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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2015)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015 Chief from 1A The majority questioned the termination of the chief’s con- tract and the actions of the board. Some supported the board’s action and said that a number of volunteers had been unhappy working with Langborg. It wasn’t “new” news — the SVFR board had an outside service evaluate Langborg earli- er this year to monitor his con- duct and discuss complaints made against him. Langborg emerged favorably from the evaluation. When she spoke, former SVFR board member Cindy Spinner suggested that the eval- uation’s results be made public. “Nothing significant came from the independent review, which reached out to 32 individ- uals over a month, and many of the complaints had been resolved as publicly stated by President Scott in the February 2015 board meeting,” Spinner said. After a full hour of comment, Carnahan closed the public hearing. Director Lori Gates made a motion to rescind her former motion that terminated the con- tract with Langborg. “I had conversations with community members and fire district members contrary to what I had previously been told,” Gates said. Director John Scott seconded the motion. Before the motion went to a vote, Carnahan addressed the public. “Regardless of how this vote Sterling Silver Jewelry at a fraction of the price that other stores charge • Plates • Sterling Silver Jewelry • Candle Scarfs • Collectible Hand Carved Eggs • Gallery Pieces • Turquoise Jewelry • Glass Art • Earrings • Pendants • Gift items and MORE ON SALE! On-Site Parking Silver Sand Dollar goes, I want all the volunteers to work very hard at keeping it together. Because guess what? Without you, we don’t have a fire department. You are the backbone of this community. ... I’m going to tell you I’m very proud of this department,” he said. “Whatever happens, no matter how this vote goes, I want you to pull together. Because you are very, very important. I think everyone in this audience ought to thank them for what they do.” Director Woody Woodbury, who was part of SVFR for a couple years, said, “I think everybody who knows who I am knows my deep devotion to the town itself and this depart- ment. Whatever happens with this vote tonight, I believe that the board will move forward in the correct direction and address any and all issues.” “Boards are allowed to change their minds,” board attorney Christy Monson said. She clarified that a “yes” vote on Gates’ motion would nullify the vote and motion from the previous meeting. SVFR Human Resources Manager Julie Brown took a roll call vote. In a 4-to-1 vote, Gates, Scott, Woodbury and Director Tony Phillips approved rescinding the motion. Carnahan did not. As the meeting concluded, Carnahan said, “I want to thank everyone for their input. You gave of your time and we thank you for that.” School Gallery Jewelry and Gifts 1499 Bay Street (Old Port Building) from 1A In 1990, Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure No. 5, which capped property taxes dedicated to school funding and transferred the responsibil- 541-997-0111 CONCEAL CARRY CARRY CONCEAL PERMIT CLASS CLASS PERMIT Oregon –Utah Oregon – Valid in 35 Utah - Valid 34 States States Wednesday, August 5th 1pm or 6pm Walk-ins Welcome Florence Event Center, 715 Quince St. OR/Utah–valid in WA $80 or Oregon only $45 shauncurtain.com ~ ~ shauncurtain@gmail.com FIREARMTrainingNW.com FIREARM TrainingNW@gmail.com 360-921-2071 WORD ON THE STREET Scott brought to mind a Norman Rockwell painting of a man addressing a council. “He was making a point. You guys did that tonight. It’s a won- derful thing,” Scott said. “You felt there was cause — whichever side you were on — and you turned out to support your cause wonderfully. I think this is fine. I think this is a turn- ing point. I think we’ll see improvement for everybody, volunteers, staff, citizens, everyone.” In his statement, Langborg said, “We will right the ship and I will continue to work hard to ensure the service our district provides remains at the high level our citizens have come to expect. SVFR will persevere and we will grow as an organi- zation from this experience.” Brown said, “The department plans to move forward by focus- ing on our firefighters, our com- munity and continuing to work on implementing the strategic plan the board adopted.” Langborg added, “I want to thank the many people who have offered their support over the past week. It has served as a strong reminder of why my wife and I have fallen in love with this wonderful community.” The SVFR board will contin- ue to work with Langborg and the department. Carnahan, a volunteer battal- ion chief and a duty chief, took a leave of absence this week. Details of his leave were not made available. ity of school district funding from local governments to the state. Oregon’s national K-12 educational rankings have been declining ever since. “Oregon has the worst rate of high school graduation in the country,” Finney said. Some education foundations have specific mission state- ments, while others are more general. In 1989, anticipating the passage of Ballot Measure No. 5, the Ashland School District formed an education founda- tion. The focus, according to Mann-Heintz, was supple- menting teachers’ salaries to keep class sizes down. The Eugene Education Foundation, created in 1993, has a primary focus in the arts and additional programs that supplement the curriculum. Siuslaw School District Superintendent Ethel Angal said, “It opens up to the schools a large number of funding sources, with someone else doing the legwork for us.” “It doesn’t involve very much money,” Finney said. “In fact, you can get grants to start up your education foundation. We have been given a full set of documents from the Bethel School District. We have everything practically ready to HAVE A QUESTION WE SHOULD ASK? E MAIL : E DITOR @T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM If any U.S. President could return to office, who should it be? “Ronald Reagan. That was my man. I think he was a true constitutionalist. He was a good man. He brought this country back economically and he put people to work.” —S TEVE L ATHAM , 64 F LORENCE “Jimmy Carter, because he’s a true statesman and he stands for what he believes. Even though he wasn’t re-elected, he should have been.” —S HARON S TILES , 74 F LORENCE “Ronald Reagan. I feel like the country was better off and better thought of around the world with him as president. My second vote would be Bill Clinton, for the same reasons.” —J IM M ACKEY , 67 J EFFERSONVILLE , I ND . “President Lincoln. He was- n’t afraid to stand up for what he thought was right and was will- ing to fight for it.” —L ORRAINE H EARN , 50 L EBANON , O RE . IN from 1A about that and I want to do it. Will you help me?’ I said, absolutely. We presented our plan to the church board and were approved the end of June. The Boys and Girls Club was leaving on June 30 and we were told a week earlier that we would be the ones to take it over.” The two could not begin ren- ovations until July 6. Since then, they have partitioned the space into two separate class- rooms, each capable of han- dling 20 children, acquired new appliances for the kitchen, painted the entire interior, spread bark dust and built cabi- nets. The long-term goal is to have two classrooms with two teachers, two aides and a kitchen worker. When Boys and Girls Club ran the preschool, they offered a Montessori method of learn- ing, as well as traditional pre- school. Navarro and Haflett will use the Ausbelian pre- school program that combines both a traditional teacher direct- ed approach with the Montessori-style, child-directed approach. “Ausbelian is both,” Navarro said. “We are going to have some child-directed time and teacher-directed time. They will have instruction when they are all in a group together, working on things, and they will also have areas set up where they will have child’s time and can choose activities.” ABC will offer a five-day full-time rate, or a five-day half-day rate. The full-day 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. monthly rate is $450. The half-day monthly rate for either 7:30 a.m. to noon, or 12:30 to 5 p.m., is $380. “We don’t have any two-day or three-day rates,” Navarro explained. “It’s just too hard to try and figure out. We will have a few places available for drop- ins if people need it. We will charge $3 per hour for drop-ins, but it will be on a space-avail- able basis,” she added. Haflett said, “We are really excited to get this going because of all the families that used the facility that are still looking for childcare. Meeting those needs is important to us.” For more information, con- tact Meggan Haflett at 541- 999-6554. go. There isn’t a lot of outlay in terms of expense to the school district.” Finney sees an advantage in combining the Siuslaw and Mapleton districts into a single foundation. She pointed out that combining the two dis- trict’s median incomes shows an even greater need for assis- tance. “Both districts are more likely to get grants ahead of other districts that have higher incomes,” Finney said. “The intent and hope is that we will be able to search grants that are available, tailor them to our needs and bring those dol- lars in to help subsidize pro- grams for the schools. It’s a win-win situation for both dis- tricts.” She also assured the Siuslaw board that there would be no overlapping in fundraising efforts currently underway in either school district. The foundation would focus on regional, state and national grant funds not directly avail- able to the districts. The Siuslaw board voted to move forward with the initia- tive and, according to Mapleton Superintendent Jodi O’Mara, the Mapleton School Board has indicated interest in the project. The two districts would have to make commitments to the foundation for office space, utilities, equipment and possi- bly providing employee sup- port. “My hopeful timeline,” Mann-Heintz said, “is that in July we will get the organiza- tion structured, get the articles of incorporation and by-laws ratified and filed with the state. Then we would apply for our 501(c)3 nonprofit status, which could take a long time. “But,” she added, “I do understand the state moves a little quicker with education foundations because they are familiar with the structure and understand the function.” Once the foundation is granted its nonprofit status, it can begin applying for grants. Mann-Heintz hopes this can be in place in time to fund proj- ects for the 2016-17 school year. She said the school boards would determine the funding goals for the founda- tion. “My vision,” Mann-Heintz said, “is to have a teacher grant application process so that teachers who have a spe- cific project in mind will have a simple application process that outlines what their project is, what they need and the time frame. They would submit that request to the foundation and the foundation would be able to fund, or modify, depending on the resources available.” “For the past 25 years,” she added, “Oregon schools have been hammered and the fund- ing from the state has not kept up. Oregon used to be tops in education, we were way up there. Now, in many measures, Oregon is in the bottom five (states) in the nation. It is embarrassing. That is another motivator for this alternative funding source; to try and sup- plement what is available to our students. There is no limi- tation on what the school dis- tricts can expect to do with this kind of funding.” Fire you are barbecuing to make sure the coals are out or the gas is off — and that the grill is kept clean,” Barrett said. He also reminded grillers to leave enough space between the grill, houses, belongings and combustible materials. from 1A Barrett estimated the total damage to be $80,000. He reminded people to use care when barbecuing. “It is very important when JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS Stacie Navarro and daughter Meggan Haflett are ready to open ABC Preschool on Aug. 3. Toni of Red Rose Catering is now CATERING to your pets! DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed above are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Siuslaw News or its advertisers. 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