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About North Douglas herald. (Drain Or) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2024)
North Douglas Herald Only 48 of Oregons School’s will get Summer School Money May 2024 Page 7 Oakland Welcomes a new Bridge ODE doles out $30M to School Districts and Charters for Summer Programs Continued from Front Page Story by Milo Banks The Oregon Department of Education has released the list of 48 school districts and 24 charter schools that will have access to a portion of $30 million allocated for summer school during the short legislative session in February. The selected districts have until May 3 to submit their plans to receive their allocated money or to decline. The state is allocating $20,000 to $1.5 million to each of those 48 districts, depending on the number of students served. The state’s 19 education service districts this year will also each get between $20,000 and $80,000 to help support multiple districts within their boundaries, but overall, only about one-quarter of the state’s 197 school districts will get additional funding. An estimated 48,000 students will benefit, according to a news release from Gov. Tina Kotek. There are more than 547,000 students enrolled in Oregon public schools. Districts that get additional money will be able to pay for more credit recovery programs, tutors and other classes that can help students get caught up in key subjects and grade-level knowledge this summer. Others will likely have to limit some offerings. The Oregon Department of Education prioritized allocating money for districts with high proportions of historically underserved students, and it focused on helping small and rural districts and spreading out payment based on geographic diversity, according to Marc Siegel, a spokesperson for the agency. Adjusting offerings Eugene Public Schools is on a waiting list for $1.5 million, as are some of the largest districts within different parts of the state, including the Portland, Medford, and Bend-La Pine school districts. The $30 million allocation from the Legislature is significantly less than the hundreds of millions that districts received in the two years immediately following pandemic school closures and the $50 million that Kotek wanted lawmakers to pass this session. Advocates for summer school had hoped the Legislature would continue a higher level of funding to get students caught up following more than a year of school closures and to address behavioral health issues exacerbated by the pandemic. Most Oregon school districts have spent their portion of the $1.6 billion of pandemic aid money sent to Oregon from the U.S. Department of Education. About $319 million remains to be spent before the funding expires in September, according to state data. During the summer of 2023 lawmakers did not allocate any additional money for summer school or community-based summer learning programs. Some programs that were staffed in 2021 and 2022 shut down in 2023. School districts and larger groups such as YMCA and Boys & Girls Club cut field trips and other offerings. A survey from the Oregon Afterschool & Summer for Kids Network, or OregonASK, a nonprofit network of educational groups, found that despite increased demand statewide, about half of community groups were forced to scale back programs without the additional state funding. Districts are allowed to partner with nonprofit community groups and to use the money to collaborate on programming. Whitney Grubbs, executive director of the nonprofit Foundations for a Better Oregon, said she expects a “meaningful” level of district funding to reach community- based organizations, but that they’ll need more in the future. “It’s an important start, but still nowhere near enough,” Grubb said in an email. “Students in every community deserve access to summer learning, and many school districts and community-based organizations are spotlighting the overwhelming desire and need to do more.” mood is subdued. The Old Oakland Bridge, built in 1925, originally known as the Oakland Crossing, has spanned the years, providing safe passage over the Calapooya Creek and railroad tracks. Once deemed a “magnificent piece of highway engineering”, it has now, according to ODOT, exceeded its “useful lifespan.” Located on Old Highway 99 at the northern limits of Oakland, it is overshadowed by a new and pristine, two way bridge. Its moss-covered archways hold the memories of those who traveled in one direction to reach their destination with the expectation that the return trip would be a familiar one. Time does travel into the future but memories linger in the past, building a lasting structure that will endure and become the indelible history of a place. Construction of the replacement bridge began in February of 2022, almost 100 years after the original bridge was put into place by November of 1925. It did not quite reach its centennial and being deemed unworthy of restoration, due to neglect and lack of funding for long term upkeep, it will be demolished in the summer of 2024 . The final paving has been completed on the replacement bridge and the two lanes of traffic are now open. The traffic light controlling the direction of vehicles going to and fro across the Old Oakland Bridge is gone, taking with it the last vestiges of a time gone by. The new bridge has brought easier access to Historic Oakland with more convenience for travelers coming into town, but what remains, bridges the past to the future. Elk Creek Watershed Council Meets Community Resists Ending the Council Story by Susan Applegate On Tuesday evening, April 16th, the parking lot at Sunny Dale Grange was full. People from the communities of Elkton and Yoncalla, primarily, gathered to attend the Elk Creek Watershed council meeting to find out why would this organization that has helped our municipalities and landowners complete restoration projects that improve water quality and wildlife habitat, particulary for salmon, is choosing to close down. Jamie Mast, Chairman of the board, opened the meeting as usual and guests were able to speak following the business of the council. Everyone who spoke expressed support for the work the ECWC has done over the 20 + years and thanked the volunteer board members for their contributions. But moreover they questioned the reasoning behind closing the watershed council. Heather McNeill from Elkton said she had sought out the help of the ECWC when she and a couple of neighbors had decided they wanted to make improvements within the riparian area they have along Elk Creek. She said she is very disappointed to find there is a lack of will to continue. She expressed her willingness to help out and join the ECWC because she believes in the importance of what the organization is doing. Everyone who spoke stated their desire to keep the organization viable and alive. Daniel Robertson from Yoncalla said that the reason people don’t normally show up for the meetings is because there is the assumption that everything is as going well as it has in the past, but when they learned that the organization is considering shuttering, they came out. By the meeting’s end, Jamie Mast told the room that he would take up leaving the organization in tact at an executive meeting. Board member Susan Applegate made a motion calling for the Elk Creek Watershed Council to remain but withdrew the motion when Jamie Mast asked if his agreement to further the discussion at another meeting was sufficient. The next meeting will be held at 7pm, May 21st at the Sunny Dale Grange.
