The times of Willamina., March 28, 1973, Image 1

10'
WILLAMINA TIMES, Willamina, Oregon, Wednesday, March 28, 1973
of W illam ina-Sheridan
Parents, students m eet
A capacity crowd of concerned
parents and students met Thurs­
day night, March 22, in the Sher­
idan Oddfellows Hall to discuss
what to do about suspension and
possible* expulsion of a large
number of Sheridan High students
following a sit-in the previous
Friday.
The main purpose of the meeting
was to try to force the school
board to declare an emergency
meeting so that parents and stu­
dents could submit their griev­
ances.
They failed in that effort, but
were able to organize a commit­
tee to act as liaison between par­
ents and students on the one
hand and the administration on
the other.
What promised to be a highly
volatile meeting did, indeed, be­
gin with individuals voicing com­
plaints against the school board
and administrators of Sheridan
High. But after complaints were
aired, the tone of the assembly
changed from anger to construc­
tive action.
Mrs. Donald Cooley summed up
the problem when she said: “ The
main problem we face is a total
failure to communicate. Instead
of trying to find who’s at fault
or trying to condemn the actions
of the administrators, we should
set constructive goals and try to
see that this sort of thing doesn’t
happen again.”
“ This sort of thing” was a
reference to the sit-down demon­
stration March 16 over the stop­
ping of the sale of donuts and
hot chocolate to students before
lunchtime.
Principal David Sears ordered
the students to disperse and go
back to. class. Upon failure to
do so, the students were sent
Back to business as usual, following a^stormy
spring vacation, Sheridan High got back to the
business of education on Monday. In spite of
home under threat of suspension
and, in a few cases, expulsion.
“ This demonstration,” one par­
ent declared, “ obviously wasn’t
only about donuts. There’s been
a long history of students trying
to make themselves heard by the
administrators, and this donut
business was just the final straw
in a long chain of events.”
The principal concern of many
of the parents was the status of
their children. Several did not
know if their sons or daughters
were suspended, expelled, or
what. A large number present
said that they were going to take
their children back to school
Monday and demand that they
either be reinstated or that the
over
idle rumors of student boycotts or picketing, all
was call11 as classes resumed,
school give a thorough explana­
tion of why each student is being
punished.
With the uncertainty over wheth­
er some students have been sus­
pended, expelled or merely rep-
remanded, estimates of the num­
ber of suspensions range from
forty to seventy.
Early in the meeting, when some
parents were advocating im­
peachment of the principal, sup­
erintendent and/or the school
board, Ralph Matlack,- the single'
school board member attending,
helped cool tempers by. explaining
school disciplinary policy.
Matlack stressed that he was
not legally empowered to present
school board opinion as such,
but was willing, as much as he
could, to clarify discipline codes
and the possible outcome of some
of the group’s proposed actions.
Thanks to Matlack’s calm ex­
planations, the mood of the meet­
ing turned from angry demands
for confrontation to realistic pro­
posals for opening up lines of
communication with the board and
administrators.
It was stressed that the actions
taken by Sears and Hilton, whe­
ther right or wrong, werelegally
completely within their rights.
Matlack summarized the school
conduct code, outlining those
steps which lead to reprimand,
those which lead to suspension
and those which lead to expul­
VOLUME 64 NUMBER 36
donut
sion. He stated that -all worries
of expulsion were only hearsay
at this time as a student cannot
be formally expelled until a reg­
ular meeting of the school board
.is held. He was, of course, not
able to predict what action the
board would take when it did meet.
Matlack said that the school
board meets on the third Wednes­
day of each month, which means
the next meeting .will be held
April 18. In regard to the pe­
tition and the sit-in, Matlack said
that if the students could not get
a hearing from Sears or Hilton
(there was some doubt as to
whether the students actually did
present their petition to Hilton)
the correct procedure would have
been to select a committee to
present the petition at the next
board meeting.
But the sit-in had already been
held.
One student quoted from the stu­
dent body code which says:
“ Freedom of expression -- one
of the basic purposes of school
is to prepare students for free
expression of ideas in a free
society . . . ” ■
“ If that’s so,” the student pro­
tested, “ why was I kicked out of
school for three days?”
The feeling among the students
attending the meeting was that
they had followed proper chan­
nels. After being laughed at by
Hilton (if they were: one girl
said that Hilton was laughing
about, something else, not the
petition) the students felt they
had no other way to be heard
than by a demonstration. The
demonstration evidently was
spontanious; some students had
been heard discussing such an
action, but nobody took it very
seriously until it. actually hap­
issue
pened.
Mrs. Cooley expressed the mood
of the parents when she said that
while it was unfortunate that it
took a demonstration to jolt par­
ents awake to problems at the
school, and that while parents
should have been listening ea r­
lier to the children’s problems,
they were listening now and wil­
ling to help.
When it came time to discuss
what action to take, the point
was stressed that the group of
concerned parents did not want
to act in such a way that they
might be considered “ hotheads”
or “ radicals.”
“ We must act with respect for
the integrity of the school board
and administrators and each oth­
e r,” one parent said. “ We want
to meet in a spirit of goodwill.”
The action decided upon was to
appoint a committee of parents
to do what the students had
tried to do: 1) write a precise
history of what happened to cause
the sit-in, 2) draw up a list
of current grievances (relating
to the sit-in), 3) draw up a. list
of past grievances, and 4) go
through the proper legal chan­
nels (principal, superintendent
and school board) in order to be
heard.
No mention was made of what
would happen if they were not
heard.
Elected to the Parent’s Com­
mittee were:
Sandra Moritz,
Louis Krauthoefer,
Myrtle
Cruickshank, Tony, Sartettelin
and Jack Kenneth. Alternates
are Edwina Willis and Marge
Owens.
The committee held an organi­
zational meeting Friday night,
March 23 in the parsonage of
the Methodist Church.
Letter from superintendent explains adm inistration view
Open Letter To The Editor:
I am writing this letter in re ­
gards to the recent problem ex­
perience
at Sheridan high
school, that which was referred
to as the “ Doughnut Issue” by
the news media. I note that
some of the reporting was not
quite accurate.
Therefore, I
would like to explain what actu­
ally took place from the
beginning.
Upon reviewing the finances of
district programs, I found that
the high school lunch program
. was going further in the red
each month. After receiving the
February statement, I felt that
something had to be done to cor­
rect the problem. The following
alternatives were possible: 1.)
discontinue the sale of dough­
nuts and other goodies, which
possibly presented competition to
the regular lunches; 2.) recom­
mend to the board that prices
for lunches at the high school
be increased immediately. Due
to the fact the doughnuts were
being sold by the cooks and the
money passed on to the senior
class, I decided that the best
decision would be to do away
with competition. The income
from this project, I will restate,
wasn’t going towards financing
the lunch program. It is the
fault of the administration that
this practice ever started in the
first place. Therefore, I didn’t
feel that discontinuing it would
be that big of an issue, due to
the fact that I, as superinten­
dent, under board policy am r e ­
sponsible for the financial ac­
countability within the district.
I took this move in hopes that
the competition was the problem.
If the financial problem contin­
ues to exist, J will then have to
recommend that an increase in
the price of lunches become ef­
fective.
Mrs. Daniels, head
cook, was contacted and she in­
dicated that she, too, was con­
cerned about the decrease in p ar­
ticipation, which amounted to ap­
proximately 28 students per day
over the past year’s. She in­
dicated to Mr. Sears and myself
that she likewise hoped that the
removal othese items might help.
Students were informed on
Thursday, March 8, that dough-
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Ì w SXXXXXXÒ xì
Princesses for the 1973 Grand Ronde Grade School Carnival, to
be held April 7, are: Top, Nancy Strohmeyer and Rhonda Pond;
Bottom, Viki Holmsten and Phyllis Thomas. One of these lucky
girls will be chosen Carnival Queen on the big night. The Grand
Ronde Carnival is sponsored by the P. T. 0. to raise money for
college scholarships. Activities at the carnival include games,
family entertainment and plenty of food.
nuts, ice crea, etc. would no
longer be sold starting Monday,
March 12, This allowed two
school days for the items on
hand to be sold and not wasted.
A group of six students met
for approximately two hours with
Mr. Sears, high school principal,
and myself to discuss their con­
cerns. They felt that many high
school students came to school
without eating and needed the
nutrition. I informed that they,
the senior class, could possibly
come in at 8:15 a.m. and sell
doughnuts for 20-25 minutes,, but
that they would have to be hand­
led by them through the con­
cession stand and not in the caf-
etorium. Their general response
was negative, due to the fact that
too many students didn’t get to
school until the beginning of the
first class.
On Friday, approximately 60
students participated in a “ sit-
in” staged in opposition to my
action. When contacted by the
high school secretary, Mr. Sears
was in conference with Mr. P ar­
ker, editor of the local paper,
| informed her that I would be
right over. Upon arriving at the
high school, I waited for Mr.
Sears to complete his conference
with Mr. Parker at which time
I asked that he and I meet. Mr.
Sears informed me that he had
instructed the students to go to
their fifth period classes and that
only six - eight responded. I
then stepped out of the office and
instructed all of the students to
report to their classes or that
they would be considered in open
definance which would result in a
three day suspension. Only one
student left the group at that time.
I returned to the office and in­
formed the office staff to tele­
phone the parents of all students
who had not gone to class when
I instructed them to do so, in­
forming that that their boy/girl
was suspended for three days due
to open defiance, as recored in
the student conduct code. The
students whose parents were un­
able to be reached were instruc­
ted to go directly home and to
inform their parents of what had
happened and that a letter would
be received from the office the
first part of the week of the
26th, Contrary to what was re ­
ported in the Sheridan Sun, 1
didn’t bring' out the cards with
personal histories which are very
confidential, but rather used
identification cards which have
recorded on them the class
schedules for each individual.
In accordance with ORS 339.250,
as ammended by the 1971 legisla­
ture, the local board adopted a
student conduct code. This fif­
teen page document was issued to
each student in grades 6-12. It
specifically outlines the. rights
and responsibilities of students
attending the Sheridan Schools. It
was adopted, unanimously, by
board members on August 23,
1972, for the present school year.
It also outlines disciplinary ac­
tion to be administered in the dis ­
trict. All students were asked
to take their copies home so that
their parents could also review it.
In fact, a lettef is attached to the
students and parents.
I am sorry that the incident
happened, but I do not apologize
for the action taken with those
participating in the incident. I
feel that much money is being
expended for the education of the
students within the district and
that incidents of this nature which
disrupt the educational process
can’t be overlooked.
In closing, I would like to
apologize to the parents who were
left up in the air as to whether
their child had been suspended.
I would be the first to admit, that
with all the noise and actions
by the students possibly caused
misunderstanding by your child,
but they were instructed to in­
form you of the incident and
that they were suspended for
three days.
I would hope that the readers
realize that it was difficult to
administer the school under the
conditions that existed. E s­
pecially so when the local news
media representatives were try ­
ing to interview students and tak­
Springtime for sure - - Enjoying the balmy weather
last week, ewes and lambs frolicked about in the
fields near Willamina wondering who that nut with
ing pictures while were were in­
forming the students of their sta­
tus. I was later informed that
the tape of interviews by KMCM
included obscene words by the
students, which had to be re ­
moved before broadcasting.
There was one other mislead­
ing statement which is very im­
portant to me personally. At no
time did we receive a petition
from the students. And the state­
ment made by a local patron
that I laughted at the students and
informed them that they hadn’t
used (he proper forms was com­
pletely erroneous.
I realize that this letter is
rather lengthy, but I felt it im­
portant to inform the readers
what happened from the offset.
I appreciate your taking room to
print it.
Sincerely, .
William A. Hilton,
Superintendent Sheridan
School District 48J
Sheridan, Oregon 97378
a camera was who stalked through' their pasture
to take their portraits.