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
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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
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