Heppner community sees consolidation
as one solution to school crisis
Be33ie Wet zel 1
U of U f;e»3ya -:-jr Li brcry
E u g e n e , OR
VOL. 121
NO. 51
10 Pages
974J3
Wednesday, December 18,2002
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone Site Council discusses cuts to school funding
At the Dec. 11, 2002,
the lone Site Council discussed.
Principal M ike Stuart explained
to the council, the budget cuts
approved by the school board
earlier this w eek. A strategic
planning meeting has been set for
T uesday, D ec. 17 reg a rd in g
com m unity action specific to
lo n e ’s school situation. M uch
d is c u s s io n c o n c e r n in g th e
possible teacher and/or classified
employee cuts was brought up at
the m ee tin g , w ith id eas for
p o s s ib le s o lu tio n s b e in g
generated.
Stuart also explained the
w orkings o f his retirem ent and
1 stated that he will be rehired full
tim e on a sp ecial b asis. He
clarified that he has not retired
from his job and will be working
hard to support our school and
our community.
In other business:
-A c c e le ra te d R e a d e r
(Elem entary): The softw are is
installed (w e are w aiting for a
serial num ber to be able to use)
and books are in and processed,
a demonstration will be given next
month on how to use the system.
-SOS Reading Program
(Secondary): Jennifer Pambrun
and her associate cam e and did
a se c o n d in -s e rv ic e fo r the
teachers.
-Site Council By-Laws:
They are specific by-laws for the
lone Site C ouncil giving the
mission and goals o f the council.
We are in com pliance w ith the
by-laws except for meeting times
and room number. Ihe secretary
will re-type the by-laws show ing
those changes we have made and
a ls o a d d “ e: s tu d e n t b o d y
president or designee. Student
representative shall be elected by
the student council. The current
‘e ’ w ould then be T . " T he
council agreed to this change.
-T e stin g : C o m m e n ts
w e re
m ade
about
th e
implementation o f snacks during
testing and better orchestration o f
it. It was suggested that there be
a testing liaison to go between the
council and the testing (DART)
coordinator. It was decided that
the Vice-Chair o f the site council,
V ic k i W a g e n b la s t, be th e
d e sig n e e to m ak e sure th at
cookie (or other snack) people
get notified before testing dates.
T he chairpersons (D ean and
A nita) will be responsible for
letting Jim Raible know that he
n e e d s to c o n ta c t V ic k i
im m ediately w hen testing is to
occur.
-M ik e s h a re d s o m e
prelim inary num bers on test
results. 92 percent o f lone’s 3rd
g r a d e r s a lr e a d y m et th e
benchm ark in reading and 75
percent in Math. At the 5th grade
level, 55 percent reading and 64
percent in math; 8th grade, 83
p e rc e n t in R e a d in g and 50
percent in M ath; 10th, four out
o f 17 still need to pass in reading,
nine out o f 17 passed in math.
T hree l l t h graders have not
passed reading and five did not
pass in math out o f 15 students.
12th grade: o f 17 students, 14
passed reading and 14 passed
m ath. T here w as d iscu ssio n
about w hether we could require
juniors and seniors who haven’t
passed the benchm ark to take a
m ath class. M ike instructed us
that the State o f O regon only
requires tw o years o f M ath to
graduate. There was discussion
about counseling with the student
in the spring regarding w hat
classes to take and other options
to aid in passing the benchmarks.
-Pop cans: We decided
to officially donate the non-Pepsi
cans/bottles to the Shenanigans
fiddlers group.
-T h e s ite c o u n c il
d e c id e d to m eet m o re than
m onthly to plan and talk and
figure out what our role will be in
coming up with school funding.
The next date then was decided
to be Jan. 8,2 0 0 3 at 5:30, with
an invitation sent the advisory
board to join in the meeting.
Recognition-
-G irls took l st place in
th e
b a s k e tb a ll
bonanza
tournament.
-D ia n a M c E llig o tt
received the silver m edal in
W endy’s Heisman competition.
She is one o f tw o representing
the state o f Oregon at the national
level.
-A d a m N e if f e r w as
awarded defensive player o f the
y e a r in fo o tb a ll fo r B e lo it
University.
Neighborhood Center to
distribute food baskets
Neighborhood Center Coordinator, Janice Skaggs, along
with volunteers, Sharon Brace and My rtle McMillan work on
filling Christmas boxes.
T h e N e ig h b o rh o o d
Center o f South Morrow C ounty
is distributing Christmas baskets
and presents to fam ilies around
the area.
Fifty-five food baskets
w ill be d istrib u ted to South
Morrow County families and 32
children and 13 seniors will
receive Christmas bwxes. Boxes
will be distributed Thursday,
Dec. 19.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
4
\
taking salary, retirem ent and
o th er benefits into acco u n t.
A group o f around 100
Kindergarten through sixth grade
at a m eeting M onday night at
personnel
costs, including salary
H e p p n e r H ig h S c h o o l put
and
benefits
for 2002-03, are
consolidation o f the Heppner and
$
9
3
5,889;
s
e
v e n - I 2 ,h g rad e
lone high schools near the top o f
personnel costs are S l , 169,940.
ways to fix the M orrow County
H e a ls o s a id th a t s p a re
School District budget crisis. The
classroom budgets left little for
district needs to cut at least S l .5
cuts w ith the K -third grade
million from the budget and has
classroom budget at $14,381;
targeted south end schools, not
the fourth-sixth grade classroom
only because o f the budget crisis,
budget at $20,347; the m iddle
but also b ecau se the school
board has established a goal o f school classro o m budget at
$13,153; and the high school
“ equity” am ong the schools,
budget at $25,920. Maintenance
m e a n in g th a t th e s c h o o ls
and
o th er se rv ic es (re p a irs,
shouldn't spend more than they
supplies,
materials, travel, utilities,
bring in. The board said that they
field trips, postage periodicals,
w ould cut funding to the south
dues and subscriptions) are as
county sch o o ls irregardless.
follow s: K -six th g rad e are
Small schools in H eppner and
$109,100; seven-12, $120,250.
lo n e ty p ic a lly o p e ra te o v er
T o ta l c o s ts fo r H e p p n e r
budget, while schools in the north
E lem entary S chool K -6 are
end o f the district have more
$ 1 ,0 7 9 ,7 1 7 . T otal co sts for
students and more English- as-a-
H eppner M iddle School/H igh
s e c o n d - la n g u a g e s tu d e n ts ,
School are $ 1,329,263.
thereby bringing in m ore state
O th e r s o lu tio n s at
funding. A lso, sm aller rural
M
onday's
meeting included:
schools have proven to be more
-reducing
the d istric t's cash
expensive to operate.
carryover. The school board has
Those assem bled at the
in d ic a te d th a t they w ish to
Monday night meeting asked for
maintain $1.5 m illion to ensure
volunteers to meet w ith members
c o n tin u e d o p e ra tio n o f the
of the lone community to attempt
district, especially in the event o f
to w ork out a com prom ise to
further state funding cuts,
com bine the tw o high schools,
-addressing
the board in “equity"
which, they say, will solve the
education.
Many
in the audience
funding problems, eliminate the
d
isa
g
re
e
d
w
ith
th e b o a rd ’s
need for deep teacher cuts and
definition
o
f
equity,
commenting
dram atically revitalize the two
that cuts in curriculum did not
schools' bare bones curriculums.
provide south Morrow County
The lone community, however,
students w ith an education equal
m et previously and agreed to
to that provided students in north
w ork with the b oard’s cuts, as
Morrow County. “I object to the
long as the lone School remained
use o f 'e q u ity ',” said David C.
open.
A llen o f H eppner. “ There is
H eppner
S c h o o ls
absolutely
no fairness. ‘It's about
Principal Wade Smith distributed
sharing
the
good and the bad and
a pared-dow n sam ple school
we
share
the
bad. T hat's not
sc h ed u le fo r H ep p n er H igh
equity.”
“They
also need to look
School for next year, taking
at
equity
o
f
program
s w ith an
drastic cuts into account, and
equal curriculum throughout the
a n o th e r o n e w h ic h w o u ld
county,” added Jerry Breazeale,
combine Heppner and lone high
also o f Heppner. Ann M urray
schools. Smith said teacher cuts
pointed out that five o f seven
would be reduced if the two high
school board members w ould be
schools w ere com bined. (See
up for election in May. “We have
p ro p o s e d
s a m p le
c la s s
the opportunity to change the
schedules) Currently H eppner
m akeup o f the b o a rd ," said
Elementary School (kindergarten
Murray. O f the seven members,
through sixth grade) has 10 full
the
positions held by Larry Mills,
time equivalent teachers, .8 FTE
Burke
O 'B rien, both Heppner,
sp e c ia l ed te a c h e r, .5 FTE
Gary
Frederickson.
Boardman,
reading teacher and .5 FTE band
Pat
McNamee,
Irrigon,
and John
tea c h e r; tw o FTE c u sto d ia l
Rietmann, lone, will all be up for
e m p lo y e e s , 3.5 F T E ed
election. Only two, Julie Weikel
assistants, l FTE librarian, l FTE
o f Boardman and John Renfro o f
secretary, l .5 FTE one-on-one
L e x in g to n , w ill not fac e
ed a ssista n t, .25 FTE lunch
reelection.
business em ployee, 1.75 FTE
-floating a local operating levy,
cooks and .8 FTE administrator.
w hich is allow ed by law and
Currently Heppner High School
w hich could bring in more money
(grades seven-12) has 13 FTE
teachers, .5 FTE counselor, .5
for the district, based on assessed
FTE band teacher. .34 FTE art
valuation.
teacher, one special ed teacher,
-increasing volunteerism to take
2 custodians. 1.5 secretaries, one
up the slack in support services
librarian, one one-on-one ed
if support staff is cut.
assistant, .5 laundry employee.
-m oving seventh and eighth
2.5 ed a ssista n ts, .25 lunch
graders to the elementary school
business em ployee. 1.2 cooks
as a cost-sav ing measure.
and .7 administrator. Smith said
-w ithdraw ing from the current
th at each te a c h e r c o sts the
school district and form ing a
district approximately $56,000,
separate district.
-coordinating classes among high
schools in the district, so that
more courses can be offered via
\ -tel.
-calling legislators to encourage
a legislative solution to the funding
shortfall.
-seeking grants and endowments,
-contracting custodial services,
-reducing the district’s technology
budget.
-recruiting home school students,
-establishing block scheduling
w hereby classes w ould be held
fo r lo n g e r p e rio d s, but not
necessarily every day, so that
s c h o o ls c o u ld b e tte r sh a re
teachers.
-selling the district office,
-esta b lish in g d o rm ito ries to
attract students from diverse
areas.
Smith told the assembly
that the $1.5 million in cuts may
not be the w orst-case scenario
and pointed out that the board
has outlined another five percent
in cuts across the board in each
school if state funding is reduced
even further. “ I don't think this is
the last o f the hits," said Smith.
Smith presented a view
of a dw indling student population
for Heppner schools and gave the
audience a handout with the
follow ing projections for 2003-
04: kin d erg arten -17 students;
first grade-20; second grade-24;
third grade-35; fourth grade-33;
fifth grade-28; sixth grade-38;
seventh grade-34; eighth grade-
37; ninth grade-30; 10th grade-
39; 11th grade-33; 12th grade-
30. According to district figures,
Heppner schools K -12 had 467
students in 1998-99; 459 in 99-
00; 423 in 00-01; 401 in 01-02;
398 in 02-03 and a projected
397 in 03-04.
Christmas food
boxes to be given
away
Eighty boxes o f food will
be given away at Christian Life
C enter, 535 W. M organ St.,
Heppner, on Wednesday, Dec.
18 at 7 p.m . The boxes will
c o n ta in m eat, p o tato es and
canned goods. A short devotional
and prayer w ill be held at 7 p.m.,
after w hich the boxes will be
distributed. Anyone is welcome
to com e and receive a box o f
food.
For more information, or
to ask about receiving leftover
boxes o f food, call 676-5581.
Garden Club
makes donation to
the citv
%>
Chuck Bailey, president
o f the H eppner G arden Club,
made a donation on behalf o f the
club to the City o f Heppner. The
$250 donation w as made to pay
for bricks purchased and installed
by the Heppner Christmas tree.
Morrow County Grairf^Growers
Lexington
9 8 9 -8 2 2 1
•
1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
i« farm equipment, mit #ur web site at www mcgg net