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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2018)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL AUGUST 8, 2018 11A School board sets tone for the upcoming year Board works on coming together as a team, collective values By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Aft er an emotional fi rst day of the South Lane School District (SLSD) school board retreat, day two saw the conversation focusing on the board’s mission and role in the district. Th e second four-hour spe- cial session of the week, Th urs- day’s conversation started with reviewing South Lane and 4J’s mission statements to see the parts that stood out to them. Working in pairs, they were in- structed to focus on fi rst fi nd- ing the themes that the board should be focused on before getting caught up in specifi cs of the language being used. Th ere are currently three parts to the SLSD mission state- ment that state “children come fi rst;” “children learn best when they want to be at school;” and “decision making is student cen- tered.” Th e themes that were re- iterated by the board last week echoed what is already in place and focused on the idea of learning and growing; respect and care; children fi rst and that motivation matters. “Th ere have been times when we’ve been faced with hard decisions and it was good to fall back on children fi rst as a rea- son to give people why we made this decision. It was because we have that in mind fi rst,” said board member Tammy Hodgk- inson during a discussion. Th e board then focused their attention on value statements that went over ideas of care, respect, continual learning, ba- language used before anything is offi cially changed. During the second half of the meeting, the conversation shift - “Th ere have been times when we’ve been faced with hard decisions and it was good to fall back on children fi rst..." -Board member Tammy Hodgkinson sic needs, safety, security and dedicated staff members. Th e conversation about mission statement and guiding beliefs are currently in the early steps of the process. Th e board will be receiving input about and working on the details of the ed to looking at how any author- ity the board has is as a collec- tive and not as individuals. And especially not as individuals just out in the district. “I get this argument a lot across the state, it’s like, ‘Well, Steve, I’m a board member, I’m privy to that information.’ No, you’re not,” said Steve Kelley the Director of Board Development for the Oregon School Boards Association. “It goes back to… as an individual board member you have no authority.” Diff erent situations were then discussed such as how to get an item on the agenda, communi- cation with the superintendent and a reminder of the nature of board meetings. “It’s a meeting in public, it’s not a meeting with the public,” said Kelley in regards to public comment at meetings. He also reminded that meetings are not open forums for the audience to join in on the conversation. General ways of carrying one- self in meetings, with a focus on body language, were discussed with a reminder that the board sets an example for the rest of the district. “If you can have a good debate where the opinions and diff erent perspectives are out there and you make a deci- sion and you can all support it, that is the heartbeat of an eff ec- tive board,” said Kelley. “And it’s when you are passionately in two diff erent corners – not in things that matter a little bit to you or things that are milque- toast – it’s when you’re ada- mantly in two diff erent camps and you can show the public that you can have the right con- versation and then support the decision aft erward.” At the conclusion of the meet- ing, the board then went on a tour of the new Harrison Ele- mentary School. Some fi re restrictions lift ed Cooler temperatures have al- lowed Lane County Parks to less- en some fi re restrictions placed last week. Now, campers at Rich- ardson Campground on Fern Ridge Reservoir and Camp Lane on Highway 126 are allowed to have campfi res in already estab- lished fi re pits. Due to the continuing risk of fi re in our area, Lane County Parks will still be enforcing these restrictions at several parks: ·No open fl ames are allowed in Lane County parks, including no campfi res, warming fi res, cooking fi res or ceremonial fi res unless noted otherwise in this press re- lease. ·Gas-powered barbeques and cooking stoves using liquid or bottled fuels are allowed where re- strictions prohibit campfi res, but are restricted to use for cooking purposes only. ·Open fl ames are prohibited at day use areas in Lane County parks. ·Tobacco use and vaping are al- ready prohibited in Lane County parks. ·Any other spark-emitting op- eration not specifi cally mentioned is prohibited. Not included in these restric- tions are coastal Lane County parks located west of milepost 18 on Highway 126, including Archie Knowles Campground and Har- bor Vista Campground. Lane County will continue to monitor weather conditions, to determine if further restrictions become necessary. DIVORCE Spend what you earn on what you love. Clear Many Convictions, Arrests, & Expungement Switch to Banner Bank Connected Checking ® . Use any ATM in the country, and we’ll refund the fees. $155 NO Court Appearances bannerbank.com/connected-checking www.paralegalalternatives.com Complete Preparation Includes: · Children No-Fee ATMs Mobile Banking with Snapshot Deposit ® No Monthly Service Charge Unlimited surcharge rebates from non-Banner-owned ATMs in the U.S. ·Custody ·Support ·Property ·Bills Division Divorce in 1-5 weeks Possible! legalalt@msn.com 503-772-5295