Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Morrow County School Board Candidate Forum
continued from page 6
Lexington office was to save
$28,000. Moving the office
and opening a new building will
not accomplish this goal and
makes a sham of the original
argument. A true and complete
financial study of all options
must be requested before any
such move occurs. It may be
very well be that the study will
indicate that the district office
should temporarily remain
w here it is. I am also
concerned o f the negative
effect on morale that this will
have on current district office
employees who will be forced
to make an almost 100 mile
d aily com m ute. I f the
superintendent believes that he
should have an office in the
north end, it would seem
logical to save money by
having available to him an
office in Riverside High, with
access to its current office staff,
as well as have an office in
Lexington.”
Pos. 5 candidates:
P at M cNamee, 51,
along with
w i f e ,
V ic k ie ,
have three
grown
c h ild ren ,
and live in
Irrig o n .
McNamee
graduated
f r o m
M ad ras
H i g h
School and studied for two
years at Lane Community
College.
M cN am ee is a
m em ber o f the C atholic
Church as well as Knights of
Columbus. He has also served
four years on the Morrow
County School Board and
worked for some years on the
local advisory board.
Q 1 - “I have tried to
represent the whole county in
any decisions I have made
while on the board. I think this
is w hat voters should be
looking for.”
Q2- “Trying to keep
each school functioning as well
as possible with the available
funding.”
Q 3-“Ithink they will
have a tough time surviving on
their own, but I support their
decision to secede.”
Q4- “People will not
approve new taxes, so we
must figure out how to stretch
the available dollars. I wish we
could return to the tax system
we used to have, where local
taxpayers could vote to give
additional support to their own
schools.”
Q5- “This may not be
totally fair, but we have to use
something as a baseline, or it
is just a continual fight for
dollars.”
Q 6- “ I su p p o rt
moving it [district office] to the
north end, which is what has
been done, not necessarily
Irrigon, since over 80 percent
o f the stu d en ts and the
majority of the staff are located
in the north, that seems like the
rig h t p lace
for the
superintendent and his staff.”
W illiam J . K uhn,
52, lives in
H eppner,
with wife,
Annetta L.
S p ic e r.
The couple
has tw o
grown
ch ild ren .
K u h n
graduated
f r o m
C am eron
C o u n ty
H i g h
School in Emporium, PA, and
graduated from Pennsylvania
State University in 1973 with
\
degrees in pre-law and history
with high distinction and then
graduated from Lewis and
Clark Law School in Portland
in 1976. K uhn cam e to
Morrow County in 1977.
Kuhn is a member St.
Patrick’s Catholic Church,
where he was a past member
o f St. Patrick’s Parish Council
and a current member o f St.
Patrick’s Finance Committee,
as well as a Sunday school
teacher. He is the past
president and past board
member of Heppner Chamber
o f Commerce; past president
and secretary o f Heppner
Lions Club; and a former
scoutmaster in Heppner. He
has been a member o f the
Heppner High School Site
Council for six years; on the
current board of the Heppner
Adopt-a-Teacher. Kuhn is a
current member of the Oregon
State Bar Elder Law Executive
Committee; and past member
o f the Oregon State Bar Local
Professional Responsibility
Committee. Currently he is a
member o f the Oregon State
Bar; United States District
C ourt for the D istrict o f
Oregon; United States Court
o f A ppeals for the N inth
Circuit.
He is also a past and
founding board member of the
Oregon Trail Library District;
fo rm er a tto rn e y for the
M orrow C oun ty School
District; current attorney for
the c itie s o f H eppner,
Lexington and Irrigon.
Q l- “My opponent
has consistently voted to cut
school p ro g ram s and
c u rricu lu m
w ith o u t
understanding the impact of
the cuts and without a vision
on building program s or
replacing what was lost. I will
promote district wide use of
teachers and other educational
resources through the use o f
V-TeL, distance education and
flexible scheduling. The current
board, with my opponent’s
support, has not been active
enough with the legislature in
promoting school funding and
the raising o f additional
education revenues. I will
promote a much more active
role for the board in legislative
interaction.”
Q2- “ 1. Getting the
district to work together and
use available resources on a
district wide basis. Inability to
react to funding crisis and
community divisions have
c rip p le d our d istric t. 2.
Motivating our citizens to
become more civically and
politically involved with our
school system. Until we as a
com m unity
becom e
committed to changing the
crisis in our educational
system, it will remain. 3.
Motivating our legislature to
stabilize and increase school
funding. 60 percent to 70
percent o f school funding is
from the state. Our children will
not receiv e an adequate
education until the state­
funding crisis is adequately
corrected.”
Q3- “The secession of
the lone is harmful to both the
d is tric t and th e lone
community. However, the
strong determination o f the
lone community has made the
board’s decision to accept the
secession a reasonable one. I
am concerned that the rest of
the district not carry the
indebtedness attributable to
the new lone school and that
fiscal arrangements for the
separation are becom ing
protracted and unworkable.
The district must put this
matter behind it by immediately
developing final value figures
for the p ro p e rty and
in d e b te d n ess
and
implementing a payment plan
with payment guarantees.”
Q 4- “ The only
methods for handling budget
c o n stra in ts are c u ttin g
p ro g ram s, m aking m ore
efficient use o f resources or
o b tain in g m ore m oney.
Funding priority must be given
to maintenance o f teaching
staff. The district must make
more efficient use o f district
teaching resources through V-
Tel, distance education and
other methods, which allow
the use o f district teaching
resources in more than one
school. The district must more
z ealo u sly ad v o cate for
additional state funding and
educate the public on the
devastation caused by an
inadequate state budget.”
Q5- “Equity funding
has not led to equity o f
education. The district has not
a d eq u ately
ex am in ed
educational impacts when
implementing budget cuts nor
has the board implemented
programs allowing use o f
resources on a district-wide
level to alleviate program
losses. A m ore balanced
approach by the board is
necessary. Equity funding has
resulted in a divided school
district with communities
unable to work together for the
common benefit. While more
resources need to be applied
to larger student populations,
efficiencies of scale and equal
educational opportunity must
play a larger role in board
funding decisions.”
Q 6- “ The b o a rd ’s
decision to move the district
o ffice to Irrig o n w as
premature. At the April board
meeting, figures comparing the
cost o f moving the district
office from Lexington to either
H eppner or Irrigon w ere
unavailable as were the costs
o f keeping the office in either
place compared to Lexington.
At a minimum, in a time when
every p enny sp en t on
education is important, the
board should have examined
m oving costs and office
maintenance and operating
c o sts b efo re m aking a
decision. I hope the decision
will be reviewed when the
board has the figures it needs.”
Pos. 6 candidates:
Dwayne M. Carroll,
64, lives in „ , , ^ mH
Irrig o n
with wife,
Geraldine,
and they
have two
grown
ch ild ren .
C a rro ll
moved to
M o rro w
County in
1960 and
graduated
from high
school in Wasco. He also
served in the U.S. Air Force
from 1956-1960.
Carroll had been a
m em ber o f the M orrow
County School Board Board
o f Directors for 17 years.
Q 1 - “1 believe that the
economic times, reflected in
school funding, can benefit
from past experience. I can
provide that experience.”
Q2- “The current state
school funding needs to be
addressed to minimize the
acute swing experienced when
the state’s economy slows. I
believe school board members
need to be involved in the
legislative process to formulate
change.”
Q3- “Patrons in the
lone area propose a severe
d e p artu re based on a
p erceiv ed c o n cep t o f
mandated consolidation. The
legislature seemingly agrees. I
am hopeful that at the end of
the day, the students in lone
aren’t required to bear the
burden of an error on someone
else’s part.”
Q4- “ I believe that
funding must be stabilized at
the state level. Local control
may be the answer to this
problem, but educationally this
has th e burden o f the
statewide proof. It is obvious
that being tied to the state’s
econom y w ill m ake this
problem reoccur. The stability
o f private property needs to
have a larger role in school
funding. The alternative is the
situation as it now exists.”
Q5- “ I shall assume
the above statem e n t is
regarding Morrow County
schools. To accept the idea
that schools should expend
only the funds generated at that
location is to deny the need for
the board in budgeting and
programs. The need for a
county-wide school district is
minimized and indicates that as
the state decides how funding
should be distributed, the
sch o o ls are in p e rfe ct
alignment with that concept. 1
disagree with that premise and
suggest that board discretion
be included.”
Q6- “The decision of
the district are increasingly
driven by funding and along
those lines it appears that
m oney can be saved by
eliminating the expense o f a
“stand alone” facility. The
stu d en t p o p u la tio n in
Boardman/lrrigon is also a
consideration. If a move is a
certainty then the logical
answer is Boardman/lrrigon.”
Barney Lindsay and
his w ife,
Kimberly,
and th eir
t w o
c h ild ren ,
K a e ly n ,
five, and
Al e x ,
three, live
on a farm
n o rth o f
Lexington.
A life-long
resident of
M orrow County, Lindsay
graduated from Heppner High
School and re c e iv e d 'a n
associate degree from Blue
Mountain Community College
and a bachelor o f science
degree in agriculture education
from the University o f Idaho.
He is employed as a farmer on
a family-owned ranch.
Lindsay is a member
and Parish Council member of
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
He is a member of the Knights
of Columbus and is a former
chair o f the Holy Name
Society.
He has been a
member o f the Morrow Soil
and Water Board since 1996,
a Morrow County School
Board member from 1997-
2001 and has been the
M orrow C ounty G rain
Growers Board secretary from
1997 to the present. Fie is a
former teacher in the Morrow
County School District and the
Hermiston School District and
serv ed on the H ep p n er
A g ric u ltu re E ducation
Advisory Committee.
Q l- “ I have the
e d u ca tio n , e x p erien c e ,
background and desire to be
an effective board member. I
have seen the district from a
number o f vantage points-I
have been a student, teacher,
board member and parent in
the district.”
Q 2-
“ P ro v id in g
q u a lity e d u catio n to all
students throughout the district
with the lim ited funding
available.”
Q3- “The process is
almost already complete, lone
is leaving the MCSD to form
its own district. My position is
every community needs to
have a positive reason to stay
in the d is tric t o r o th e r
communities will follow the
path which lone has chosen.”
Q 4-“Before taking
action, I would look at all
options available. I would
consider a local option levy. I
would work with legislators to
draft legislation to make
Wednesday, May 7, 2003 - SEVEN
changes to )ocal property tax is to: 1. Create a positive
rules for education funding. I re la tio n sh ip
am ong
would also consider using th e m selv e s,
the
more distance education to superintendent, staff and, most
offer elective courses for importantly, the communities.
students.”
2. To make sure all students
Q5- “The Morrow receive a quality education
county School District has an and not let money be the total
obligation to educate all factor on accomplishing that
children equally regardless of goal. 3. To ed u cate the
their location within the county. communities about the needs
District resources should be of the students at each school.
put to all our children’s needs, 4. To open the new schools.
wherever and whenever they 5. To listen to the tax payers
are needed.”
and not have p erso n al
Q 6- “ 1 am not agendas.”
su p p o rtiv e o f this move
Q3- “ lone is very
because I do not believe it will supportive of the children in
bring cost savings to the their community, so I wasn’t
district. 1 believe in a few surprised they chose to do this.
years, the school district w ill I feel if the board had
want to move the district office communicated with the south
to Boardman, once again end communities better before
costing a lot o f resources to any decisions were made,
keep moving and remodeling things could have been better
to a new location.”
solved for both. If lone isn’t
successful, merging the schools
could still be a possibility to
Denise Riddle, 38, ensure a good education for
along with
the south end students. But, if
h usband,
it becomes a possibility, I
C h a r lie ,
would hope the new school
and three
board would involve the
c h ild re n
communities in working out a
live
in
___
solution keeping the students
~W> .
H eppner.
in mind.”
Riddle also
\
Q 4- “ E nforce a
has three
budget spending freeze at the
stepchildren
beginning of the school year
who live in
and throughout the whole year.
A th e n a .
«
Work with both bargaining
Riddle
units on how they could
graduated from Heppner High contribute. The board and
and attended Central Oregon superintendent need to keep
Community College, as well as working closely with the state,
Blue Mountain Community since the budget crisis began
College.
with the lack of funding from
Riddle has worked in the state.”
the Morrow County Clerk's
Q5- “Since we are
O ffice/Justice Court as a one district, all schools need
deputy clerk/court clerk. She to have the same quality of
has also w orked for the education. I don’t think one
Umatilla School District and school should be cut to the
Baker School District as an bare bones, while another
a d m i n i s t r a t i v e / b o a r d school doesn't have to take
secretary . She is also a any cuts. I think money should
m em ber o f the M orrow be distributed enough to keep
County Fjair Committee, the all schools functioning without
.H eppner. f i r s t C h ristian devastating effects on ‘the
C hurch, the Grass Roots students’ education.” “01" '
Committee, and the Adopt-a-
Q6- “I thought the
Teacher committee.
reason why the district office
Q l- “ 1 feel my was moving to Heppner was
opponents are qualified since to save money. I think the
they w ere past board move to Irrigon is for personal
members. I think I would be reaso n s, . because the
just as or more qualified since superintendent doesn’t feel
I w orked for two school w anted
at
H eppner
districts as an administrative/ Elementary. The Grass Roots
board secretary. I understand Committee was trying to come
the importance o f a good up with solutions, to help their
relationship betw een the bud g et, not to hurt the
administrators and the board superintendent's feelings.”
is crucial to help a district run
efficiently. 1 have also been
Order
in v o lv ed
in co n tract
Magnetic Door Signs
negotiations with the certified
HERE
and classified staff.”
Heppner
Gazette
Q 2- “ The biggest
challenge facing the new board
Qtte&ftiny f a b le s
rD a i/u t
& fy /fe ry ¿ y n e tìé k
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