COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 18, 2015
Fire destroys
Dorena residence
K ENNEL
Continued from page 1A
A fi re at a home in the 30000 block of
Row River Road destroyed the home and
displaced its occupant Saturday. The oc-
cupant was reportedly uninjured, accord-
ing to South Lane Fire & Rescue's Joe
Raade, who said the fi re occurred outside
his District's boundaries. On Monday,
Chief John Wooten said that the District
did send fi re units when it learned that the
resident had re-entered the building and
become trapped but called off those units
when he was found outside unharmed.
"The issue of unprotected lands is state-
wide, and previous efforts to resolve it by
incorporating...areas into fi re response
districts has failed due to the issues re-
garding taxes," Wooten wrote.
photo by Helen Singer
H ASKELL
Continued from page 1A
Lane School District to get the new
high school built.”
Over the years, Haskell has had
both fans and detractors, perhaps
most notably related to a 2006 City
Council decision to expand the Cot-
tage Grove Speedway, a decision lat-
er overturned by a state review panel
that found bias on the part of Haskell
and Councilor Pat Patterson in favor
of the expansion.
“I’m proud that I was able to help
save the racetrack,” he said last week.
“It cost me a lot of clout and was con-
troversial, and I’m aware that there’s
now a state law named after me.”
Throughout his tenure, Haskell
said he was proud when he could
agree to disagree with his opponents.
“I recognized early on that it’s my
job to represent 10,000 people,” he
said. “We’re all human beings, and
we have to work together. I wouldn’t
let things offend me, because it’s
never personal.”
Life took a dramatic turn for
Haskell last fall, when he received a
diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic can-
cer. He was given a matter of months
to live and quickly closed up his shop
in preparation for what was to come.
“When I found out I had to close
the shop quickly, I was trying to fi g-
ure out how to say ‘Thank You’ for
the support of the offi cials I served
with and to City staff,” he said. “I
would have no accomplishments
without their help and generosity.”
Haskell said he doesn’t have a
“bucket list” of sorts to accomplish
with what time he has left.
“I’ve shot my biggest bucks and
caught my biggest fi sh,” he said. “I’ve
had more enjoyment than one person
should have. I am a wealthy man.”
C ORE
Continued from page 1A
ing schools (and students, in-
directly) is counterproductive
amid so many concerns and mis-
conceptions about the scores.
It’s certainly possible that
Cottage Grove is a microcosm
of that discontent.
“I’m not too sure what to think
of it,” said Cottage Grove High
School junior Jayden Tucker.
“I’ve heard so many things
about it, but I still don’t know
what’s going on. I’ve heard that
the teachers aren’t sure what it
is, and we’re getting what we
know from them.”
One of the lighting-rod is-
sues of Smarter Balanced is that
it will supplant the graduation
requirement formerly served
by the Oregon Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills (OAKS).
While comparable in function,
there are signifi cant differences
between the two tests:
Under OAKS, which will
continue to be the test for social
science subjects, all questions
were multiple-choice; questions
had only one correct answer;
results were instantaneous, and
students could take the assess-
ment up to twice a year.
In contrast, the Smarter Bal-
anced Assessment is partly
multiple-choice with extended
response sections; some ques-
tions have more than one right
answer; the results are gener-
ated over weeks, and students
have one opportunity to pass.
Educators unanimously agree
that Smarter Balanced is more
rigorous than OAKS, and it’s
reasonable to expect that fewer
students will pass. However,
those students could satisfy
the essential skills for gradua-
tion requirement through other
means, such as work samples,
SAT or ACT scores.
After nearly a decade of
11A
OAKS, the current juniors are
expected to be the most sensi-
tive to the differences of Smart-
er Balanced. These students
will receive a cut-score equiva-
lent between the two tests, and
freshmen and sophomores will
receive graduated cut scores as
they transition to the new test
over the next three years.
However, South Lane assis-
tant superintendent Kyle Tucker
(no relation to Jayden) believes
that the changes may not be
as signifi cant as some have ar-
gued.
“Nothing has changed; the
state has always had standards
of what kids need to know.
What has changed is the align-
ment,” he said.
Cottage Grove High School
math teacher Sarah Cunning-
ham agreed that the older stu-
dents would probably notice
the increased rigor of classes
(Algebra 1, for example, now
When serious illness or injury occur, our complete Emergency
Department is ready. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
the Cottage Grove Community Hospital Emergency
Department offers exceptional emergency care close to
home. With state-of-the-art monitoring, imaging and digital
technology, specially trained physicians, RNs and EMTs, and
unmatched commitment to our community, we care for every
body. Every day. In every way. peacehealth.org/cottage-grove
includes quadratics) but that the
younger students won’t know
any different.
While Common Core does
not dictate curriculum or teach-
ing methods, teachers have had
to implement new assignments
to help students prepare for
Smarter Balanced. Some South
Lane parents have said it has
been challenging to help their
children through these unfamil-
iar concepts, such as justifi ed
answers.
“Common Core is horrible,”
said Smiley Glenn. “I can’t help
my fi fth-grade daughter in math
because I don’t understand it.
I can show her in 10 seconds
how to fi nd an answer the way
I learned it, but she has to show
her work. It does not make the
least bit of sense to me.”
The transition to Common
Core dates back to 2008 summit
of governors and state school
chiefs, in which they concluded
“We now have the luxury of holding onto
them a little bit longer, to hold out hope that
somebody might come forward and claim their
dog,” Gagner said.
Gagner added that those seeking to retrieve a
dog can now do so 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, where previously it would have only been
possible during the vet clinic’s business hours.
Police are charging a $20 impound fee, in ad-
dition to $5 a day to lodge a dog at the impound
kennel. Where offi cials at Forest Valley would
previously have vaccinated impounded dogs
automatically, Gagner said that in the event of
an impound, police will fi rst check to see if that
dog is licensed in the City. If not, the owner will
be issued a citation for having an unlicensed
dog, which carries a $50 bail. If an owner can
provide proof of a rabies vaccination before the
court date for the citation, a dog license will be
issued at a $10 cost (for an altered dog; a license
costs $20 for a dog that has not been fi xed) and
the citation will disappear.
“The goal is to get dogs licensed so we can
more easily return them to their owners,” Gag-
ner said. Last year, 132 dogs were licensed in
Cottage Grove, though police know that num-
ber is only a fraction of the dogs living here.
In 2014, police impounded 108 dogs, with 86
requiring lodging at Forest Valley.
Once a dog has been impounded, police will
post information on radio station KNND, in ad-
dition to the Cottage Grove Police Facebook
page, which is linked to the City website.
“The point is to make it less expensive and
reunite dogs with their owners,” Gagner said.
“We’ll see how it works out.”
that U.S. schools had set their
standards in reading, math and
writing too low for students to
succeed in college and compete
in a global economy. Oregon
was one of the fi rst states to
adopt the new standards, and it
was eventually joined by more
then 40 other states.
In order to measure how well
schools are teaching to Com-
mon Core, Smarter Balanced
emerged as the universal test of
choice.
“We all agree that raising ex-
pectations is a good thing for
college and career readiness,”
Cunningham said. “If people
have questions they should call
and ask instead of making as-
sumptions.”
However, it’s likely that an
entirely new set of standards
will evolve before most people
get a grip on Common Core.
Cunningham said it is at least
the third set of standards in 10
years of teaching.
Tucker also expects to see
more changes but can’t predict
what those will be.
“Just look at how technology
has impacted education. When
I was in school we had fancy
typewriters, and we now are us-
ing iPads in a lot of our class-
rooms,” he said.
TOO LATE
TO
CLASSIFY
Help Wanted
WHOLESALE NURS-
ERY hiring drivers, plant-
ers and order assembling
people for the spring
season.
Email your resume to
lhpapps@gmail.com
Find Local Businesses.
,QWURGXFLQJWKHQHZHVWZD\WR´QGWKH
Find
Local
Businesses.
businesses
that mean
the most to you.
,QWURGXFLQJWKHQHZHVWZD\WR´QGWKH
businesses
that mean the most to you.
www.shoppelocal.biz
www.shoppelocal.biz
Find GREAT
MONEY SAVING COUPONS
from local businesses
Cottage Grove
1SJNBSZ$BSFt*NBHJOH4FSWJDFTt1IZTJDBM5IFSBQZt&NFSHFODZ
0VUQBUJFOU.FEJDBM.BOBHFNFOUt%JHJUBM.BNNPHSBQIZ
$PUUBHF(SPWF$PNNVOJUZ.FEJDBM$FOUFS
7JMMBHF%SJWF$PUUBHF(SPWFt
Sentinel
Shoppe™ is a trademark of News Media Corp.