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.