FALL HOME AND CAR
CARE
CENTRAL BOYS
Section C
Volume 142, Issue 42
SOCCER
www.Polkio.com
Page 10A
October 18, 2017
$1.00
State
report
cards
mixed
bag
IN
YOUR
TOWN
dAllAS
Edwards grows
state’s largest water-
melon.
»Page 2A
fAllS CItY
Itemizer-Observer staff report
POLK COUNTY — Ore-
gon Department of Edu-
cation released report
cards on all schools and
school districts in the state
on Thursday.
The reports include
data on test scores, gradu-
ation rates, academic
progress, dropout rates,
class size, percentage of
freshmen on track to grad-
uate, and student demo-
graphics.
Schools are not rated in
the report cards, but per-
formance at the district
level and school level is
compared to state aver-
ages, and averages for
similar districts and
schools.
For Polk County dis-
tricts, the data show a
mixed bag of results for
2016-17.
Central School District
saw students meeting
standards on English lan-
guage assessments fall
slightly in the elementary
grades (3-5), drop in the
middle school grades (6-8)
and increase by more than
8 percent for high school
juniors.
All those marks are
below state average and
below the average of simi-
lar districts in all age
groups except for high
school juniors.
Students achieving
standards on math assess-
ments are below state and
similar district averages,
but 2016-17 performance
was up slightly in the ele-
mentary grades and high
school juniors.
Central freshman on-
track rate (the percentage
of students who earned 25
percent of gradation cred-
its by the end of their
freshman year) is higher
than state and like-district
averages and up slightly
from 2015-16.
Graduation rates from
2015-16 (the last year data is
available) saw a significant
jump to 86 percent from
72.3. That is more than 10
percentage points higher
than the state average.
In Dallas, about 70 per-
cent of freshmen were on
track to graduate after the
2016-17, compared to the
state average of 83.4 and
similar districts at 81 per-
cent.
Graduation rates also
fell to about 75 percent in
2015-16, from 82 percent
the year before. The 2015-
16 mark is nearly identical
to the state average and
slightly higher than like
districts.
See ReSultS, Page 5A
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
City hires new code
enforcer.
»Page 3A
INdePeNdeNCe
DACA march held on
Sunday.
»Page 3A
COUrtESy OF tAlEWinD ViSUAlS/itemizer-Observer
mONmOutH
the “Alone” video was shot by talewind Visuals, of Salem, and written and performed by Central students.
Teens to teens: Never alone
By Jolene Guzman
the itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — In
Polk County, about one out
of every 12 high school jun-
iors say they have attempted
suicide.
When asked if they had
ever seriously considered
suicide, the percentage
more than doubles to 20
percent, according to the
Student Wellness Survey.
Those figures were so
alarming to students in Cen-
tral High School’s Power
Peers leadership class that
they decided to help combat
the trend. With the assis-
tance of the Mid-Valley Sui-
cide Prevention Coalition
and Central staff, Thursday
the class kicked off a year-
long suicide awareness and
prevention campaign.
The campaign begins
with a short video entitled
“Alone,” which members of
the Power Peers class helped
write and portrayed the
characters.
It opens with main char-
acter, Alone, gazing at a card
that says: “Need to talk to
someone?” as he wakes up
in the morning.
It’s from his high school’s
counseling office and lists a
time — 3:30 p.m.
Before he can make it
through to 3:30, he listens to
his parents fight before leav-
ing school. He endures the
Popular Girl’s group of
friends making fun of him as
he walks past in the hall at
school. Then, he gets
pushed to the ground by the
school Jock.
As he walks to the back of
his class, he passes the future
Valedictorian already hard at
work before the bell rings.
He feels depressed —
alone — until he goes to the
counseling office, where he
makes a realization. Jacob
Hamilton, who plays Alone,
wants the audience to follow
that journey with his character.
“I just want people to
know that they are not
alone,” he said.
Hamilton, Marcos Cedillo
(Jock), Savannah Mendoza
(Popular Girl), and Erika
Leon (Valedictorian) worked
on the production last
spring.
Staff from the coalition,
part of Polk County’s Family
& Community Outreach de-
partment, met with the
Power Peers class, seeking
assistance from teens in
helping other teens.
Doug Gouge, the program
director for MVSPC, said the
organization has been work-
ing with the class for the last
two years. Last year, the or-
ganization presented two
suicide prevention training
sessions to the students.
“We feel like having youth
involved in the messaging is
very, very important,” he
said. “I feel like youth are
more likely to listen to their
peers at times than they are
to an adult, especially an
adult they don’t know.”
Ta l e w i n d V i s u a l s, o f
Salem, filmed “Alone” and a
second video to be released
later in the school year as
part of the campaign.
Thursday morning, the
video was shown to all
classes at Central High
School and released on the
high school’s and on the
coalition’s websites and so-
cial media platforms in
hopes of reaching as many
people as possible. Each
student received the same
card with counseling infor-
mation Hamilton’s Alone
had in the video.
See VIdeO, Page 5A
Changes coming to Summerfest
By Jolene Guzman
the itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Summerfest, the peak of
summer events in Dallas, is undergo-
ing a renovation.
By next summer, Summerfest — or
perhaps the festival formerly known as
Summerfest — will be shorter and
more community-focused, said Ashley
Kahl, the Dallas Area Chamber of Com-
merce & Visitors Center programs and
events manager.
“Collectively as an organization, we
felt the need to make it a more com-
munity-inspired event,” Kahl said. “Get
it back to its roots.”
Summerfest started out as a
fundraiser for an extracurricular club at
Dallas High School, she said, though
she’s not certain of the year it began.
That morphed in to what was known
for decades as “Krazy Dayz.”
Eventually it was renamed Summer-
fest, a four-day festival that took place
for three days in downtown before mov-
ing for the last day to Dallas City Park.
Kahl said Sunday’s Tom Newton Car
wed
looking for a tasty
treat? make a
chocolate cupcake
and celebrate na-
tional Chocolate
Cupcake Day.
Rain
Hi: 62
Lo: 50
Emily mEntzEr/itemizer-Observer file
erotic City will return to Summerfest in 2018.
Show, Art in the Park and Breakfast in
the Park, sponsored by Dallas Rotary
and Dallas Arts Association, won’t be
affected by the changes.
“They are still on board to do those,”
Kahl said. “It’s such a fun day.”
It’s the downtown events, which the
visitors center is responsible for host-
ing, that will see the changes.
The visitors center has formed a five-
person committee that will begin
meeting in November to redesign the
festival.
See SummeRfeSt, Page 6A
Western Oregon’s
cross- countr y team
eyes conference titles.
»Page 10A
SPORtS
Falls City football
team defeats yoncalla.
»Page 10A
POlK COuNtY
County awaits re-
sponse on safety corri-
dor request.
»Page 2A
Taxpayers to
see kicker
Itemizer-Observer staff report
SAlEm — A more than
$436 million tax surplus
was confirmed by the Of-
fice of Economic Analysis,
triggering a tax surplus
credit, or “kicker,” for the
2016 tax year.
the surplus will be re-
turned to taxpayers on a
credit on their 2017 state
personal income tax returns
filed in 2018. there won’t be
any kicker checks issued as
there were in the past.
to c a l c u l a t e t h e
amount of your credit,
multiply your 2016 tax lia-
bility before any credits —
line 24 on the 2016 Form
Or-40 — by 6.3 percent.
this percentage is deter-
mined and certified by the
Office of Economic Analy-
sis. taxpayers who claimed
a credit for tax paid to an-
other state subtract the
credit amount from their
liability before calculating
the credit.
you’re eligible to claim
the kicker if you filed a
2016 tax return and had
tax due before credits.
Even if you don’t have a fil-
ing obligation for 2017,
you have to file a 2017 tax
return to claim your credit.
the state may use all or
part of your kicker to pay
any state debt you owe,
such as tax due for other
years, child support, court
fines, or school loans.
For more information:
503-378-4988, or email
questions.dor@oregon.go
v.
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
the national
Weather Service
presents training on
how to be a weather
spotter at Dallas Fire
Station.
7 p.m. free.
the bluegrass jam
returns to Faith
Evangelical Free
Church after taking
the summer months
off.
7 p.m. free.
Get your pink on in
support of cancer
research at Eola Hills
Winery in rickreall
with a showing of
“Pretty in Pink.”
5 p.m. $5 donation.
Grace in Dallas hosts
the Amazing Chem-
istry Show and Fam-
ily Experience
traveling science
center at DHS.
4 p.m. free.
Bring your brew of
choice and enjoy a
lecture series on
new testament fig-
ures at St. thomas
Episcopal Church.
7 p.m.
Want to improve
your public speak-
ing? Check out Dal-
las toastmasters at
450 SE Washington
St., Dallas.
6 to 7 p.m.
Rain
Hi: 56
Lo: 45
Showers
Hi: 53
Lo: 44
Rain
Hi: 58
Lo: 51
Cloudy
Hi: 62
Lo: 50
Partly cloudy
Hi: 65
Lo: 45
Mostly sunny
Hi: 64
Lo: 45