Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2002)
School board votes against consolidation B ss3ie rfetaal1 U o f J fre« 3 p a a !' Li b r a r y Eumene, üii 9 7 4 J 3 VOL. 121 NO. 50 8 Pages Wednesday, December 11, 2002 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon MCGG takes first in light parade Mekayla Kindle, 6, talks with Santa before the Light Parade ♦ r Third place w inner: “Big Santa Float" presented by the Bank of Eastern Oregon Santa C lause; T hird- Bank o f T he events o f Dec. 5 began before the Light Parade, Eastern Oregon's “ Big Santa”; with the Christmas Tree lighting and Fourth- Bucknum's and pictures with Santa. Santa Christmas Gift. this year w as played by Jerry Olson o f Heppner, w ho was also H ep p n e r E lem en tary seen on the C olum bia Basin School will be holding their Electric Co-O p float. h o lid a y m u sic p ro g ra m , W inners for this y e a r's Thursday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. in sixth annual Parade o f Lights The Heppner Library will the Heppner High School gym. be holding at K id 's O rnam ent were as follows: First- M orrow T h e h o lid a y m u sic W orkshop, F riday, D ec. 13, County G rain Growers pulling p ro g ra m fo r H H S w ill be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. All th e 2 0 0 3 F a ir an d O T P R Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. in children interested in m aking Princesses; Second- Colum bia o rn a m e n ts a re w e lc o m e to the HHS cafeteria. Basin Electric Co-Op with live attend. Library to hold Kid’s Ornament Workshop School holiday concerts coming soon A m e a s u r e d lo n e contingency that packed into the school district board room in L e x in g to n M o n d a y n ig h t emerged with a small victory— albeit a bittersw eet one. The M orrow County School Board, before a standing room only c ro w d , v o te d a g a in s t consolidating lone and Heppner schools “at least for now.” But, the board, attem pting to cope with severely dim inished state f u n d in g , v o te d to p u rs u e $660,585 in general cuts and $ 8 1 6 ,4 8 0 in staffing cuts to balance the budget, in effect d e c im a tin g th e e d u c a tio n a l p ro g ra m s in so u th M o rro w County. Also at the meeting, the board learned that the M orrow County Education A ssociation that afternoon had ratified a contract with the district, which w ould provide a three percent raise for the d istrict’s teachers (tw o percent retroactive to July and one percent to begin in M arch). Board m em ber Gary Frederickson said that the raise w ould help m ake the district “more competitive” in retaining a n d a ttr a c tin g te a c h e r s , a p ro b le m in n o rth M o rro w County schools, which are said to lose teachers to nearby school districts such as Hermiston and Pendleton. The contract also calls for an increase in district-paid insurance costs from $490 to $530 per m onth per teacher. The general cuts call for a $250,000 cut in the capital im provem ent fund, a $75,000 reduction in the transportation system fund and a change in the early retirem en t system that w ould result in a $70,000 cut fro m th a t f u n d ’s $ 2 7 0 ,0 0 0 budget. A lso on the chopping block are: elim ination o f the s u m m e r s c h o o l p ro g ra m - $28,000; elim ination o f head teacher stipends or positions- $ 3 0 ,4 2 3 ; e lim in a tio n o f substitutes for aides except for special education and one-on- one aides-$35,295; dropping an equipment fund-$40,100; closing o f the Lexington district building- $25,000; and other reductions in funds. The $3,000 the district allotted for operation o f the lone pool was also included in the list o f cuts. Also, a move o f athletic director funding to a different fund is expected to result in a savings o f $30,332. A s to $ 8 1 6 ,4 8 0 in s ta f f in g c u ts , th e fo rm u la presented at the M onday night m eeting calls for a reduction o f 14.35 teachers in H eppner and lo n e . P r e lim in a ry rec o m m e n d a tio n s call for a $ 2 1 6 ,7 2 0 cut from H eppner M iddle School (3.87 teaching positions); a $211,680 cut from H eppner E lem entary School (3 .7 8 te a c h in g p o sitio n s); a $200,480 cut from lone High School (3.58 teaching positions); a $100,240 cut from H eppner H igh S chool (1 .7 9 teach in g positions); a $67,760 cut from lone Elem entary School (1.21 teaching positions); a $6,720 cut from lone M iddle School (.12 teaching position); and also a $ 12,880 cut from Riverside High School (.23 teaching position). B o a rd C h a ir J u lie W eik el stressed that while the $816,480 am ount will be cut from the district budget recommendations as to where the cuts will be made and the nature o f the cuts is still preliminary. The cuts may not be limited to teaching staff, but could include other staffing and building reductions. In explaining their slashing o f south Morrow school funding so severely, the board reiterated its goal o f “equity”, which correlates the amount o f money a school brings in w ith the amount o f money it spends. “We want to balance the budget with an eye to where limiting is coming from ,” said Superintendent Dr. J a c k C rip p e n . T he m o re populous north Morrow County schools not only have m ore students (the state allots districts a certain am ount o f m oney per student) but also have m ore English-as-a-second-language students and other factors which increase the amount o f funding the state doles out. While small rural schools do receive some additional state funding, they have proven to be m ore expensive to operate. Dr. Crippen said that the district could lose at least eight to 10 te a c h e r s th ro u g h retirem ent, which w ould help mitigate the effect o f the board’s decision. Dr. Crippen also told the board that the newly constructed elementary schools in Boardman and Irrigon wall not open for some time because the district cannot afford to staff the new buildings, adding that the expected growth in th a t a re a h a s n o t y e t m a te ria liz e d . W eikel la te r e m p h a s iz e d th at n o rth end schools are already crow ded, e v e n w ith o u t the e x p e c te d g ro w th . “ S am B o a rd m a n (elementary) doesn’t even have an extra closet,” said Weikel. T h e c o h e s iv e lo n e community, appearing en masse at the meeting, has galvanized in its goal o f av o id in g school consolidation o f H eppner and lone schools. As a result o f a m eeting D ecem ber 2, the lone com m unity subm itted a list o f concerns and recommendations to the board M onday night. “Consolidation is not an option,” said a letter handed out to the b o a rd and m e m b e rs o f the audience. “ We realize that cuts are necessary and we will bear our fair share, but the lone School m ust not be closed. G ive the com m unity a chance to offer solutions within the boundaries of the State Funding Form ula." lo n e resid e n t Joe R ietm ann reiterated that sentiment, saying that lone w ants to take its cuts and w ork w ithin the budgetary restrictions, but wants to have input as to how those reductions are m ade and avoid closure o f its school. “We are walling to take a bite o f the pill," said Rietmann, “but we d o n 't want to choke on it. Our school is everything to our community.” Rietmann said that th e lo n e co m m u n ity w o u ld consider establishing a charter school or forming its own district b e fo r e it w o u ld c o n s id e r consolidation. “ 1 have not seen any proposal w hich would close the lone Schools,” said board member John Renfro. Irrig o n r e s id e n t Meredith DeHaven offered lone s u p p o rt fro m th e Irrig o n Community and said that w hen Irrigon lost its school it, in effect, lost its community. DeHaven drew laughter from the audience with her comm ent, "Irrigon is a dead community. You'd hold the second coming o f Christ and you still probably w ouldn't have more than five people show up. If you take the school out o f lone it w ould erase lone right o f f the m a p .” The lo n e c o n tin g e n t em phasized that they do not blame the board for the cuts and realize that the cuts are the result o f state budgetary problems and also said they have "no quarrel with Heppner.” Crippen told the board, however, that he did not want the com m unities to have “carte blanche” in decisions about their schools. The board said that th e y w o u ld ta k e th e lo n e com m unity recom m endations into consideration, but stressed that the final decision as to funding cuts lies w ith the board and superintendent. B e sid es the issue o f consolidation, the lone letter made the following points: -“ lone has tw ice been named an “Exceptional School” and the high school has been nam ed the O SA A O regonian C up each year it has been in e x is te n c e . D o n 't k ill an exceptional school.” -"T h e e f f e c ts of consolidation on our children w ould be both physical and em otional. Not only would the a lre a d y len g th y school day becom e longer, but children could be as far away as 45 miles from hom e should they forget lunch money or get sick at school. Some o f the bus rides would be unm anageable, especially for y o u n g e r c h il d r e n .” lo n e c o m m u n ity m e m b e r S a ra h Carlson said that if lone area students are bused to Heppner, her children could face a four- hour daily bus ride and she would c o n sid e r hom e sch o o lin g if consolidation was realized. - “ In th e e v e n t o f consolidation, the high level o f parental involvement o f the lone school c h ild ren w ould drop dramatically. The cost in time and money would discourage parents and to w n s p e o p le from volunteering. We believe that parental and community support is one o f the biggest factors in student success.” -“Consolidation would not occur w ithout a significant number o f students seeking other educational alternatives, whether that is neighboring school districts or home schooling.” -“A new school is being c o n s tr u c te d in lo n e . T h e taxpayers, o f this area who are paying for this facility and w ill continue to pay lor the next 20 years, expect it to be used to school the children o f lone and the surrounding area.” -“lone is a town w ith an abundance o f com m unity spirit and pride. The school is the center o f this comm unity. Most anything that happens at school (gam es, co n certs, program s, g r a d u a tio n s , e tc .) is w e ll attended. Support for school activities is very strong. The town and its economy are tied closely to the school. Should the school go, the businesses are likely to follow.” Along these same lines, lone resident Beth Heagy also s a id at th e m e e tin g , “ We p a r tic ip a te in H e p p n e r 's economy. If we do go down, Heppner will probably go down with it.” -“ lone voters hav e been long-tim e school and school district supporters. The citizens in lone have been known to pass levies and Kind issues. In the last election, the “yes" votes from the lone area put the Kind issue over foe top. While our population may n o t be th e b ig g e s t, a high percentage o f the citizens in lone vote " A n o th e r c o m m u n ity m eeting has been scheduled at the lone School cafeteria on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 6:30 p.m. In other business, the board:-approved resignations continued page two CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE Friday, December 13 from 8 a.m. • 5 p.m. COME JO IN THE FUN ! Refreshments, cookies and hot apple cider ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 h, tarn (wan nut «ft un at at*, meg ntt MV (
