Polk County Education
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 24, 2016 13A
WOU: Building made possible thanks to donation
Continued from Page 14A
The 58,000-square-foot
building was part of former
Gov. John Kitzhaber’s wood
products initiative, and is
one of the only projects in
Oregon to use cross-lami-
nated timber as a structural
element, Girod said. Much
of that timber is exposed.
“It’s beautiful,” Girod said.
Almost 100 offices and 23
classroom spaces are
housed in the new building.
Classrooms were designed
with teaching teachers in
mind, and took tips from
other departments to create
the best use of space.
“When we thought about
instructional spaces, we
thought through the lens of
our American Sign Lan-
guage classes where every-
body sits in a round because
you want to be able to see
everybody,” Girod said. “The
result is our rooms are just a
little bit bigger than they
might normally be.”
Classrooms are equipped
with two-way broadcasting
equipment, a collaboration
w i t h t h e Sa l e m - Ke i ze r
School District.
“We’ll be able to flip a
switch and eavesdrop into
what’s going on in real class-
rooms,” Girod said.
Other rooms are packed
with boxes of hands-on sup-
plies where WOU students
will learn how to teach
STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math)
classes.
Girod said STEM is more
than just taking a math or
science course, it’s the inte-
gration of disciplines spurred
by business and industry.
“The industry folks have
really pushed it,” he said.
“They want kids who have
learned in an integrated
fashion to solve problems re-
lated to the real world — an
engineering-type mentality.”
The large empty walls will
soon be covered with work
from local artists.
“As with all publicly fund-
ed projects, we had to pro-
tect 1 percent (of the budg-
et) for art,” Girod said.
Most of that was spent on
a large outdoor art installa-
tion that will go up in early
2017, but some will be used
to purchase pieces from
local artists.
“We also secured a donor
who is contributing to an
arts fund for this building,”
Girod said. “Across the next
10 years, they will donate in
a recurring manner, and we
will use that money to pur-
chase student art.”
The building was made
possible in part from a $1.4
million donation from
Richard C. Woodcock and
his family — the third largest
single donation in the uni-
versity’s history. Woodcock
was a professor at Western
from 1957 to 1961, Girod
said.
The money was the last
that was needed for the
$18.6 million facility.
In addition to the building
itself, a special room bears
his name: The Woodcock-
Munoz language lab.
“Richard Woodcock was
one of the first ones to really
push for the translation of
cognitive assessments into
other languages,” Girod
said.
Perrydale to replace one faucet after lead testing
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
PERRYDALE — Lead test-
ing at Perrydale School
found one classroom faucet
that needs further testing or
repair due to high levels de-
tected.
The school conducted
eight tests at the school on
July 20 and received the re-
sults on Aug. 9.
In a letter sent to parents
on Thursday, Perrydale Su-
perintendent Eric Milburn
noted that at this time, lead
testing is not required of
schools. (See related story
page, 14A)
“However, some school
districts in other locations
have found that water sam-
ples from their drinking
water fixtures have con-
tained relatively high levels
of lead,” Milburn wrote. “Be-
cause of this information,
Perrydale School District de-
cided that testing would be
in the best interests of the
children, parents, faculty,
and other citizens served by
our district.”
The tests included: the
FFA sink, the high school
drinking fountain, the
kitchen sink, the old gym
fountain, elementary hall-
w a y f o u n t a i n , k i n d e r-
garten modular, elemen-
tary school room six, and
the middle school drink-
ing fountain.
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency recommends
schools take action at .020
parts per million — also list-
ed as 20 parts per billion.
The only test to exceed that
level was in room six at the
elementary school. It tested
at .0227 parts per million.
The sink has been discon-
nected and will not be used
until further testing con-
cludes the tap is within ac-
ceptable levels for or repair
has been completed to fix
the problem.
“It is the intention of the
district to have a second
sample drawn and have the
results analyzed before
school starts,” Milburn
said.
To see full test results, go
to www.perrydale.k12.or.us
or go to the school’s office
during business hours, 7:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday
through Thursday.
Dallas School District named ‘target district’ by ODE
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
School District has been des-
ignated as a “target district”
after the Oregon Department
of Education released its an-
nual English Language
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Learners (ELL) report.
Target district status
means the state has deter-
mined Dallas’ ELL program
is in need of assistance,
though not to the extent
“transformation districts” re-
quire. Dallas will be listed as
a target district for four years
and receive assistance during
that time.
“We are a target school,
we’re not a turnaround
school,” said Steve Martinelli,
the district’s curriculum di-
rector. “We’re the school that
they give advice to basically,
as opposed to being directed
on how to make improve-
ments.”
Just how Dallas became a
“target district” is unclear to
Martinelli. He said looking at
the criteria for the designa-
tion, he isn’t certain how the
district qualifies, partially be-
cause with only 52 ELL stu-
dents in 2014-15, there isn’t
enough data in certain areas.
“I’m still waiting on some
clarification on how we
made that list,” he said. “I’m
a little bit of a data geek, and
as I look at it, I really could
not tell you how we made
that list.”
He said the district won’t
object to the designation be-
cause it comes with benefits:
technical assistance, recom-
mendations on how to im-
prove and possibly more
funding.
“We are not expecting a
lot, but potentially some,”
Martinelli said.
According to the report,
the district spends signifi-
cantly more on providing
ELL education than it re-
ceives from the state,
$282,782 and $141,937 re-
spectively.
He added the state doesn’t
see the designation to be
punitive, but an opportunity
to help make programs better.
“We are looking forward to
what they have to share with
us.”
To see the full report, go
to: www.dallas.k12.or.us-
/#!english-language-learn-
ers/chde.
In other business, the dis-
trict:
• Was awarded $4,485 in
grant funding to replace a
cooler at Whitworth Elemen-
tary School. Food service
employee Debe Castang
helped secure the funding.