Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 4, 2017 7A
Wilkins excited to serve students at charter school
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
BRIDGEPORT — Sitting
in Christy Wilkins’ office at
Luckiamute Valley Charter
School’s Bridgeport campus
on a bustling Monday
morning, you can hear chil-
dren playing during recess.
For Wilkins, LVCS’ new ex-
ecutive director, it’s confir-
mation of why she wanted
to join Luckiamute Valley.
For some school administra-
tors, being around students
isn’t a daily occurrence, she
said.
At LVCS, she can just step
outside her office and turn a
corner and find a class of
students on the playground
or headed to the cafeteria.
“I like the fact that in my
job, I’m around kids,” she
said. “I’m surrounded by
students and reminded
every day why I’m here and
why I took this job.”
Wilkins found early in her
education career that she
had a passion for helping
students navigate challenges
in their life and education.
“I started out as a high
school English teacher. I
loved teaching, but I also
loved getting to know the
kids,” Wilkins said. “I found
my students wanting to
hang around during lunch
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Christy Wilkins became Luckiamute Valley Charter
School’s executive director at the Bridgeport campus.
and my preps, and I had the
opportunity to get to know
the students personally and
hear about their lives and be
a source of support for them
and their families.”
Soon, she went back to
school to earn a master’s de-
Rally
Continued from Page 1A
The Airstream, invented by
the late Baker City resident
Wally Byam, is a recreational
vehicle with an aluminum
skin. But they’re much more
than that, Taylor said.
“They’re so incredibly
iconic,” he said. “They are
plain America.”
Strangers are always inter-
ested in them, he added.
“Probably the neatest
thing with Airstreams, peo-
ple at the gas station will ask,
’Oh, do they still make
them?’” Taylor said. “Also,
we’re often asked, ‘Can I look
inside?’ I actually got pulled
over by a cop one time for
no infraction, he just wanted
to step inside my Airstream.”
On Saturday, the partici-
pants of Airstreams on Main
Street will open their RVs to
the public for an open house
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., wel-
coming visitors to tour the
trailers. Taylor said that
while they all have the same
shiny, aluminum skins, they
are very different on the in-
side.
“We’ll have our 1950s
Airstreams there, and there
will be trailers that are 3
months old,” Taylor said.
“People can walk through
and see what the trailers are
like.”
The Wally Byam Caravan
Club International started
when Byam took an unhap-
py customer on a road trip
from California to Mexico,
Taylor said. The following
year, Byam invited friends to
come make the trip again.
About 60 trailers made the
trek, which was just the be-
ginning of Airstream cara-
vanning tradition.
“In 1959, Wally took a
bunch of trailers and they
shipped them to South
Africa,” Taylor said. “They
went from Cape Town to
Cairo, Egypt.”
The trip was documented
in photos and videos by Na-
tional Geographic and took
about a year to complete.
gree in counseling.
“I’ve worked as counselor
at every grade level, elemen-
tary, middle and high, and I
loved the work and the op-
portunity to provide social
and emotional support for
students who were strug-
gling with that issue,”
Wilkins said.
She’s still making use of
what she learned as a coun-
selor, saying that experience
gives her insight into stu-
dent behavior and the abili-
ty to help teachers with stu-
dents.
“I think it’s great training
to move into a leadership
role,” she said. “The listen-
ing and problem-solving,
conflict resolution, all of
those skills can be applied in
my work as an administra-
tor.”
Wilkins spent much of her
career in traditional public
schools, working 11 years in
the Cascade School District,
13 years in the Newberg
School District, and in
schools in Washington state
before that.
Making the transition to a
charter school has been a
learning experience, but one
she’s welcomed.
“I’ve always been interest-
ed in charter schools and al-
ternative school settings,”
she said. “I was interested in
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
City Council approved a new
utility license and fee at
Monday’s meeting.
The fee and licensing re-
quirements would impact all
utilities operating, except for
those that already have a
franchise agreement with
the city: Pacific Power,
Northwest Natural Gas, Cen-
tury Link and Charter.
The new ordinance creates
a license requirement and fee
on internet modem services.
Charter Communications
told the council on Sept. 18
that it would pass on any
new fees to customers.
Councilor Micky Garus
said the council should keep
that in mind when consider-
ing the ordinance and when
it set the fee rate later this
year.
“I’m concerned about
what kind of fees we would
be passing on to our citi-
zens. It’s an unknown,” he
said. “Looking at the bigger
picture and some of the
things that we are going to
be asking our community to
bear in the future, whether
it’s streets or a public safety
facility. This is one of those
things we need to really look
at and say, ‘Is this going to sit
well with the community?’”
City Manager Ron Foggin
said the ordinance asks utili-
ties to pay for all their use of
the city’s rights-of-way.
“Back when the internet
was being introduced to
homes, these companies
successfully got internet
broken away from telecom,”
he said. “As they put in this
infrastructure, they were
able to deliver telephone
and cable and internet serv-
ices, and thus avoiding pay-
ing franchise fees for the in-
ternet-side of the business.”
Councilor Terry Crawford
asked what the potential new
revenue would be used for.
Foggin said all franchise
fees go toward the city’s gen-
eral fund.
The ordinance passed on
a 5-3 vote with Garus, Craw-
ford and Councilor Jennie
Rummell voting no. Coun-
cilor Jackie Lawson was ab-
sent from the meeting.
District, and what she be-
lieves is the key to educa-
tion: Good teachers and
good teamwork.
“Successful schools are
successful collaboration
with many, many players,”
she said.
So far in the young school
year, Wilkins believes LVCS
she’s been gifted with that,
too.
She gives special credit to
Jenneca Crawford and Steve
Diehl, principals at Bridge-
port and Pedee respectively,
for helping her get on her
feet since she took over the
job in late July.
“They’ve been my part-
ners while I ride my learning
curve,” she said.
Wilkins said her goal for
her first year with the school
is to learn from her teachers
and staff members and to
increase parent and com-
munity involvement in the
schools.
Above all, though, she
wants to support the
school’s mission in class-
rooms.
“I think the classroom is
the heart — a teacher and
students in a classroom are
the heart of both schools,”
she said. “Anything outside
of that zone, we’re here to
support the teaching and
learning that goes on.”
Trinity
Lutheran Church
presents
Emmy-Nominated
musician and storyteller
John Doan
with his
October Birthstone
“Beyond Six Strings
– 20 Strings of Magic”
program
Sunday, October 15th at 6:30 pm
Admission is by suggested donation of $12.00 for adults
and $10 for seniors and children
320 SE Fir Villa Rd., Dallas
503-623-3117
For more information call at 503-623-2233
or go online at www.dallastlc.org or www.johndoan.com.
837 Main St. • Dallas
Council approves
new license and fee
working in an environment
that provided more flexibili-
ty for meeting the needs of
diverse learners, more cre-
ativity.”
Before she arrived, the
LVCS board had already
committed to bringing in art
and science, technology and
math enrichments for stu-
dents with the goal of
adding more in the future.
“I was really inspired by
that,” she said. “I know as an
experienced administrator
and educator that you need
to provide multiple strate-
gies to engage some stu-
dents, and not every student
learns the same.”
She said that LVCS’ two
campuses in Bridgeport (K-
5) and Pedee (6-8) allow the
schools to provide more
outdoor learning experi-
ences without leaving
school grounds. Classes can
build lessons around explor-
ing the nearby river, and
there’s space for greenhous-
es and gardens.
“Because of the location,
we have the opportunity to
do things that traditional
schools do not,” she said.
Wilkins said she was
pleased to have joined a
school with an active board,
an engaged parent group
and a supportive charter
sponsor in Dallas School
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