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