Polk County Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 24, 2016
WOU education center ready for debut
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
Education Center
MO NMO UT H — T he
Richard Woodcock Educa-
tion Center is bustling with
activity, but not from stu-
dents — not yet.
It’s faculty and staff who
are moving into the new
building for Western Oregon
University’s Department of
Education.
Dean of Education Mark
Girod is excited to have a
base of operations for the
800 education majors on
campus, as well as the 500
graduate students.
“We were in three differ-
e n t b u i l d i n g s b e f o re,”
Girod said. “So for the first
time ever, we will have all
the College of Education
• Faculty and staff are moving into the Richard Woodcock Ed-
ucation Center. The building is Western Oregon University’s
newest for the Department of Education.
• The building will serve as a base of operations for the 800
education majors on campus and the 500 graduate students.
• 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 the state to use cross-laminated timber as a structural
element.
• Nearly 100 offices and 23 classroom spaces are housed in
the education center.
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
For the first time, the College of Education’s faculty and staff, including Dean of Edu-
cation Mark Girod, will be under on roof.
faculty and staff under one
roof.”
It will provide an atmos-
phere of collaboration, he
said.
“You know how it is, often
the most important conver-
sations are the ones that
happen ad hoc in the hall-
Falls City to replace 12 faucets
School district receives lead testing results on 64 fixtures
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The main-
tenance crew at Falls City
School District will be busy
replacing a dozen faucets
after lead testing results re-
turned last week.
Tests of 64 fixtures across
all school buildings — high
school, elementary school,
gym and library-science
buildings — found 12 taps
with high levels of lead. Of
those, six will be replaced
immediately.
“We will be replacing any-
thing that people would
possibly drink from,” Super-
intendent Jack Thompson
said. “We’ll be replacing
those before school starts.”
The other six are faucets
students don’t have access
to or are not used.
“We will be changing
those out here in the near fu-
ture, but we may not get to
Falls City lead test results
(those testing above 15 ppb)
High School gym
• Girls locker room sink — 210 ppb*
• Women’s restroom sink — 209 ppb*
• Concessions sink — 93 ppb*
Falls City Elementary School
• Room 107 left sink — 31.8 ppb*
• Room 113 drinking fountain — 35.8 ppb*
Falls City High School
• Cafeteria sink — 21.7 ppb*
• Room 21 sink — 27.3 ppb
• Room 21 sink — 32.7 ppb
• Room 21 sink — 103 ppb
• Room 21 sink — 54.8 ppb
Library/Science building
• Science room sink — 20.6 ppb
• Science room sink — 16.4 ppb
*Will be replaced before school begins on Aug. 29.
that before school starts,”
Thompson said.
Thompson said he wasn’t
pleased to see fixtures test-
ing high, but told the Falls
City School Board on Aug. 16
he was thankful that the is-
sues appeared to be isolated
to faucets, not building
plumbing. If that were the
case, fixing the problem
would be much more com-
plicated and expensive.
“The main thing I want
the board and the commu-
nity to understand is that
these are real isolated prob-
lems. We had 12 fixtures that
tested too high,” Thompson
said. “Those are fixtures
within buildings that test
very, very low. Our buildings
are healthy, the piping sys-
tems are healthy, but we
have specific faucets be-
cause of their age or con-
struction, that are bad.”
Providing an example, he
said one faucet was one-half
of a side-by-side sink in the
special education room at
the high School. One faucet
tested within acceptable
limits while the other had
too much lead.
“They are literally within
inches of each other,”
Thompson said.
The high tests, those con-
taining lead above 15 parts per
billion (ppb), ranged from 16.4
ppb to the most at 210 ppb.
The samples were collected on
Aug. 5. Edge Analytical from
Portland conducted the tests.
way,” Girod said. “I’m really
looking forward to that.
There will definitely be some
synergy and things that
come from just being in the
same place.”
To encourage collabora-
tion among students, faculty
and staff, a number of
spaces have comfortable
furniture and other ameni-
ties. A study nook sits in the
walls. A fireplace welcomes
visitors in the front lobby.
“The idea is we want peo-
ple to kind of hang around,”
Girod said.
See WOU, Page 13A
SCHOOL NOTES
Clothing, supplies giveaway Saturday
DALLAS — Jinett’s Closet at Dallas New Life Church of the
Nazarene will hold a back to school supplies and clothing giveaway
on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 341 NE Kings Valley Highway.
Organizer Jinett Yeager said the supplies giveaway is for stu-
dents who have not received assistance from other programs
or resource. Clothing is available to anyone.
For more information: 971-283-0443.
SMART seeking volunteer readers
POLK COUNTY — Elementary schools in Dallas and Inde-
pendence are seeking SMART (Start Making a Reader Today)
volunteers for the 2016-17 school year.
SMART is an early literacy program using volunteers to read
to students in grades preschool through third-grade. Volun-
teers are needed at Independence Elementary School in Inde-
pendence and Lyle Elementary School and Oakdale Heights El-
ementary School in Dallas.
Volunteers are asked to give one hour a week at the same
day and time each week during the school year, October to
May.
To volunteer or for more information, 503-391-8423 or go to
www.getSMARToregon.org.
EHCS needs help to open school
BALLSTON — Eola Hills Charter School is finally moving for-
ward on opening its long-awaited permanent location in Ball-
ston, but may need financial help to open the doors on Sept. 12.
The school’s former location on Bethell Road in Polk County
burned down in October 2013, and since then the school has
occupied a number of temporary locations. Insurance money
from the fire has been depleted, so the school has set up a go-
fundme page to help pay for contractors to finish the job.
For more information or to donate, go to https://www.go-
fundme.com/2kcqda54.