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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1987)
2 SANDY ( O f* ) POST Thurt O<»ob*' 29 I9«7 |S*< I) The Sandy Post Scott Newton, editor Korindo Hedlund, odvertising representative Editorial & Opini School district uses results from tests Most parents want their children to grow up in a place like I ¿ike Wobegon, that imaginary community created by Gar rison Keillor where the women are strong, the men are good- looking and the children have above-average intelligence. • School officials must wince a little each year as they give achievement tests for fear some outside factor, such as the weather or a particularly filling meal served in the cafeteria, will result in a drop in test scores. . One school administrator told us that most schools in middle class communities test above the national average on at hieve- ment tests. , „ . , That would seem to be the case in Sandy, too, where students in the Sandy Elementary District and at Sandy High School scored above the national average in most areas. Students in the Sandy Elementary District take the Califor nia Achievement Test. Students at Sandy High School take the Survey of Basic Skills. College-bound high school students also take the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Ix>cal students tested above the national average on the language skills portion of the test, but tested below the national average on the mathematics portion. However, math scores took a big jump in 1987. One counselor claims that is the result of constructive changes in the mathematics curriculum a few years ago. While good scores on achievement tests are important, an issue of greater significance is what is done with these test scores. With that in mind, we are pleased with the recent ac tions of the Sandy Elementary District in general, and Ralph Branson, director of support services, in particular. The district now has a committee, made up of staff members, that will evaluate test results each year and look for problem areas in the curriculum. In some areas, for example, it is possible the district should leave the curriculum alone, even if subject matter is not taught in the same way it is presented on the achievement tests. Such a difference could have an effect on student scores, but the district must decide what is more valuable — the informa tion measured by the test or the district s own curriculum. A more exciting prospect is that of finding problem areas among certain classes. Classes take on personalities, ac cording to Branson, with abnormally high or low skill levels m certain subjects. . After looking at two years of test results, the district should be able to pick up trends and adjust for them. For example, if a class seems to have a problem in one of the two math areas on the test, students would receive extra classroom help in that area. The CAT measures knowledge in 10 areas. If the district is able to spot trends and correct them, it will have found the best possible use for the test. Achievement tests, after all, should not be used strictly for comparision, although there is some value in that. But if it can be used to better evaluate a district’s educa tional program, that would be excellent. B ein g a resid en t of Boring, I r e ceiv ed D a v e R udm an's letter, and a lso the flier for the th ree year seria l levy proposal. S eein g d iscrep a n cies in the figu res qu oted , 1 w ent to the board m eetin g last w eek W hile I do not h ave a c o l leg e ed u cation , it only took one m eetin g for m e to see w hat Mr. Rod- m an h as been up a g a in st and why he felt he had to sp eak up F ran k ly, I am not im p ressed with w hat the a rch itect or Mrs Ida Can non think about the roof on the N aas B uilding I w ant the estim a te s of tw o, or b et ter y et, th ree q ualified roofers, with fa c ts and figu res. Mr. R odm an tried th ree tim es to find out w hat the full price of a bus would co st, but never did When Mrs Cannon w as ask ed about the cast of the d oors, sh e replied they would cost a p p ro x im a tely $2,500 each . W ell, 1 did not need m y calcu lator to fig u re out that five double doors plus one sin g le would co m e to m ore than the $13,000 quoted Thank you, Mr. R odm an, for h a v ing the cou rage to speak up. As for Mrs Cannon's com m en t that D ave should keep his mouth shut, you should rem em b er this, Ida T his is A m erica, not R ussia. Mrs. G lad ys B lake Boring Two-thirds of the w ay up. m y knees and lungs gan ged up on the rest of m y body, and, deciding th ere w as no g reat crim e in being a p an tyw aist, I hitched a ride on the first truck that c a m e by. Blood drive was success C ongratulations go out to the m any com m unity m em b ers who helped support the blood d rive at the high school on Oct. 13. It w as b eca u se of your tim e and p a tien ce that we w ere ab le to ex ceed our goal of 80 units of blood We had 130 people p a ss through the com m on s and the Red Crass w as ab le to co llect 109 units. I would like to ex p ress a sp ecia l thank you to the m any stu d en ts and E lain e H artney, Judy B ow m an and R ose M errill, who volunteered their tim e to help m ak e the d rive such a su ccess. D ebbie Hunter, instructor Sandy High School (USES secon d ski lift in North A m erica, the hut w as abandoned in 1962 w hen the M agic M ile w as m oved Three y ears ago the friends group w as form ed and started raising m oney By n ext fall they hope to have it open for h ikers, clim b ers and sk iers. A bn n g-you r-ow n -sleep in g- bag hotel w ith a sim p le restau ran t — a p lace to co m e in from the cold. Sharon Nesbtt the side of a m ountain. The guy d riv ing the truck w as Don F oidel. F oid el is a retired builder from B rightw ood who w orks only on jobs that he regard s as a ch allen ge T h at’s why he spent 71 d ays of his su m m er at the 7,000-foot lev el h am m erin g and sa w ing aw ay at a building that sq u ats on the side of the m ountain looking for all the world like a pile of rock with a roof on it. F oidel is gen eral contractor and ch ief volunteer to F rien d s of Silcox Hut. C alling it "O regon's highest ad ven tu re,” the hut's frien d s are people who h ave clim b ed Mount Hood, rested m the sh elter of its rocky w alls and d ecided it w as a darned sh am e that the building w as going to w rack and ruin. O nce the up per end of the M agic Mile ski lift, the F o id e l’s old truck lurched to its a c cu stom ed spot in front of the hut. W ithout snow the front yard of Silcox Hut is kind of untidy. M ountains are a lw a y s u n der co n stru ctio n . But beyond the g la cia l rubble of sand and rock is fold after fold of sm oky blue h ills. Sticking out of th em , like a pyram id on the d esert, is Mount J e f ferson. It is enough to take your breath aw ay, if you have any left. F oid el h as worked on a lot of high- toned p la c e s — M auna Kea in H aw aii, S alish an on 4he O regon C oast - but S ilcox is the h igh est of all. M cArthur, who by that tim e had w alked to the hut without so m uch as a ragged breath, joined F oidel in pointing out the beauty of S ilcox. The bulky stone w alls built with "studied c a r e le ssn e ss ,” the carved b eam s covered with the graffiti of vandals, th e " m a g n if ic e n t ly in e f f ic i e n t ” firep lace N am ed for an early-d ay forest ran ger with the unlikely first n am e of F erd in a n d , S ilco x a lm o st d idn't It se e m s to m e that a ll our teach ers d eserv e "kudos" lots and often. Throughout the seven y ea rs that m y ch ild ren h a v e been a t W elch es S chool, they have receiv ed am ple am ounts of quality education m ixed with a gen erou s share of genuine a f fection. This blend has provided an ed u ca tional atm osp h ere in w hich they have thrived a ca d em ica lly and em otion al ly We all ex p ect a good education for our children but, for children to do their b est, teach ers m ust be m ore than just rote pundits.' They m u st constantly and con sisten tly d isp lay caring concern for ea ch child in their ch arge; adjust to ea ch ch ild 's unique needs; and a t tem p t to encou rage and m otivate ea ch child in w ays that a re pertinent to that particular child's m en tal and em otional developm ent. That is no sm all test in a full ca p a city classroom s e ttin g ! The reason I am w riting at this tim e, h ow ever, is to recogn ize the particular efforts of one teach er — T om W ells. I^ast winter m y son, R obbie, had a skiing accid en t in which he fractured his fem ur As a result, he spent ap p roxim ately tw o m onths in traction in the hospital, another three in a body cast, and w as forced to m iss the last m onths of school He is just now r e g a in in g h is n o rm a l g a it and building back the m u scle m a ss in his Shortly after school began this fall, Tom approached m y husband to say that he noticed that although Robbie w as im proving rapidly, he lack ed a full range of exten sion in the injured leg. T om ’s concern w as that, if left unattended, Robbie m ight habitually favor the other leg, w hich could un- tim ately inhibit his p h ysical d evelop m ent. His offer? If w e didn't m ind bring ing Robbie to school a half an hour early three d ays a w eek, he would spend tim e working w ih R obbie to sy stem a tica lly strengthen and ex- tend his leg. N ow , m ind you, I am w ell aw are that the tim e before the m orning school bell rings is a lw ays quite busy for the tea ch ers. There is m uch to prepare and precious little tim e ever to get everyth in g done And I w ant to draw particu lar a t tention to the fact that neither m y husband or I solicited a d vice or help from Tom. T om 's offer w as totally of his own volition, born of his own observation and concern. The tim e he sp en d s with R obbie is not rem unerated in any w ay. At a tim e when there is so m uch sta te w id e u n h ea v a l o v er sch o o l budgets and the quality of education paid for, I w ant to m ake it clear that we are gettin g m ore than w e pay for at W elches Tom w as not asking for sp ecial recognition when he offered to help R obbie, and this isn ’t the first tim e that he has spent m any of his own' hours helping W elches kids out. I d istin ctly rem em b er that last year he transported all the potential so ccer, volleyb all and basketbal, k.MO'fJ', I ' f A /A tS S AR.OUUP ©N t ' A t C0< a P v TE K A V t, QAYi «» M e' .~o M— . p e p .. A « ..« o.-oo . " d U 1 tv b v .b e " *.OvHoo*0vbl..h.-«tP t .M to'd, O.e^v'tW W. O"d P« O-eQ'"' 6685548 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Sf 00 |1 0 00 M u 'in o m o k C © v«»v I («•**•«• i«O»8fW in Northwet» •<*«$ P» ». r '•« Vet»« Ow»««to û-eqc" pe» »•<>• Ou’vde No'ikw»»! Of .1 Po« •»•« Cam' Va»»» pe» roo» Sandy Post Sandy O reg o n 97055 in so 114 00 117 00 No 43 p layers to the Hoodland clin ic for the m andatory p h ysical required to p ar ticip a te in intram ural sports. Then too, m an y children h ave been taken ca re of long after sports ev en ts by Mr W ells w hile w aiting for p aren ts who w ere late. F rom tim e to tim ech ild ren who have p articip ated in sports ev en ts, but did not h ave rides hom e a fter w ard, h ave been chauffeured by Mr W ells. In the exp ected ' asp ects of his job, p h ysical education and sp orts, you would be hard put to find a m ore en cou ragin g, upbeat and m otivatin g coach than Tom — to say nothing of his p rofession al sk ills as a highly qu alified p h ysical education in stru c tor His off-hours work with m y son is, of cou rse, esp ecia lly clo se to m y heart, but I h ave a lw a y s had im m en se resp ect and ad m iration for Tom . I am proud to tak e th is oppor tunity to sh a re th is w ith oth er m em b ers of the school and com m u n i ty by Adtini knift Ï 481-180) In Ciocco"'«»* Cow«»» P»’ f o < tim e. " E ven the la d ies com e up here to w ork ,” grinned F oid el. “ But they don’t w ant to w ash w indow s or sw eep up. They w ant to pound n a ils.” Many d ays F oid el is alone on the sid e of the m ountain, with only the sound of his h am m er. "I keep w an ting to call th is p lace m y p lace," he said , a bit em b arrassed . M ountains and m ountain p la ces are like that. P eop le w ant to cla im th is a s their own. Som e people do that by lea v in g th eir n a m es scratch ed in h a n d - c a r v e d b e a m s or ta k in g som eth in g aw ay. Other people do it by putting th in gs back. F rien d s of Silcox Hut are putting som eth in g back P eop le who w ant to help can call th em at 297-2165. B< »bents To Z fv U fe r » VJWV A my c o l o ï . up a’ m ak e it to the restoration . T here are jerk s in high p laces, high altitude van d als, who rep eated ly broke into the building and ripped the sh a k es off the roof to build fires. Y ears ago a sk ier sw ip ed one of the hand-w rought m etal light fixu res and m ad e off down the m ountain with it G u ilt-rid d en , he r e c e n tly c a lle d F rien d s of Silcox Hut and prom ised to return it. N ext su m m er, after the sn ow s h ave com e and gone, th ere is a 1,500 pound stove to put in, bunk room s to build, a ca reta k er's q u arters to finish, bathroom s to be com p leted The friends group figu res it w ill cost about $200,000, even with people like F oid el and M cArthur donating their Welches teacher went beyond duty by PAULA WALKER S p ecial for The Post The Sdndy Post N . w . p o p . ' rw bl . h . . . If lx*w McArthur w hispers history in m y ear, I’ll follow him anyw here E ven up the sid e of Mount Hood In truth, McArthur c a n ’t w hisper at all The q u in tessen tial Oregonian sportsm an, historian and builder — he has a v o ice that ca rries like a yodel A good thing, too, b ecau se I could barely hear him over m y pan ting and w heezing and creaking joints. U n less they put a helicopter pad on the top of Mount Hood. I shall never se e the view from th ere. A true flatlan d er, m y idea of a tough uphill hike is a flight of sta irs. But McAr thur prom ised the m em b ers of the H istoric P reserv a tio n le a g u e of O r e g o n , w h o w ere m e e t in g at T im berline Ix»dge, that he would take it slow and e a sy on the w ay to Silcox Hut. I trailed along, just like the bear who went to the other sid e of the m ountain "to se e what he could s e e .” I didn't know it eith er, but th ere is a road on M ount H ood a b o v e T im berline It is used by the people who are restoring the 48-year-old Silcox Hut, an a lp in e-style w arm ing hut one m ile and 1,000 feet ab ove the lodge. You never know who y o u ’ll m eet on Audience member backs Rodman W lW tl« Dedicated workers rescue Silcox Hut O ctober ?9 1987 R NJOA’I Ofri T h é c o v O^J o m it o A 9 fAAYee n oyT o r iM K i
