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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2017)
Polk County Education 14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 15, 2017 SCHOOL NOTES Lions scholarship application open to Dallas students DALLAS — Dallas Lions Club is offering a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating high school student who is a resident of Dallas. The funds are to be used for tuition at an accredited uni- versity, college or vocational school. Students graduating from Dallas High School, Morrison Campus, an accredited home school, or an online school program are eligible to apply. Applications are available at the DHS Guidance Office or online at http:// e-clubhouse.org/sites/dallasor/index.php. Applications are due April 7. Completed applications can be submitted to the Guidance Office or Teresa Ozias at Shetter- ly Irick & Ozias, located at 189 SW Academy St., Dallas. For additional information, call 503- 623-6695. Photo courtesy of Falls City School District/ Itemizer-Observer Art Houghtaling will serve as Falls City Elementary School principal and interim super- intendent next year. A dean of students post will replace the high principal position. Leaders change in Falls City By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — With the departure of Superintendent Jack Thompson at the end of the school year, Falls City School District will shuffle leadership staff at both schools. Falls City Elementary Principal Art Houghtaling will add the title of interim superintendent in the 2017- 18 school year, while keeping his current duties. The Falls City School Board approved a contract for Houghtaling to serve as elementary princi- pal for the next three years. The board is still consid- ering the next steps as far as his superintendent role. Houghtaling has worked in the district since 2006 and became the elementary school principal last year. In 2015-16, he was the assistant K-12 principal. This will be his first time serving as a superintendent, not something he expected when he began his career. “When I was hired, I wanted to be a social studies teacher for the next 30 years, but life changes and oppor- tunities present themselves,” he said. Currently, Thompson is the superintendent, K-12 principal and special educa- tion director. Falls City School Board members, Thompson and Houghtaling discussed the staffing changes at a work session on March 8. “We’re losing an admin position and creating a dean of students positions here at the high school, and that person would teach a couple of classes during the day,” Thompson said. “The spe- cial ed position, my director position, will be split be- tween Janice (McVeety) and Stephanie (McEwen). They will be moved to 190-day contracts so on Fridays they will work on director posi- tion stuff.” McVeety is the special ed- ucation teacher at the ele- mentary school, and McEwen holds the same po- sition at Falls City High School. The dean of students post, which will replace the high school principal posi- tion, will be filled by science teacher Micke Kidd. Houghtaling said having just one administrator in the district is not ideal, and prob- ably not a good solution long- term, but he has confidence in the leadership abilities of the staff at both schools. “There’s capacity in all of our staff to be leaders in our buildings,” he said. “My job is going to be to bring that leadership out.” He added that next year will be a test of how well the new arrangement will work. “I might be talking to you next March, saying alright, we need to look at the budg- et because there is no way I’m doing this next year,” Houghtaling told the board. Board Member Bob Young said this isn’t the first time the district has operated with just one administrator. “I’ve been on the board for I don’t know, long time. We’ve done this before and it’s worked,” Young said. “The reason why I have a lot of confidence in it is because of the people that we have. The people we have I think are a lot better than the peo- ple we’ve ever had.” He said the board would be open to making changes if Houghtaling felt they were necessary after next year. “Sometimes you don’t know what you can do until you are out there trying it,” Young said. “I think this is a great year to try.”