Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2004)
B O 3 3 1 9 lone School District investigates charter schools '.’. 'e t z e l i U of 0 Ke»3pajar Li brary E lìca n e , OR 9/4J3 HES students participate in Safety Fair wL \\ HES students ask questions during Safety Fair held March 18. Kindergarten through third grade students at H eppner Elem entary participated in a Safety Fair on M arch 18 at the school. Police, fire and am bulance personnel talked with the children about safety issues and about their jobs. Students also received a tour of the ambulance. Following the presentation, the fourth grade class presented a musical with the help of teacher W endy Appleton. LaRue named National Girls Track Coach of the Year wm MM ■ - w I Del LaRue D e l L a R u e w as n o m in ated by the O regon Coaches Association in the fall o f 2003 for N ational G irls Track Coach o f the Year. The following criteria is used in selecting national coaches o f the year: career coaching record, com m unity service, involvem ent in other school activities, involvement in their profession at local, state, and national levels, and th e ir b asic p h ilo so p h y o f athletics. O n Feb. 13, 2004, Coach LaRue was notified by the N ational Federation o f S ta te H ig h S c h o o l A s s o c ia tio n s th a t he w as selected to receive the 2003 Northwest Sectional Coach of the Year aw ard for the sport o f Girls Track and Field. The Northwest section includes the s ta te s o f A la s k a , Id a h o , M o n ta n a , O reg o n , W ashington, and W yom ing. The NFHS C oaches A ssociation is the official national coaches association of the N ational Federation o f S ta te H ig h School Associations (NFHS). D el L a R u e w a s inform ed on Feb. 24 that he has been aw arded the 2003 N FH S C oaches A ssociation National Coach of the Year for Girls Track and Field. C o a c h L a R u e h as b e e n c o n ta c te d by th e National High School Athletic C oaches A ssociation that he is a finalist for the N ational Girls Track Coach o f the Year for 2004. As a finalist he will be honored at the national awards banquet in Las Vegas on June 24. Each of the Coach o f th e Y ear f in a lis ts a re recognized individually at the a w a r d s b a n q u e t w ith a narration o f their career and a presentation of a plaque. The 17 coaches chosen C oach o f the Year in their respective sports are then presented with 10 c a r e t ru b y r in g s or pendants. Del LaRue coached 10 years at Lostine, Wallowa, and Fossil. For 26 years he taught and coached at lone Schools, and for the last seven years he has coached track for a total o f 33 years. D uring this tim e his tra c k te a m s have accomplished: one state title, ru n n er-u p six tim es, third twice, fourth once, fifth once, seventh once, state high point girl four different years, 32 individual state titles, and four first place relays. T h e lo n e S c h o o l District Board, at its March 16 m e e tin g , b ro u g h t up th e possibility of creating a charter school, with the hope that the d istric t c o u ld in cre ase its s tu d e n t p o p u la tio n a n d thereby funding for its school. O ne p r e v io u s ly discussed area o f contention b e tw e e n the lo n e S c h o o l D is tric t a n d th e M o rro w C ounty School D istrict are those students living in the disputed Lexington-Pine City area. The M orrow County School District initially said that those students could decide which school district, lone or M orrow C ounty, that they would like to attend. M CSD, however, reversed its decision and will now require those students to attend M orrow County Schools beginning the fall of 2004. The ISD has said that it will accept the students from th a t a re a , w h e th e r o r not M CSD releases them from its district. If M C SD does not release those students and the students still choose to attend school in the ISD , neither district will receive state school funding for those students. However, if lone were to form a c h a rte r sch o o l, stu d en ts outside the ISD could attend lone schools and the m oney w ould follow the student, a c c o r d in g to IS D B o a rd m em ber Anne Morter. M o r te r to ld th e G azette-Tim es Tuesday that the ISD is working to expand its focus and investigate other av en u es o f o p p o rtu n ity to in crease fu n d in g for lo n e Schools, including the issue of district borders. She stressed, however, that the ISD does not want to “inflame" the M CSD w ith th e th re a t o f ta k in g students away. “That’s the last thing w e w ant to do,” said M orter. She said that she had heard the rumor that ISD plans to park a bus outside Central M a rk e t in H e p p n e r a n d transport Heppner students to lone. “That simply is not true,” stated Morter, who questioned w hy th o se fea rin g such a scenario would have such little confidence in the ability o f Heppner schools to retain their students. A side from possibly in c r e a s in g th e s tu d e n t population by forming a charter school, ISD m ay also benefit financially because the state per student rate is slightly different for charter schools and could possibly result in more money for the district. A n o th e r is s u e o f perhaps m ore significance, f in a n c ia lly as w e ll as e d u c a tio n a lly , is te a c h e r certification. A charter school is only required to have half of its teachers and administrators licensed by the state. By law, currently all o f the ISD ’s (and M SC D ’s) teaching staff must be certified . T heo retically hiring non-certified teaching staff w ould save the district money. A nsw ers to m any o f the q u e stio n s su rro u n d in g charter schools are available online at the O regon C harter S c h o o l R e s o u rc e C e n te r ( w w w .o s b a .o rg /h o to p ic s / charters/faqs.htm). Following are som e regulations now in OD# m ay enroll. e ffe c t c o n c e rn in g c h a rte r lo c a te d ( A c c o r d in g to M o rte r, schools: students living outside the -D efin itio n : A charter school is a public district are also eligible to school that receives public enroll.) fu n d s un d er a w ritten agreemeM -a charter-that o u tlin e s stu d en t p erfo rm a n ce goals and educational services the public charter school will p rovide. C harters are excluded from many statues and rules guiding traditional public schools. In exchange fo r this free d o m from regulation, the p u b lic charter school guarantees in its w ritten agreem ent (charter) certain levels o f stu d en t perfo rm a n ce. Governor Kitzhaber signed SB 100 and HB 2550 on May 27, 1999. The provisions o f the law that allow public charter schools to be created becam e effe ctiv e on September 24, 1999. -Sponsorship: Either the school board or the state board o f education can sp o n so r a ch a rter school. -The state board can only sp o n so r a ch a rter school if the application is denied by a school board. -Enrollment: Enrollment in the charter school is voluntary. Any student living in the district in which the ch a rter is -Collective bargaining: I f the local school district is the sponsor and also the employer o f the public charter school, then the em p lo yees may be co vered by existin g c o lle ctiv e b argaining agreements. Charter school employees may organize to form a bargaining unit and bargain under O re g o n ’s collective bargaining law with their employer if: the state board is the sponsor and also the employer or if the public charter school g o vern in g body is the employer. - T e a c h e r certification: At least one- half o f the charter school's total fu ll-tim e equivalent teaching and administrative s ta ff m u st h o ld a valid teaching license issued by the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. The o th e r tea ch ers m ust be registered with the TSPC. -T ransportation: The charter school m ust p ro vid e stu d en t tra n sp o rta tio n a nd m ay n eg o tia te with a sch o o l continued page five Local school districts to receive substantial increases in federal education funding Public school districts across central, southern and eastern O regon will receive significant increases in federal Title I education funding this year, according to preliminar)' figures released by the U.S. D ep artm en t o f E ducation. Since 2000, O regon’s Title I fu n d in g h as in cre ase d by $51.8 m illion, a 66 percent increase. U .S . C o n g re ssm a n G reg W alden applauded the B u sh A d m i n is t r a ti o n ’s co n tin u ed c o m m itm en t to education funding increases. W alden traveled to southern O reg o n on M arch 1 w ith D eputy S e c re tary E ugene Hickok, the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Education, who joined him at a number of local education events to highlight the education funding increases a n d lo c a l sc h o o l q u a lity successes. “T he C ongress and th e P r e s id e n t re m a in committed both to improving the quality of education that our children receive and making sure the needed money gets to the classroom ,” said Walden. “At a tim e w hen states like O regon are slashing school f u n d in g , th e f e d e ra l governm ent is increasing its contribution consistently and substantially. Our teachers and schools need ail the help they can get to meet the challenges o f educating today’s young people. I will continue to do all I can to make sure that our schools have the resources and flexibility they need.” The bulk o f federal funding for elem entary and seco n d ary e d u c a tio n program s com es in the form o f T itle I fu n d in g , w hich supplem ents state and local funding for low -achieving children, especially in high- poverty schools. The program f in a n c e s th e a d d itio n a l academic support and learning opportunities that are often required to help disadvantaged students progress along with their classmates. M o rro w C o u n ty School D istrict received a $204,743 increase in funds, a 38.9 percent increase. For a com plete list o f Title I increases to the Second District school districts, visit: w w w .h o u s e .g o v /W a ld e n / p ress/releases/2 0 0 4 / fy04titlel.doc. O re g o n h a s a ls o benefited under the No Child Left B ehind Act. M ore than $ 9 9 mil lio n in in c re a s e d funding- a 73 percent increase- has gone to O regon since President Bush signed the bill into law. Oregon has received an additional $43.4 m illion under the Individuals w ith D isabilities E ducation A ct ( I D E A ) , a 54 p e r c e n t increase. IDEA was created in 1975 to help states and school districts meet their obligations to e d u c a te c h il d r e n with disabilities. T o v i e w O re g o n increases in federal education funding sin ce 2 0 0 0 v isit: ww w.house.gov/W alden/ p ress/releases/2 0 0 4 / EducationFunding2004.doc. Congressman Walden r e p r e s e n t s the S e c o n d C o n g re ssio n a l D istric t o f O regon, w hich includes 20 counties in southern, central and eastern O regon. He is a m e m b e r o f th e H o u s e C om m ittee on E nergy and C o m m erc e as well as the Com m ittee on Resources. Get Ready For Sfning! We Have Lawn Thatchers and Rototillers FOR RENT Morrow County Grain Growers I Lexington 989*8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipm ent, vleit our web site at w ww .m <(g.not b
