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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 14,2005 - THREE Third year begins positively for lone School District District has fewer students than expected By the lone Journalism Club continued from page one T he first day o f school saw 12 new students enrolled at lone Community School along with 2-l/ t new teachers. Four exchange students have also made their way to lone for the 2005-2006 school year. K evin C am pbell joins the lone staff from Unity to teach middle school and high school sciences along with a new high school elective science class. The research science class will explore different areas of science such as astronomy, ecology, en v iro n m e n ta l science and oceanography through the building of large class projects. They will tackle a salt-water aquarium first. Another new face at ICS is that o f lone alum, Brandi (Ball) Orem, who is teaching the 2/3 grade class. Orem has taught for several years in the Morrow County School District and has taken on the L ady C ard in al V olleyball head coach position as well. Finally, lone is happy to have Tom Shear on staff full time. Tom is teaching art to grades 1-12 along with another new high school elective, horticulture, and th ree shop c lasses. The horticulture class will take adv an tag e o f the new g reen h o u se and lone Community Garden sights for their class projects. The e lem en tary classes have been reconfigured and the 4/5 grade stu d en ts are now receiving instruction from three teachers. M ichelle Stone focuses on reading, writing and language arts in the morning and then heads off to teach music in the afternoon. Karen Holland steps in and focuses on social studies, health and science after teaching a morning of high school Spanish classes. Finally, Karen and Steve Schaber team teach math and physical education to finish out the day. “This is working out great and each teach er has som ething special to o ffer the 4/5 students. Karen integrates Spanish into her instruction, w hich the stu d en ts are picking up quickly. Michelle utilizes three uninterrupted hours in the morning for lite ra c y in stru c tio n and having Steve assist with m ath and P.E. gives the students their first learning e x p erien c e w ith a m ale te a c h e r along w ith the opportunity for small group in s tru c tio n ,” ex p lain s S uperinten d en t/P rin cip al Bryn Browning. With the addition of new staff, high school students at lone now have an increased selection of classes to take beyond the core cu rric u lu m . M en tio n ed above were research science, h o rtic u ltu re , and shop, however, students can also take business/publications, advanced biology, music, art, drama, physics, technology, a d v an ced h isto ry or an online course including law and justice, creative writing, w riting 121, psychology, aero sp a ce stu d ie s, auto fundamentals and speech. “I was proud of our high school students this year when it came time to register for classes. While many seniors only needed two to three core classes to graduate and could have taken study halls, partial loads or signed up to be a teacher’s assistant, all have full schedules in order to take advantage of the new classes or classes available for co lleg e c re d it,” comments Browning. “Our new classes are interesting and able to acco m p lish advanced syllabuses through fu n d in g by the lone Education Foundation and outside donations or grants.” One example is that of the business/publications c la ss and a g ran t they re c eiv e d to p u rch ase photography equipment in order to take, develop and market the sports’ pictures and group classroom photos. Last year the class published lo n e ’s first all co lo r yearbook and launched the lone Small Business Club. In June, the lone School Board of Directors held a goal setting session to brainstorm and identify goals for the board, district, school Condon f f a and adm inistration. "This session was very productive and successful with a lot of great ideas brought up,” reflects board vice chair, Gregg Rietmann. “We have a positive board who work well together to allow our stu d en ts a g reat school experience.” Professional Staff Development on Friday in -se rv ic es w ill now be focused rather than used for general staff meetings and classroom work time. Topics in clu d e L anguage A cquisition for ELL and poverty students, assistance with alignment of curriculum to state standards, using data to en h an ce c lassro o m le arn in g , co o p erativ e team in g p ra c tic e s, and im p le m e n ta tio n of supplemental reading and math programs. The next identified goal fo r the 20 0 5 -2 0 0 6 school year includes the creation o f CAM P 5, an e x ten d e d learn in g o p p o rtu n ity fo r lone students that will be held on Fridays. CAMP 5 will use co m m u n ity m em bers to enhance subjects such as welding, home economics, graphic design, electrical e n g in e e rin g , p erso n al finance, writing and art. For the elem entary students, classes will include literacy activities and extended math sessions. A n o th er goal includes carrying out the regulations set forth in the charter to partner with the community in an educational setting. This will be done th ro u g h te ach in g opportunities at CAMP 5, the new S.M.A.R.T. reading program for grades K-3, Read-n-Play for ages 0-5, and on-site work experience for the high school students. Teachers are also gearing up to have spotlight visits and p resen tatio n s during the school day by community m em bers and b u sin ess leaders each quarter, with some being held weekly. If interested in volunteering at the lone Community School, please contact the school o ffice fo r ad d itio n a l information at 422-7131. Chapter th a n k s t h e fo llo w in g liv e s to c k b u y e rs a t th e 2005 Gilliam C o u n ty Fair T o n y ’s T o w n a n d C o u n try C lo th in g P ep si C o la Mr. & M rs. L a rry D u rfe y M r. & M rs. G a ry W in slo w F ossil F u els K -2 A g A p p lic a tio n s Mr. & M rs. L a rry H ard ie E llen W ag en aar Mr. & M rs. E ric H arriso n A n d rew K ilgore M id C o lu m b ia In su ra n c e Jerry R ietm an n M r. & M rs. Jo h n n y Jo h n so n T im C am p b ell Mr. & M rs. D o u g la s P attee L es S c h w a b T ires Mr. & M rs. R ay L a n tis B an k o f E a ste rn O re g o n Mr. & M rs. D a rry l H o u g h te llin g D ev in O il Mr. & M rs. N eil M ik k a lo Mr. & M rs. D allas H arsin G illia m C o u n ty T itle M id C o lu m b ia D istrib u to rs F un C o u n try M r. T h rifty F o o d s C e n te r M M s. H elen L e ar M s. L o re tta W a g en aar T rails E n d F arm S u p p ly F arm C re d it S erv ic es Mr. Phil H ord M s. L a u ra P ry o r Mr. & M rs. D a v id G re in e r M s. P a tric e P etty jo h n M id C o lu m b ia B u s C o. F arm C re d it S erv ic es Mr. & M rs. B ill J a e g e r B & M rs. Jo e C o lb y & A A u to S u p p ly & C G ro c e ry Mr. & M rs. R ic h a rd H a m p to n L e ar F arm s T h e T im e s Jo u rn a l Jo h n R a ttra y R a n c h es Inland C h e m ic a l M r. & M rs. R o g e r Lyda Mr. & M rs. D a v e Jo n e s M r. & M rs. C la re n c e B are Ja m ie so n a n d M arsh al Mr. & M rs. D an B ru n eau concerning target class size. He said that studies have show n that stu d en t perform ance increases as class size decreases, if the teacher changes his teaching style away from a lecture type presentation. He also said that optimum class sizes were probably around 20 children in primary grades and 25 in the upper grades. B urrow s reported that he m et w ith D ean Kegler and other Boardman re sid en ts to w ork out a so lu tio n co n cern in g the request for $ 17,000 from the district to provide additional paving for the Riverside High School track. Burrows said he was able to budget about half the cost through RHS's current budget and will budget the remainder in next year’s budget. He also reported that the E d u catio n S erv ice District was not approved for a safety grant to partner with the school district to provide funds for a safety officer at Morrow County Schools. Assi stant Superintendent Wade Smith m ade a p resen ta tio n , including photographs, of progress on the Riverside High School and Irrigon High School multipurpose room s. He said that the second layer of concrete for the multipurpose room tilt- up walls is in the process of being poured for 1HS. Smith also discussed the A dequate Y early Progress report for MCSD for the 2004-05 year. The AYP stems from the federal No Child Left Behind Act. He reported that all district schools have met the AYP. R iv ersid e Ju n io r/S e n io r High School and Irrigon Junior/Senior High School were exempt from the AYP this year because o f the population changes between the schools. He added that generally, elementary school stu d en ts did b etter than m iddle and high school stu d en ts and C au casian students did better than their n o n -w h ite c o u n terp arts. (See story by Smith on the AYP in this issue.) He said that state rep o rt card s on O regon schools will be issued soon. Smith also reported on a d istric t-w id e sta ff d ev elo p m en t p rogram , which calls for a core group of teach ers and administrators to learn the program and then teach it to the rem aining staff. The p ro g ram , S h eltered In stru ctio n O b serv atio n Protocol (SIOP), is designed to incorporate good teaching methods to all the staff. The d istric t is focusing on retaining staff, as around 15 percent of staff. ap p ro x im a te ly 25 employees, left the district this year. A larger proportion o f teachers left the north Morrow schools. Smith also outlined feedback on the district in- service held prior to the start of school. Also at the meeting the board adopted a new p o licy c o n cern in g the promotion and retention of students. According to the p o licy , "S tu d en ts w ill normally progress annually from g rad e to grade. Exceptions may be made when, in the judgment of the p ro fessio n al staff, such exceptions are in the best education interest o f the stu d en ts involved. Exceptions will always be made after prior notification and ex p lan atio n to the student's parents, but the final decision will rest with school authorities. “ H igh school s tu d e n ts ’ class statu s (fresh m an , sophom ore, junior senior) is determined by the num ber of credit hours earned. Junior high students may be required to pass core classes (language arts, math social studies, science) to advance to the next grade level.” The d istric t has developed a ju n io r high academic success flow chart to illustrate the progress of junior high school students. If a ju n io r high student passes all classes, he will participate in the end-of-the- year activity and go onto the next grade. If a junior high stu d en t p asses all core classes, but not all classes, he will not participate in the end of the year activity, but will go onto the next grade. If the student does not pass one to three core classes, he will attend sum m er school or second sem ester remediation. If that student passes summer school or second sem ester remediation, he could attend up to tw o rem ed iatio n classes in the next grade, if needed. If that student does not pass summer school or second sem ester remediation, he will repeat that grade. If the student does not pass four core classes he will repeat the grade. Ju n io r high core classes are math, science, language arts and social studies. In other business, the board: -heard a report on d istric t-w id e co m p u ter technology from an ESD representative; -approved the first reading of an early return to work policy, rescinding the current policy and replacing it w ith the new policy, concerning employee light / \ H air Expressions ) \ w e lc o m e s | / •/ \ Mondays and Fridays, 9:00-5:00 \ i Call today for an appointment! 676-5271 \ Walk-ins welcome ) \ M anicures. P edicures, N ails <A crylic & Fiberglass), H aircuts, k i d s ' Cuts, P enns, etc... i K e llie G ray CROP MEETING All are invited to attend a Crop Meeting to be held Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. at the lone Grange Hall Topic of discussion w ill be crop changes for 2006 Sponsored by W headand Insurance C ro p in s u ra n rr u available to all eligible producer* regardle** o f race, color, n atio n al origin, *ex, age o r diaabiUry duty and return to work. Burrows said the new policy will lessen “malingering and get people back to work earlier.” He said the policy was on the recommendation of SAIF, O re g o n ’s workman’s comp company. -approved an OSEA m em orandum of understanding concerning alternative ed assistants’ job description/salary change. This would allow people who are not bus drivers to drive buses. -approved the first reading o f a new policy concerning venders who provide the sale and rental of equipment to students and their parents. It establishes a more equal playing field for vendors, such as those who sell or rent band equipment to students and parents, for example. -a ccep ted the following resignations: Susie Stillman, part-time ACH ed assistant; Becky Sanchez, WRE English as a second language ed assistant. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g em p lo y m en t: B randi S w eeney, HES special ed o n e-o n -o n e assistant; Jeanne Collins, half-time temporary contract addition to existing half-time contract to meet increased student population at HHS. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g e x tra duty contracts: Forrest McKinnis, Morrow Education Center D istric t A ssessm ent R esource Team (testing) coordinator, MEC English L anguage L earn er coordinator; Jennifer Cox, WRE DART coordinator; Jake McElligott, IES DART coordinator; Jay Rogers, RHS Talented and Gifted program coordinator; Lisa C o n sta n tin e , IJSH ELL c o o rd in a to r; C olleen C unningham , ACH ELL coordinator; Laura Rowe, IES ELL c o o rd in a to r; T h eresa P ro cto r-R eece, W RE ELL co o rd in a to r; Mary Gressley Grow, SBE ELL c o o rd in a to r; Ron P rin d le, RHS ELL c o o rd in a to r; M aryann E lg u ezab al, H eppner schools ELL coordinator; Robert Marshall, IJSH head football coach; Ray Davis, IJSH a ssistan t fo o tb all coach; Blaine Ganvoa, IJSH assistant volleyball coach; David W estenskow, IJSH head boys’ soccer coach; Danica Harjo, IJSH head girls’ soccer coach; Erich Harjo, from IJSH assistant w restling coach to head w restling coach; W illiam C o ltrin , IJH a ssistan t football coach. -received the 2005- 06 classified em p lo y ees’ salary sch e d u le , w hich includes 15 steps for head and assistant cooks, laundry, head and assistan t c u sto d ia n s, fa c ilitie s coordinators, school/family liaiso n and e d u catio n assistants. -heard the following announcements: Boardman CEC meeting. Sept. 20, 7 p.m., WRE; Irrigon CEC meeting. Sept. 21, 7 p.m. IES; Board work session. Sept. 22. Polycom at district office and IES; next board meeting, Oct. 10, RHS. 7 p.m.; Oregon School Boards fall regional meeting, Oct. 26. BMCC, 6 p.m.; OSBA annual convention, Nov. 11 - 13, Portland M arriott. A H eppner CEC m eetin g , scheduled for Sept. 19, was cancelled because a lack of interest in membership. We Print Business Cards Heppner G azette
