n niu m and re d is tric tin g of congressional and state legislative seats — w ill not be available until A p ril, there has been some interest expressed in changing the opening date of the Session. Speaking of changes, a number of them have been effected by the new president of the Senate, who succeeds Jason'Boe, who served an unprecedented four terms. Three new committees were created and committee meetings have been scheduled in such a way as to avoid conflicts which in the past have made it necessary for members to choose the meeting they would attend, or to split their tim e between committees meeting at the same time. To do this it was necessary to set meetings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. — something which in past happened to accomodate hearings on a crunch of bills in the closing days of a session. Another change is that we were presented with a two-month schedule of session tunes. They vary between 9:30 and 11 a.m. on Monday , Tursday and Thursday , with no sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays in January and February As in the past. I welcome contact w ith the people in my district And again this session we have a toll free number through which you may call my office. It is 1-800-452-7813. Ask for my office and we w ill take your name and phone number and call back. This is done to avoid tying up the toll free num ber If you wish to dial direct, the number is 378-8850 The office address is S317, State Capitol Building. Salem, Oregon 97310. State revenue count cautious by W AYNE FAWBUSH Dist 56 Representative Ten years ago, cycles in the economy were long enough, usually three to five years between inflations and recessions, to give us a stable economic picture Today, when the inflation-recession cycle is six to eight months long, forecasting Oregon's economic p ic tire over a two year period is very difficu lt. A special session last summer resulted from a budget deficit of several hundred m illion dollars This great budget im balance was caused bv s w in ii in the Ijis t year four of these young adults visited me in my office and explained what the school was doing to help them. These were former problems from the streets of Sandy They are now proud of themselves and striving to achieve new goals. Have you ever reported any of these programs? We are all aware of drug and liquor problems in most high schools, but a small percentage of the student body is involved What about the m ajority of the student body that is working hard to get a good education and to become responsible citizens? Please tell their sto ry! They deserve the interest and support of our com munity. I realize that bad news and sensationalism sells newspapers However, I resent your irresponsible reporting and your lack of interest in the good things, good students and good events that are in our highschool 1 believe we should support our kids. They are our future, and we brought them here. Roberta Swan Boring D on’t call cops Legislator’s report: One of the lessons that we learn quickly in these troubled economic times is to be very cautious in estimating the amount of revenue the state of Oregon w ill have to spend. As a result, we re going to be w aiting for several months to get the latest revenue forecast to determine exactly how much revenue the state w ill have, and therefore how much to spend We re waiting for the executive depart ment to make a forecast based on tax returns that w ill be coming in after A pril 15. The executive department w ill look at trends in the national and state economies and then try to predict how much revenue from taxes the state w ill receive during the next two years. The state of Oregon — by law — cannot deficit spend, so we must have a good idea of how much revenue w ill come in during the two-year period of the state's budget cycle. To avoid deficit spending, we have a dual process in the legislature The Ways and Means Committee is one half of that dual process Committee members have already begun looking at the governor s recommended budget on a line- by-line basis Tht committee is charged with examining every state program and determining where cuts can be made. W hile Wavs and Means exam ines p ro g ra m e xp enditures, the Revenue Committee is beginning to evaluate all the tax measures to see what changes w ill have to be made We may have to generate more revenue to meet expense commitments approved by Ways and Means. Since we plan our budget for two years at a tim e, we must have a reasonable forecast to get through the next two-year cycle without going broke and has made a headline story from their allegations about a few Have you been to the high school anti seen the efforts that are being made to help the students in alternative education and try to instill a self-confidence in them that is so badly missing” economy that the previous legislative session could not predict. Hopefully, this session we w ill be able to avoid those pitfalls by waiting until the last minute for the best forecast The session w ill finish when we have the Ways and Means Committee's final commitment on ex penditures agreeing with the Revenue Committee's estimate of income raised from taxes The estimate on the health of the economy for the next two years w ill have determined both of these fig ire s T hat’s why the estimate is so important, and that's why we re waiting for the most accurate figures This week, the Revenue Committee is m eeting w ith executive d e p a rtm e n t analysts to discuss expected changes in the revenue forecast. Paul Eggar and Bob Smith of the executive department have told us that there are two variables which have played an unportant part in today 's budget situation. The first is the rate of inflation Nobody anticipated that the inflation rate would bounce up so high so quickly. The second is a higher than expected unemployment rate When fewer people are working, less income tax is paid to the state, and the general fund has less money If these two elements worsen and Oregon s economy fails to pick up again, then the deficit w ill be even greater than the $240 m illion predicted by the governor’s budget If this happens, it w ill be a very d ifficu lt legislative session After the Ways and Means Committee has made all the cuts they feel are possible, the legislature as a whole w ill have to find additional cuts from state programs, or raise taxes above what is called for by the governor I have read your article in the Sandy Post about the problems that the school and parents are concerned about. 1 do agree with a lot that was said, but there are a few things that 1 don’t agree with. For instance, getting the police involved does not always help. It could make things worse The same with long term suspensions Do you think that a student taking drugs or dealing them in the school to other students w ill really care if he gets suspended fo r six weeks? 1 don’t. He or she would just take it as a vacation from school I came from a school that had the same problems — d rin k in g , sm oking of pot, skipping and teachers putting the move on students And the way kids think nowadays is the same as when I was there. Whenever I got suspended from school, 1 was more than happy to leave Sure, not all students w ill think that way. But the m a jo rity w ill. I ’m not a parent, nor a student But I am concerned about tlie problems that are happening in the school and out on the streets The later part of 1980, my name and a frie n d ’s were printed in the Sandy Post for a crim inal act that we had done But we had recognized that we had done wrong, and when the warrant was put out on us, we turned our selves in. We wanted to make something out of ourselves, but it did not help much knowing that our name was on the front page and people who knew us would read it. We both are on probation because of it, and we are tryin g to do things the right way We got a chance to do so, and we are taking ad vantage of that. Some of the students from SUHS read that article and thought we were really big or something, but we weren't. We were just a couple of dumb kids, or that's what we acted like Just as some of SUHS students are doing now I think if there were more support from parents and teachers and a little more understanding for these kids and their problems, that would help more than long term suspensions and getting police involved I still have problems like everyone else, but I ’ve learned that finding help from other people and the right people w ill help me to do more with my life than lielp from the wrong kind of people or the wrong things laicas Jay Sisson Get involved As a participant in the group of persons who met on Jan. 24 to discuss concerns about our high school, I would like to make serveral comments regarding that gathering. The occasion was a regular weekly meeting of 6-8 men who p a rtic ip a te in the H o o d la n d L u th e r a n congregation We invited John McMahan, principal of Sandy Union High School, to join us so that we could meet him and also to discuss several concerns — the main one being an incident which occurred recently in which a student ( the daughter of one of our group participants) almost overdosed from acute alcohol and drug poisoning, the consumption of which took place during a Sandy High School dance. We also invited participation by men of other churches in the Hoodland area. Without prior notification a p a rtic ip a n t in v ite d a reporter from the Sandy Post In fairness, it would have been better to have discussed as a group beforehand w hether a reporter would be invited or not. I doubt that the group would have decided in favor. This past Tuesday morning we met with John McMahan again and also w ith Pete G riffin and Gary Cleland, members of the Sandy Union High School Board who reside in our area We have had two inform ative and productive sessions. Our questions and concerns have been shared in a positive fram ework All of us are committed to the highest quality high school experience for all students attending SUHS. I don’t believe it was the intent of any person present at either meeting to cast stones or criticize our high school, its administration, or its student body In each case we can be justifiably proud We are very fortunate. In p a rtic u la r, in my opinion, we have found John M cM ahan to be very responsive to our concern, our interest, and our support. I have an increasing respect for his integrity as a person and his stance as an ad m inistrator. Hopefully, our combined efforts w ill help reduce, if not eliminate, the possibility of a fa ta lity like the one that almost happened from oc curring in the future. I trust, also, that com m unity involvement in and support of our high school, its administration, faculty, and student body, w ill strengthen the quality of the education of our young men and women Terry W. Kent Brightwood Discipline mild I ’m having a hard time understanding the so called "punishm ent" in our Cedar Ridge School these days It seems the principal believes that by letting a child stay home fro m school, the student w ill consider himself severly punished. I have talked with several parents and teachers who agree that the “ punishment” is having an opposite effect on the children As I picked my son up from school, I heard, “ laicky you, you don’t have to go to school.” The telephone rang con stantly. It seems my son is a hero and admired by his peers It takes very little to be suspended fro m Cedar Ridge. The se v e rity of whatever crime the child has committed doesn’t seem to m ake any d iffe re n ce . Anything from classroom misbehavior to being caught with alcohol qualifies Here's the ultunate case of irony. A child is suspended from school for skipping school Now, instead of «Continued oa Page 7)
