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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2019)
2C COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • SN for OCTOBER 2019 Lincoln Middle School Teacher receives award from OSTA Recently, the Oregon Sci- ence Teacher Association announced that Halli Rous- sell, first year teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Cottage Grove, was award- ed the 2019 Outstanding Early Career Classroom Teacher Award for Region 3 at its annual meeting on Oct. 11 and 12 at Lane Com- munity College. BULLY from C1 Oregon Safe Schools Act of 2009 gave defi ni- tions for bullying, and in 2012, the Act was strengthened to include more reporting measures for districts. Th e OSSCC rated dis- tricts for years on their bullying policies, with a “gold star” rating the goal of every district. Th e ratings, gold, silver and bronze star, mea- sured compliance with state law and whether school policy included specifi c language for staff training and/or gender identity-based bullying and harassment. Eventually, so many schools came into com- pliance with the law that the organization no lon- ger felt it necessary to rate them, according to Joy Wallace, co-chair of the OSSCC board. South Lane School District (SLSD) achieved a “silver star” rating in 2012 and maintained that through 2014, which was the fi nal year districts were graded; NDSD was recognized as a “gold star district” beginning in 2013. However, despite the abundance of gold star districts, bullying rates have stayed almost con- stant. But what exactly is bul- lying? ORS 339.351 defi nes bullying and harassment as any action that “sub- stantially interferes with a student’s educational benefi ts, opportunities, or performance”—while taking place in school or at school-sponsored activities and locations, including bus stops — re- sulting in physical harm or property damage, in- stilling fear of that harm or damage, or “creat[es] a hostile educational en- vironment, including interfering with the psy- chological well-being of a student.” It may or may not be based on protected class- es like race and gender. At Bohemia Elemen- tary School, they have a slightly diff erent defi ni- tion: “We defi ne bullying as something that is target- ed harassment over time,” said principal Heather Bridgens. “It can be phys- ical or verbal abuse. It can be intimidating. It doesn’t have to be something that can be seen or heard...It’s something that happens more than one time. Community input sought for allocation of SSA funds Th e South Lane School District is taking steps to engage stakeholders in the process of investing funds allocated through Oregon’s Student Success Act (SSA). Passed by the legislature, the SSA provides $1 Billion per year beyond the regular Early Learning and K-12 State School Fund to sup- port early learning, local school districts and a num- ber of statewide education- al initiatives starting in the 2019-20 school year. Th e additional funding provided by the SSA - Stu- dent Investment Account is expected to generate an additional $2.3 million per year beyond regular state funding for the South Lane School District. Equity is the driving vi- sion behind this legislation. Th e primary goal of the SSA is to improve outcomes for historically underserved or underachieving students. Th e district will be pro- viding input opportunities for all stakeholders through surveys and discussion groups. For any parents, stu- dents, school board and community members that want to be more involved, SLSD is soliciting partic- ipants on a district-level team that will review data and recommendations and help facilitate stakeholder meetings and surveys. SLSD staff that wish to be more involved will have an opportunity to be on small- er teams that will identify and analyze critical data, especially disparities in outcomes. To participate on either of these teams team, please contact Jeremy Smith (Jere- my.smith@slane.k12.or.us). Th e Oregon Department of Education is still work- ing on the exact guidelines for the allocation of these funds and SLSD will be following those as they be- come known. Our main goal at SLSD is that “Children Come First” and this process provides a genuine opportunity to create a more equitable learning environment for all students. London School part of Amazon Smile program London School Parent Just go to: www.smile. www.smile.amazon.com. Club is now signed up for amazon.com and scroll All purchases earn cred- Amazon Smile. down until you fi nd: its for the London School Amazon Smile gives a London School Parent program. percentage of all your pur- Club - Cottage Grove, OR chases to London School. Th en start shopping at: “Th e key diff erence [between simply being disrespectful or unkind and bullying] is that it is targeted and happens more than one time.” School districts are re- quired by ORS 339.356 to have a policy on bullying and harassment as well as reporting procedures for students and faculty, but there is no statewide set of procedures or policies enforced among schools. Th at makes compara- tive data collection dif- fi cult. In fact, Oregon doesn’t collect data on bullying incidents unless it involves removing a student from school, ac- cording to Lisa Bateman, a Social Emotional Learning Specialist with the Oregon Department of Education. In addition, changes in staff training and diff er- ent defi nitions of bully- ing have made compar- ing data from year to year murky at best. “When we record be- havior as bullying or dis- respect, something we re- corded as bullying before we might more accurate- ly record as disrespect now,” Bridgens said. It’s not always easy to fi gure out why kids bully each other, either. “Bullies are individu- als. [Th ey] are children that have pasts...Th ey have issues that they have to deal with,” said SLSD interim assistant superin- tendent Brian McCasline. “Th at’s one of the more diffi cult things about this type of behavior, I think. You’re not going to get a straight answer on ‘these are the fi ve reasons why kids bully’ because there’s not just fi ve and it de- pends on the student.” SLSD is making eff orts to track and prevent bul- lying through a more unifi ed data collection system, a district-wide standardized report, and programs in the schools to stop it before it starts. (Editor’s Note: In the Oct. 30 edition of Th e Sentinel, we will provide a comprehensive report on a recent sports-related hazing incident that oc- cured last month at Cot- tage Grove High School, as well as Part II of this story exploring how SLSD is addressing the issue of bullying — and how those eff orts are part of a long-term goal of creating a foundation of anti-bullying education from an early age.) SWITCH TO THE CONVENIENCE OF AUTO PAY! Aut o Pa y SAVE TIME & SAVE MONEY Use your Credit or Debit Card account to renew your subscription to the Cottage Grove Sentinel (includes online edition) by using AUTO PAY. Complete the credit card information on the enclosed billing notice and make your payment the easy way with Auto Pay. Bring in or send this ad back with your payment and save $5 OFF Yes, Sign me up for Auto Pay*! 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