6A | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
SIUSLAW from page 1A
be looking to have those
84 students out on the field
utilizing the south bleach-
ers for families … to watch
their student on that spe-
cial day,” Gerot said.
In addition, the district
is working with the City of
Shoppe
LOCAL
#MyFlorence
Shop. Eat. Support.
SAVE. SHOP
Florence to plan a Gradu-
ation Parade at noon that
day.
Siuslaw School Board
representatives often are
involved in the graduation
ceremony, with directors
John Barnett and Suzanne
Mann-Heintz expressing
interest in helping to hand
out diplomas.
Board President Bob
Sneddon said, “It’s an hon-
ored tradition by many
who have been on the
school board.”
It will be Mann-Heintz’
last formal event as a seat-
ed board member, as her
term expires in June. Bar-
nett is running unopposed
for his seat in the May 18
Special Election.
The rest of the meet-
ing dealt with a consent
agenda, action items, pub-
lic comment and further
reports. Before the agen-
da was approved, howev-
er, Director Dennis King
moved to revise the agenda
to talk about policy GBG,
“Staff Participation in Po-
litical Activities.”
The board followed pro-
cedure to first agree to add
the item and then voted
to approve the agenda as
amended, with the poli-
cy to be discussed as item
6.1.3.
When the meeting pro-
gressed to the agenda item,
King gave his reasons for
adding the policy as a dis-
cussion item.
“I’ll make this pretty
quick. It may or may not
be relevant to a lot of you
or part of the community,
but it just seems like there’s
an elephant in the room
right now. And I just want-
ed to throw this out there
to show that at least we’re
thinking about this and
talking about it,” he said.
King referred to a
Guest Viewpoint submit-
ted to the Siuslaw News
by Mann-Heintz, “New
School Board Needs Equal
Representation” (May 8).
Guest Viewpoints are
generally submitted by
community members with
specific knowledge, ex-
perience or authority on
a particular topic or area
of discussion. Siuslaw
News separates these lon-
ger-length Opinion page
submissions from shorter
Letters to the Editor.
King read from the pol-
icy, which stated, “On all
controversial issues, em-
ployees must designate
that the viewpoints they
represent on the issues are
Visit us on
the web
SUPPORT
T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM
personal and are not to be
interpreted as the district’s
official viewpoint.”
King continued, “The
things that were put out
there in the paper, they’re
not illegal. I’m sure it’s all
okay. The references here
are ORS Chapter 244 and
ORS 260.432. I didn’t look
those up, not going to ei-
ther. My point for bringing
it up is just so that — let
me go back to our board
governing agreement.”
At that point, Sneddon
asked if King felt the pol-
icy applied to not only dis-
trict staff, but the board of
directors, to which King
agreed.
“If you look at our board
governing
agreement,
there are a lot of things in
there that we do, because
it’s a good thing to do,” King
said. He continued, “I’m
throwing this out there,
just to show the public that
we’re aware of that kind of
issue. Perhaps, in the fu-
ture, the board governing
agreement could add a
paragraph about when it’s
political time, this is the
kind of thing that we may
or may not think is appro-
priate. So that’s it. That was
my reason for adding it.”
Sneddon then opened
discussion to the rest of
the school board.
Mann-Heintz
spoke
next, acknowledging that
the agenda item was in-
cluded due to her submis-
sion to the Siuslaw News.
“I just want to make it
real clear that this was sub-
mitted as a Letter to the
Editor, I was very careful
to speak in the first person,
and the decision to make it
a guest viewpoint and to
put ‘school board member’
there were editorial deci-
sions by the Siuslaw News,”
she stated. “Whenever I
submitted articles in the
past, I’ve remembered to
say, ‘Please do not list me
as a school board member,’
because I know that we’re
not supposed to do that. I
also took into account the
fact that I am a departing
board member. I haven’t
re-upped in order to run
again for this position and
I won’t be serving with
the candidates that I en-
dorsed.”
Her Guest Viewpoint
concerned the May 18 Spe-
cial Election, where three
positions for the Siuslaw
School Board have a total
of six candidates, two of
which are women.
“I believe it’s my legal
right to have an opinion
on that and to make an
endorsement. Also, there
are precedents from oth-
er elected officials to do
the same,” Mann-Heintz
said. “I just want to let ev-
erybody know that it was
thoughtful, and that I did
consider those things. My
intent was merely to ex-
press my own thoughts
and reflections on the elec-
tion and to name the can-
didates that I would really
like to see elected. That
was it.”
King followed this by
saying, “Again, I wasn’t
saying that anything was
illegal. I was just putting
it out there so that per-
haps the next board could
consider that as part of the
agreement.”
Next, Sneddon said, “I’m
glad to bring this up, Den-
nis, because we will have,
probably in August, this
very conversation on our
board operating agree-
ment.”
He encouraged King to
bring the topic up again
with the new board that
will be in place after the
election.
S n e d d o n c o nt i nu e d ,
“Suzanne, I would just
like to say I saw absolutely
nothing wrong with your
letter. It was well thought
out and it was very clear
that it was your opinion.
To me, it was very clear.
I did receive some corre-
spondence from some-
body in the district or in
the community who made
the inference that it was
possibly illegal, which I
vehemently oppose that,
because what that person
was stating would have
been an infringement on
your constitutional rights
to freedom of speech. And
that person also demanded
a retraction in the Siuslaw
News.”
King expressed willing-
ness to continue the con-
versation at a later time,
saying, “I don’t have a dog
in the fight.”
He had, however, sub-
mitted his own opin-
ion piece to the Siuslaw
News, which ran May 12,
the day of the Siuslaw
School Board meeting. He
countered Mann-Heintz’
Guest Viewpoint with
“New School Board Needs
Wise Representation.”
During the meeting,
Sneddon asked for any
further comment from
the board, which prompt-
ed Director Diana Pimlott
Surfside Restaurant
at Drift wood Shores Resort
Is Open for Dine-in & take out
from 4pm - 8:30 pm
Tuesday - Saturday
supplies and services, but
if there’s nobody there to
assist with designing and
lesson
implementation,
that money can just sit
there in the account and
go unused,” he said. “We
need someone that can as-
sist teachers in designing
lessons as well as co-teach
lessons and coordinate
other opportunities across
the grade levels to address
those unique needs.”
The second position
would be a “utility person
that can assist with eighth
grade/ninth grade transi-
tion, attendance services,
alternative services, and
helping shepherd those
kids into a more success-
ful path from eighth- to
ninth- to 10th grade,”
Grzeskowiak said. “In es-
sence, being a second as-
sistant principal between
the middle school and the
high school.”
While the district has
looked into adding this
position in the past, sup-
plemental funds may be
coming from the state.
“These are the piec-
es that we have put in for
board consideration as we
go forward with the final
draft of the budget for next
year,” Grzeskowiak said.
The
board
seemed
amenable to these new po-
sitions.
Director Paul Burns
said, “In my 16 years on
the board, TAG has been
underfunded and under
promoted in the schools.
… It’s a good start, but it
shouldn’t be the end.”
The 2021-22 budget will
be approved at the Siuslaw
School Board meeting on
Wednesday, June 16.
In other Budget Com-
mittee news, there is now
an open position on the
committee. The partial
term would expire on June
30, 2022.
People can learn more at
Siuslaw.k12.or.us.
LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS
Tires • Brakes
Shocks • Alignment
4325 Highway 101, Florence
541-997-7178
HOME OF THE BEST TIRE VALUE PROMISE
We are open for dine-in, take-out,
sidewalk & patio seating
We are doing everything
we can to safely
serve our community.
Call
S IUSLAW N EWS
We are open:
11-8 daily
541-902-6447
Follow us on
2020
VOTED
Twitter
@S IUSLAW N EWS
to say: “I would just like
to comment that I think
as a board member, it is
important that any com-
ments we make may be
considered as a reflection
of the entire board as a
whole. And we need to be
very careful at any point of
our tenure, to ensure that
our viewpoint isn’t misrep-
resented as the opinion of
the entire board. I’m glad
to see that we’re having
this discussion, and that
we’ll be looking at this lat-
er on this summer as we
review our board princi-
ples or standings.”
Later, when the meeting
concluded, Sneddon asked
that future agenda addi-
tions be submitted ahead
of time to the board chair
so they will have time to
research the item and con-
firm the process with Rob-
ert’s Rules of Order.
During the rest of the
meeting, the board passed
the consent agenda and
heard a first reading of
Policy EEAE, “Student
Transportation in Private
Vehicles.” The board also
reviewed Policy EBBB-AR,
“Accident/Incident
Re-
port.”
In addition, the board
received a report on the
2021-22 proposed budget,
which was approved by
the Budget Committee on
April 28.
Business Manager Kari
Blake talked about two po-
sitions the district is look-
ing to add. These would be
for a Talented and Gifted
(TAG) coordinator and an
administrator to help with
the transition between
middle and high school.
According to Grzesko-
wiak, the TAG coordinator
would be able to work with
students from kindergar-
ten to 12th grade.
“We have staff in place
to do testing and identi-
fication, and we can put
money into accounts for
F
BEST O
E
Drift wood Shores Resort
88416 1st Avenue, Florence
F LO E N C
R
1285 Bay Street, Old Town Florence
(541) 902-8338
www.1285Restobar.com
Since 1983
Alva Bracey
Broker
LEGACY
PORTRAITURE
Portraits that will show
your innermost self.
Your goals are my
top priority.
Let’s get together!
LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS
Tires • Brakes • Shocks
Alignments
4325 Highway 101
Florence, OR 97439
541-997-7178
Call, Text or Email
Cell: 541-505-1180
Alva@CBCoast.com
541-997-7777
100 Hwy. 101,
Florence, OR
COAST REAL ESTATE
ESTATE JEWELRY AND
ANTIQUE FURNITURE!!!
RODGER BENNETT
PHOTOGRAPHY
1234 Rhododendron Drive #7 | Florence, Oregon 97439
541-991-0777 | www.photobyrodger.com
We buy, sell and consign quality
estate/heirloom jewelry & furniture.
Gold, silver, platinum jewelry with
precious & semi precious stones.
Call 541-997-8104,
Florence Antiques
&
Coast Jewelers
Insect & Pest Removal
Trapping • Mole/Gopher
Dead Animal Removal • Honey Bee Removal
Crawl Space Cleaning • Exclusion Work
Fumigation of Antiques and Commodities.
(541) 997-4027
MODEL TRAIN
ENTHUSIASTS
Auto, Home, Life, Business
Flood, Antique Auto, RV’s
Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare Supplements
Health Insurance
Phone (541) 997-9497
1234 Rhododendron Dr / Florence
Over
ars
50 Ye ce!
rien
Expe
CALL ME TO BUY, SELL OR TRADE!
I’M LOCATED HERE IN FLORENCE.
541-255-9822 - Larry
landl316@live.com
Us TOO Florence
Prostate Cancer Education
Support on the Oregon Coast
www.ustooflorence.org
BOTH MEETINGS ARE CURRENTLY ON HOLD.
WATCH SIUSLAW NEWS FOR RESUMPTION
• Tuesday Evening Group (2nd Tuesday)
5-7 p.m. - Ichiban Chinese/Japanese Restaurant
• Urologist Dr. Bryan Mehlhaff attends.
• Tuesday Lunch Group (3rd Tuesday)
12 noon – 1:00 p.m. – Ichiban Chinese/Japanese
Restaurant
• Urologist Dr. Roger McKimmy attends.
Contact Bob for more information:
(H) 541-997-6626 • (C) 541-999-4239
maribob@oregonfast.net