10A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • DECEMBER 12, 2018
Latham
from A1
there are currently 86 stu-
dents in the building.
At the Dec. 3 meeting,
board member Merlene
Martin inquired about if the
decline had any relation to
the school’s status being up
in the air. Sullivan respond-
ed by noting that they were
“trying not go get into con-
jecture.”
Whether there is a clear
tie or not, Latham parents,
as noted in the report’s fi nal
section of parent comments,
have felt that the district has
not always had their back.
One parent said, “It feels like
the district has not been very
supportive of Latham. Th is
school was a very popular
school and it feels neglect-
ed and not supported. If it
stays open the school district
needs to give this school the
support it needs.”
Also included in the en-
rollment fi gures was a chart
documenting
attendance
exceptions; there are 37
students in the Latham at-
tendance area that attend
other schools (19 Bohe-
mia, 14 Harrison and four
at London) while there are
35 students that come from
Latham from other atten-
dance areas (15 Bohemia, 12
Harrison, six London and
two Dorena.)
Th e report showed a hy-
pothetical school boundary
that would show where the
students at Latham would
go if the school closed this
school year. It does not
show student placement
for next year, which would
have to factor in incoming
kindergarten students and
students who would be at-
tending middle school, no
longer attending elementary
school.
In the current hypothet-
ical of today’s students, 39
students would be at Bohe-
mia, 32 at Harrison, seven
at London and two at Dore-
na. Six students were unac-
counted for in this because
of an address listed at a PO
box.
Staffi ng
If Latham were to close,
an estimated 3.5-5 positions
would be placed elsewhere
in the district. Th ese are es-
timates because it cannot yet
be predicted where students
would go and what needs
other schools would have
based on the infl ux of new
students.
At this moment, it is also
unclear how many teachers
could possibly lose their jobs
if the school were to close.
“Th ere’s a lot of things
that we would have to take
into consideration, includ-
ing where the students are.
Th ere are also contractual
obligations that we have,”
said SLSD director of human
resources Brian McCasline.
“It would be irresponsible
to take a look at that and to
voice that at this point be-
cause we don’t know.”
While the cost per stu-
dent was listed, McCasline
further noted that this is not
an accurate way to look at
funding due to the unique
makeup of students and spe-
cifi c funding at each school.
“You might have seven
education assistants at one
building and three at anoth-
er, but that’s not comparing
apples to apples because kids
have diff erent characteristics
that they bring to the table.
You can’t just say cost per
student would be this. It’s
not apples to apples,” said
McCasline.
What was compared on
the report included class size
where Latham is on par with
the rest of the district at 21.5
students per class. Harrison
has 25.3 while Bohemia is at
21.7, Dorena 21.3 and Lon-
don at 19.
Student Performance
Th e report provided each
school’s state performance
from the 2017-18 school
year. With buildings fl uctu-
ating from year to year, the
district does not have any
major takeaways from this
data.
“It’s fairly comparable. So
much so that it’s really hard
to draw any conclusions
other than our students are
achieving on a certain level
based on the state perfor-
mance of such things,” said
Sullivan. “Buildings are not
standing out versus other
buildings.”
Instructional Impact on
Student Achievement
Sullivan made sure to in-
clude the research of Dr.
John Hattie to show that
above all other factors, in-
cluding class size, the most
important factor in a class-
room is oft en the teacher. In
an online interview, Hattie
clarifi ed his point.
“When teachers have been
in classes of typically 25-
30 and we compare that to
teachers with classes of 15-
20, we do get an increase
in achievement by reducing
class size. Th ere’s no ques-
tion,” Hattie said. “However,
that eff ect size is tiny. And
what I’m intrigued on as a
researcher is how come the
eff ect is so small? It’s positive
but it’s very small.”
As is clear on the chart, the
impact, according to Hattie’s
research, shows that there is
some impact of a small class
size but it is minimal which
is what Sullivan wanted to
stress to the board.
“I think there were some
questions about whether
class size makes a diff erence
in student achievement,”
said Sullivan. “Sometimes
there are misperceptions
and we wanted to make sure
that — especially with the
Hattie stuff — to really make
sure we show how important
the teacher is and the quality
of instruction is. Th ose are
the takeaways."
Sullivan went on to ex-
plain that “Th is district…
of all the districts in Lane
County I’ve worked with as
ESD superintendent, this
district has put the most fo-
cus on quality instruction of
any of the districts. So when
we see those things that re-
ally impactful for student
achievement, it’s all about
the work we do with our
teachers. It's about expecta-
tions with students and the
quality instruction we do.
“I don’t take any credit for
that, it’s been going on for
years.”
In the meeting, board
member Martin noted that
this research was not in
agreement with what the
board is oft en told.
“When Kennedy [High
School students do] reports
or whatever or parents say
that class size matters. And
teachers negotiate to get
smaller class size so there’s
got to be something in there
that makes class size more
important than that small.
Th at’s just my opinion,” she
said.
Special Education
When it comes to Spe-
cial Education, the district
works to make sure that
there is a service ratio of 25:1
of students working with
SPED staff , speech-language
pathologists and school psy-
chologists. If Latham were
to close, the district is saying
in this report that .5 SPED
employment would “likely
be eliminated” because stu-
dents from Latham would
be able to go to other schools
and they would still be be-
low the ratio.
“Essentially, the funding
follows the students in each
of the schools,” said Sulli-
van. “Th ere’s equivalency
in terms of how we allocate
by ratio for all the buildings
based on number of stu-
dents.”
Transportation
If Latham were to close,
the bus schedules would re-
main the same with pick up
points around town to get to
a specifi c school.
Technology
Latham is up to speed on
technology at the same level
as the other small schools in
the district. To get Latham
up to the same level of in-
class technology as the
likes of Harrison and Bo-
hemia with projectors and
smartboards, it would cost
$11,720.
Under potential future
issues, it was noted that
Latham’s internal data wir-
ing will have to be replaced
in the next fi ve to 10 years
which would cost between
$10,000 and $15,000 dollars.
It was not addressed in the
meeting whether this payment
would be made in the next fi ve
years if the school was open for
at least that amount of time.
Food Services
Th e report noted that kitch-
en equipment such as a refrig-
erator, oven, grill top burner
and mixer have all been pur-
chased in the last fi ve years
while other equipment is
dated. Currently, the Latham
kitchen is projected to have a
$14,000 defi cit for next school
year because of labor and
benefi ts for its staff members.
Th e report did not say if other
kitchens are in a similar boat.
Facilities and Mainte-
nance
To look at the well-being of
Latham is to look at the con-
tinuing changes and mainte-
nance to the school building
itself.
"One of the things that we
asked (maintenance and facil-
ities manager) Matt (Allen) to
do was to not only give us the
last fi ve years of maintenance
and repairs that have been
in the building but you’ll see
years in the future, also, if we
maintain the building,” said
Sullivan.
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