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