Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2006)
School board accepts Anthony’s resignation; approves $28.4 million budget ll.U m l.U II 11 ■ 111.11 Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene. ()R 97403 HEPPNER imes VOL. 125 NO. 27 8 Pages Wednesday, July 5, 2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon The Morrow County School Board accepted the resignation of Irrigon Junior/ Senior High School Principal Ron Anthony at the board’s regular meeting June 29. Anthony had been the center of controversy for some tim e and had been suspended earlier by the board for improper use of the s c h o o l’s co m p u ters. Following that incident, he was reported to the Oregon T e a ch e r’s Standards and Practices and had been under investigation by OTSP. Larry French, athletic director/ coach at the school, resigned earlier in the wake o f the computer-related incident. Previously some members of the Irrigon community had criticized Anthony for his h an d lin g o f a sep arate incident involving a Hispanic student and a coach. Conversely, Anthony has had strong supporters in the Irrigon community and had received the principal of the year aw ard from the O regon M iddle L evels Association. Prior to being named the Irrigon Junior/Senior High School principal, he w as the p rin c ip a l at Columbia Middle School. He had also been principal at Heppner High School. M C S D S u p e rin te n d e n t M ark Burrows said at the meeting that they had four strong candidates for the position and planned to interview them on June 30. Also at the meeting the board d iscu ssed the district’s drug policy, in light of a recent Morrow County Sheriff’s Department drug in v e stig a tio n in v o lv in g cu rren t H ep p n er High School students and recent graduates and several adults. O nly stu d en ts involved in extracurricular activities are tested for drug use because testing the entire student population is against the law, said administrators. Rather, students must be randomly selected from the extracurricular list and some students may fall through the cracks. In addition to urine tests three times a year-once each quarter, the district also used a drug-sniffing dog in the HHS parking lot three times over the past year. The d is tric t has upped its drug testing budget from $4,500 last year to $6,000 for the 2006-07 year. The district’s drug policy will be re v isite d at the next meeting. Also at the June 27 meeting, the board held a budget h earin g and approved a $28,480,313 b udget fo r the 2006-07 school year, down almost $ 1 million from the 2005-06 budget of $29.408,817. The 06-07 b u d g et in clu d es $20,533,483 in the general fund; $ 11,445,849 in general fund total instruction; and $6,737,634 in general fund total support services. They also approved a p erm an en t tax rate of $4.0342 per $1 thousand assessed value for operating purposes for the 2006-07 school year; approved Fund 300 Debt Service for a tax levy in the am ount o f $1,669,785 and Fund 301 Debt Service for a tax levy in the amount of $ 1.789,568; and approved all other funds in the amount of $4.174.632. At the m eeting, Craig Miles was reelected board chairman for 2006-07 and Barney Lindsay was elected vice chair. In other business, the board: -heard a report from Sam Boardntan Elementary School Principal BJ Wilson concerning a proposal to offer a preschool program at SBE. Currently preschool programs in the Boardman area are offered through H e ad sta rt, B oardm an P reS ch o o l. a p riv ate organization, and the ESD Migrant program, but some students are still not served, said W ilson. The a fte r school English Language Learner program , funded through Title III, will be discontinued, as it will create a "redundancy at SBE,” said Wilson. -h e a rd from Burrows about the "stellar” re su lts the d istric t has re c eiv e d on stu d en t assessments. -received a report from A ssistan t Superintendent Wade Smith concerning a professional developm ent program for teachers and administrators, w hich was deem ed very successful. -approved policies on: student transportation serv ices; co n tracted bus serv ice ; d isc ip lin e p ro c e d u res for d is tric t- approved transportation; use of district activity vehicles for student transportation; proof o f vehicle liability in su ra n ce ; video su rv e illa n c e ; e le c tro n ic com m unications systems; student network user code of conduct; employee network user code of conduct; federal family and medical leave/ state family medical leave; req u est for fam ily and medical leave. -ap p ro v ed salary increases for Smith from $80 thousand per year to $85 thousand; approved five- percent salary increases for Ju lie A sh b eck , d istric t personnel director and board secretary, currently at $46 th o u san d per year, and R honda L o ren z, deputy c le rk , c u rre n tly at $52 thousand per year. Burrows said that Smith could be ...continued on page 5 Irrigon to host 23rd annual Watermelon Festival Irrigon will host its 23rd annual Watermelon Festival on Saturday. July 29 at Irrigon Marina Park. The day will be filled with food, fun and music. The day will begin w ith breakfast from 6:30-9 a.m. A softball tournament will begin at 7 a.m. To enter, contact Barbara Huwe at 922-4175. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. To enter, contact Charlotte Line at 922-5753. Also held that day will be the Show-N-Shine Car Show. Throughout the day, numerous bands w ill perform. Among those performing will be The Journeymen- a southern gospel group; 98% Angels; Hispanic Dances; Local folk singer Shannon Wahner; the Round-Up City Cloggers; Fenderbender; Ted Vanderford and his amazing sax and Tony Madrigal- Entertainer Extraordinaire. There will also be arts and crafts booth, bingo, a dunk tank, kids’ games, food booths and a giant raffle. The Morrow County Sheriffs will also be providing boat rides. The street dance and light show with Dan Bums and 3D Productions will be held from 9 p.m. to Midnight. You can still win bucks for your duck, but you have to contact John Sebastion at 922-3321 soon. Melons are donated by Walchli Farms and Bellinger Farms and entertainment and advertising are funded by Morrow County Unified Recreation District. For more information about the day. contact Donna Eppenbach at 922-3197 or LaVelle Partlow at 922-3386. Three girls celebrate the 4th of July in lone. Wore pictures page 6 City of Heppner mails water report The C ity of H e p p n e r’s 2005 w ater q u a lity rep o rt has been mailed to residents. The report describes the q uality o f the c ity 's drinking water and explains health in fo rm atio n , m onitoring data and the sources of water. The rep o rt also provides updates on the progress of the city's water supply d ev elo p m en t projects, Anyone who did not receive a copy of the report in the mail can pick one up at City Hall or call 676-% 18. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. 100 Gallon MacGregor Sprayers On Special: O nly $ 2 ,4 0 0 Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6 for farm equipment, vi*K our web lite at www mcggnct
