COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL DECEMBER 6, 2017
11A
Board to decide if Latham Elementary closes its doors
Decision may be as soon as January
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
The South Lane School board held its monthly meeting on Mon-
day and night and invited the elephant into the room: Would it close
Latham Elementary School?
The board agreed that more information was needed before it
made its decision but leaned heavily on discussion of the building’s
failing infrastructure, smaller class sizes and the coming of the new
Harrison Elementary School next fall as well as a possible savings
of over $200,000 a year if the school closed its doors.
“I believe at some point, Latham won’t continue to operate,”
board member Jerry Settelmeyer said. “In some respects, you might
say it’s a mercy to say it’s over,” he said, noting the mounting main-
tenance issues and his belief that the conversation on what to do
with the school should have come a year ago.
Vision 2037
Vision Keepers
Committee Members Needed
Th e Vision Keeper Committee welcomes applications from
interested persons who would like to serve a two year term as
an “at-large” member of the committee (2 positions available).
Applicants will be interviewed and then confi rmed by the
Cottage Grove City Council.
Th e role of the Vision Keepers is to monitor progress of
the Cottage Grove 2037 Vision Action Plan, encourage
implementation of actions, provide technical assistance or
support where appropriate, produce annual progress reports,
and recommend minor modifi cations to the plan as necessary.
Th e Vision Keepers will hold quarterly team progress meetings,
and will develop annual awards to recognize individuals
or organizations for exceptional service toward promoting
achievement of the Cottage Grove 2037 Action Plan.
Applications are available at City Hall and at the Cottage Grove
Public Library, and should be returned by Friday December
22, 2017, at 5:00 PM to: Teresa Cowan, City of Cottage Grove
Community Coordinator, 400 Main Street, Cottage Grove,
Oregon 97424, Email: volunteers@cottagegrove.org, Phone:
541-942-1185.
Latham currently has 94 students enrolled in classes. That num-
ber is down from 111 from the same time last year. Whether that
trend will continue is unknown but Superintendent Krista Parent
said elementary numbers across the board are down and there was
discussion that the neighborhood that feeds Latham’s student body
numbers is aging out.
If Latham were to be closed, the district would save $187,397 in
staffi ng costs. That includes the entire $84,463 principal salary and
pieces of other costs that include offi cer manager time (an approx-
imate $18,373 savings), a handful of the nine food service hours
($14,085 in savings) and $70,000 of the $401,234 spent yearly on
teachers.
“Some of those six teachers at Latham would follow the kids.
Wherever the kids went, the teachers would follow,” Parent said
in explaining the $70,000 savings rather than the entire $401,234.
A total of $46,429.87 could be saved in electricity, utilizes, per-
mits and upkeep if Latham closed and saved the district $2,900 in
garbage removal, $7,662 in electricity and a little over $2,000 in
custodial supplies.
Financial savings aside, the board discussed the other benefi ts
Latham provided students, including a small school option. Board
member Taylor Wilhour, who has children in the school, said it was
a viable concern for parents and fellow member Tammy Hodgkins
noted that if the district closed Latham, it may not be able to provide
an alternative for parents seeking out a smaller school.
“Social media, word around town is, ‘Oh, Harrison’s opening,
Latham’s closed.’” Andrea Griffi th sat through the two and a half
hour board meeting with an infant to get more information about
her second-grader’s school. “I want him to stay there, it’s a great
school. We are a community. It’s small, we feel like a little family
over there. It’s hard not to get emotional, I don’t want him getting
lost in the shuffl e,” she said. “I feel like this will be a conversation
year after year now until it’s closed.”
Bullying and behavior has been an issue at the school, which sits
on 10.42 acres and was considered for closure once before against
Delight Valley. Academic performance, however, remains on the
higher end of the district with 25 to 30 percent of third to fi fth grad-
ers meeting standards on level three in math and English.
The construction of the new Harrison Elementary School has
raised concerns over the closure of Latham. According to the school
district, many Latham students opt into the school and do not live
in the attendance area. Harrison, however, is also an option for stu-
dents and is expected to open in the fall of 2018.
The board instructed Parent to attempt to assess how many
Latham parents intend to send their children to Harrison. The board
will combine the information with a guesstimate of the incoming
kindergarten class, a scaled down budget for Latham and public
comment.
“It should be made clear,” Settelmeyer said. “That it doesn’t
mean if every parent says they’re keeping their student at Latham,
the school will stay open.” He went on to say that the decision to
close the school would be left to the school board.
School board wrap-up
Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
North to Alaska
The Cottage Grove boys bas-
ketball team is heading to Ko-
diak, Alaska to play in the 51st
annual Joe Floyd tournament.
The team will be leaving on De-
cember 26th and will return on
the 31st.
First year head coach Nick
Finley, who coached in Alaska
for the last three years, was con-
tacted about a spot in the tour-
nament opening up at the last
minute for Cottage Grove.
At the school board meeting
on Monday night, Finley report-
ed that the Kodiak School Dis-
trict will be paying for the ma-
jority of the fl ights in addition to
providing lunch and dinner the
students that would be going.
Additional money will be com-
ing through a shoot-a-thon that
the team is doing, donations and
a sports fund at Cottage Grove
High School. The details about
lodging are still being ironed
out but Kodiak High School has
offered to let the team stay at the
school.
According to the presentation
that four team members gave to
the school board, about half of
the 13 players on the basketball
team, consisting of 10 seniors
and three juniors, have never
fl own on a plane before.
Donations at CGHS
Chelsea Armstrong, a mem-
ber of CGHS student council,
reported to the board that the
school has been taking dona-
tions and will be opening up
a winter clothes closet for stu-
dents in need. The school is
looking for more donations
of all kinds and are especially
looking for shoes and general
hygiene items.
A Special Performance
Cottage Grove’s charter
schools, Academy for Charter
Education (ACE) and Child’s
Way Charter School, had short
performances for the board on
Monday night to update them
about their school.
Two ACE students sang about
the fi rst law of thermodynamics
while another student from the
school recited Chaucer for the
school board on Monday night.
Following them, a host of staff
members from Child’s Way en-
tered the meeting playing a sax-
ophone and guitars. The staff
talked about the activities the
school is doing including their
music programs, quilting, build-
ing and outdoor education.
Custodian Honored
Cottage Grove High School’s
custodian Brian Anderson has
been honored by the Oregon
safe Schools and Communities
Coalition for his work to make
the high school a safe place for
students to be.
ALICE Training
In January district teachers
and staff members throughout
the district will continue tak-
ing part in the Alert Lockdown
Inform Counter Evacuate (AL-
ICE) training program that fo-
cuses on active shooter response
training.
School District Meeting with
PeaceHealth
On Jan. 8 members of the
school board will be meeting
with Meghan McCarthy, Peace-
Health’s Director of Communi-
ty Health, to discuss a possible
fi nancial contribution from the
company for the new pool reno-
vation. The district plans to give
a tour of the current pool space
and discuss how the rennova-
tion will benefi t Cottage Grove
and keep people healthy.
Honor
roll
Continued A1
William Hickox
Morgan MacDonald
Rhianna Nash
Caleb Parks
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Samantha Baker
Jimmy Barrone
Payton Black
Riley Black
Caleb Clark
Devin Davidge
Nicki Derrick
Vivianna Du Faux
Jake Gerrard
Trace Gordon
Lauren Kalkowski
Jonnathan McGuire
Dominic Mills
Daniel Olp
Justin Smith
Madilyn Sprinkle
Natalie Thompson
