Wednesday March 21,1979
Page 6 — Vernonia Freedom
Lea A n n Berg continued from front
program you could never find any room.
There is no question that class control
becomes a real difficulty.
Nor do I want to rush into a building
program like the Evergreen district, in
Washington, they found themselves with
beautiful new buildings but no money to
staff them.
I n financing do you see us meeting all o f
our own heeds or are you open io gaining
more money through outside sources,
State or Federal?
You mean grantsmanship?
Whatever.
I won’t say I ’m totaly against outside
money, but the more money you take in
from Federal or State money the more
control you lose and I believe very firmly
in local control. I ’ve seen problems in
other districts of wasted money, they got
a grant therefore they went out and it was
like C h ristm as tim e and they go t
everything they could think of. That
hasn’t happened in Vernonia.
H o w do yo u feel about specia l
programs, do you support these or do you
turn a critical eye to each one?
I would like to take each one and examine
itcarefu lly for its individual merits. A t
the last meeting we gave M r. Proehl the
right to write these programs such as title
I but he has to come back and present
each one to us. So we are not giving him a
blanket right to go out and get in all the
federal moneys he can. I want to look at
each one but I firmly believe in title I,
because it does something that I don’t
think we could do on our own.
What exactly is title I ?
I t ’s a remedial program for kids who are
more than one grade level below normal in
math or language skills. One of the
requirements is that the child be worked
with individualy. So it’s not as if we
manufacture children and squash them all
together in one room.
H ave you in your observation o f other
areas seen that we have more problems in
the remedial area than other places.
This is very much my own personal
opinion, because I tau gh t remedial
reading in Clatskanie. M any of the
children in title I come from homes that
don’t reinforce the skills that they learn in
school. ‘I t ’s fine if you learn in school, but
at home you had better bring in the wood
and do a lot of useful stuff.’ A rural
community doesn’t usually foster real
intellectual programs sometimes.
I wouldn’t say we are as desparately in
need of remedial programs as some urban
schools.
D o you think teaching the basic skills
should be the highest priority in the
primary grades ?
Yes, because if they don’t have the
basic skills then they can’t go out and
gather other knowledge.
D o you think there is a need to attempt
other programs beyond basic skills in the
primaries?
Such as?
Say foreign language or crafts?
I think these things are nice but if it’s a
choice between the basics and hiring a
foreign language teacher for the first six
years, I ’ll stick with the basics. Because
the child who is crippled on the basics
cannot go anywhere.
D o you feel you watch money more
closely or are you more concerned with
programs?
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Absolutely, I watch the money, I ’m a
housewife and a comparison shopper. I
want to get the greatest value for my
money. We got into some real heafty
discussions at the budget meetings over
the value of a program as opposed to the
cost.
D o you have areas o f special interest?
I think each one of us is interested in his
own specialty, Mrs. Bohmeier and I are
English teachers so we relate to the
language program, Homer and Gene
understand the forestry programs and
things like that.
I f the issue come$ up to zone the district
would you be in favor o f this?
I ’m. afraid I would have to be because
the gentelmans agreement has been
breached twice (an unofficial agreement
that two board members come from the
M ist area), and I understand the purpose
of the gentelmans agreement and it was
perfectly feasible 18 years ago but the
community has changed and there are
people who are coming from the urban
culture and don’t realize what a rural
culture is all about. And there are some
who feel that as long as its not down in
writing I can do what I want to. Not to
protect my own position because I don’t
mind running in an open race.
What do you feel about the sports
program ?Do you think it is overplayed?
I think Vernonia as a whole has its
sports very much in perspective. I know
there is some bitterness over the baseball
program but once again I think it was the
peoples right to say whether or not we
should have another major sport and I
think that showed the. community knows
when enough is enough.
Looking at the bottom line, $33,000 for
the total sports program is a reasonable
amount for two major sports and several
satellites.
, D o you feel Vernonia could have a
higher academic level.
I ’m not about to make a blanket
statement on academic levels, because for
one thing I haven’t seen the S R A scores, I
have seen the six graders scores and they
are average with the nationwide scores. I
guess I would like to see a greater demand
for excellence. B ut I realize in a private
school you can do that but in a public
school you are limited.
A re you interested in seeing other
programs o f an academic nature added to
the H ig h School such as forensics, or
debate?
I think if we can dredge up the personel
A s it is now I think the school leans
pretty heavily to sports, but there again
you have to find the spark. The teacher
who is interested in coaching a debate
team so forth.
What do you think about the hiring o f
more people from the community who
may have vocational qualifications, is
there a change in the law regards this?
Such as Ralph K e a sey ’s teaching, the
forestry class.
H e has what is called a life experience
qualification and he does have to go to the
State Dept. of Education and pass an
examination for teaching a credit subject.
A re you in favor o f using more o f the
capability, the talents o f local people to
teach in their special areas.
I think it’s silly to say to a teacher, we
don’t have a football coach this year so
your assigned. Whereas we would have a
person who was a college football player.
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getting kids graduating from high school
who cannot read, because they are
supposed to learn to read in the primaries.
I think we need more stress on the basics
and th at’s very important, reading, there
is really nothing you can do in life without
being able to read. The majority of the
kids coming out of school cannot read or
write. I realize it ’s probably that way
everywhere but in a small community we
have a chance to work with this. B ut the
people expect the school board members
to do too much, the people should come to
the board m eetings and the board
members should listen to them.
What about sports programs, are they
overemphasised?
Oh, I don’t know, I had two boys who
were in vo lved in a th letics
and
participated in sports. The^only thing I
have against the athletic program is I
think the student should have to carry a
certain grade point average in order to
participate in sports. I f the grades are not
good enough they shouldn’t participate.
We stress this fact in our home, if the
grades aren’t good enough we didn’t let
them play. Now the school couldn’t stop
them from playing. We have athletes
participating who are carrying 5s (failing)
and this is wrong, and cheerleaders are
being kicked off the cheerleading squads
if they get a 4. The athletes participating
are representing the school more than the
cheerleaders, to me. Besides you are there
to get an education and if you can learn
the plays in football then you can do your
school work.
D o you think there is any room for
change in the athletic program to involve
more students, intermurals, ect.?
I don’t understand where they got away
from this. When I was in school we had a
lot of intermural ball, girls had a lot of ball
games, we had ball games in our lunch
hours. A s far as the sports program I
A s far as the sports program I think it’s
great, I ’ll be honest with you, if it weren’t
for the sports I have one boy we would
never have g o tten through school,
because we used it as a lever over his
head. Sports was his game, he just loved
it, but if he didn’t get good grades he
wouldn’t play. So it’s good that way, now
he’s in college and he is old enough now
that he can realize what education is all
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No, every once in awhile someone will
say, ‘why not close down M ist School,
how silly it is to run a little two room
school, ’ but the people who say that don’t
realize that the M ist community is not an
extension of Vernonia, that the Mist
people identify themselves more with
Clatskanie and always have.
D o you have any idea o f what will
happen at M is t School?
Well, I think if it continues to grow we
will enventually make it into a four room
school.
A re there any other areas o f interest or
statem ents you would like to make?
I guess I would be interested in seeing
som ething m ore for the advanced
student, for years now we have been
shoving the below grade student trying
desparetely to get him to grade but we
haven’t been doing much of anything for
the advanced student.
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Ju d y Bates continued from front
college are having a lot of trouble.
What aspect o f education is lacking?
Basics?
The basics, all of it. I think it’s up to us
to provide the education. To make it
available for them then as parents it’s up
to us to see that they get it, as far as
getting an education. B ut then if it’s not
there for them to get, as parents there is
nothing we can do about it. So there is
something that needs to be done to see
that they get it in the first place.
In your opinion then parents have an
obligation to participate?
They sure do, I think it’s the parents
responsibility to see that their child is
doing it. I don’t think that is something
that should be passed off on the schools. I
don’t think the school should be
disciplinarians. I think that’s where a lot
of problems are now, in the home, but I
also don’t think the schools are providing.
A s a school board member how do you
think you would get parent involvem ent?
The School Board cannot do that, but
the school board can make the education
available in the school, but I don’t think
they are doing that, I think too much
stress, in the meetings I ’ve gone to, to
much stress is on buildings, buses,
maintenance, and they are overlooking
education. I
realize
they
have
administrators and the administration is
taking care of education, but if they are
not doing it, then I think it’s time we look
at the administration and see why they
are not doing it. H aving had two children
come out of the schools and having been
associated with them the last several
years, I can see where maybe there needs
to be a change?
D o you feel that anything is lacking in
the present board?
I don’t have anything against the
people on the present board they are very
conscientious and they are trying, but I
think maybe they are lacking in some
areas, like I say in education.
I f the issue comes up o f zoning the
district, where w ill you stand on that?
I think it should go to a vote of the
people whether they want to change it or
not.
What do you think o f the school being
lacking in primary education, learning
skills or advanced learning?
Both areas but yes, primary. We are
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I ’m a great believer in use of local
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D o you think the M is t S ch ool is
crowded as was brought up at the last
Boardm eeting?
I t is theoretically crowded by State
standards which suggest a maximum for
a multi-class room is 15. I think if the
situation lasted maybe more than another
year that steps will have to be taken. B u t
there are kids who move in and out and
not all the kids who go to M ist school are
children of land owners. The Board has
a lr e a d y thought about this and the
architect has been asked to draw up plans.
M ist school is crowded and if that
continues something will have to be done.
A re you happy with the faculty at M ist
School?
Very much so.
I s there any plan to close down m ist
School?
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