Ione School Board hires consultant
for possible bond measure
!iJ n liiililJ II.....lliL ill
Bessie W et/ell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 126
NO. 51
10 Pages
Wednesday, December 19,2007
By April Sykes
T he lo n e S ch o o l
Board, at their regular meet
ing Monday night, voted to
hire the Willamette Educa
tion Service D istrict in a
service agreement as con
sultants on a proposed bond
measure for improvements
to the school.
The lone Elem en
tary school was built by the
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Volunteers cut, split and deliver firewood
Recently volunteers
gathered to help split and
deliver 15 cords o f wood
for eight families, as well as
the Neighborhood Center in
Heppner.
Once again, Donald
Moody, owner o f La Grande
Firewood, made a donation
o f a log truck full o f fire
wood to the Neighborhood
Center. This is the second
year in a row that La Grande
Firewood has donated fire
wood to families in Heppner
through the Neighborhood
Center.
Each year the Neigh
borhood Center identifies
the names o f several fami
lies that are in need of wood
to assist with the heating
o f their homes. They then
divide the wood donated
according to the needs o f
the families.
G etting the w ood
to town entailed the volun
teer services o f a number
o f people who loaded and
transported the logs from
the forest to Bloodsworth
Pharms, who donated the
use o f their land for the pro
cessing of the wood.
Randy Scott from
B ates d o n a ted his tim e
equipment to load and haul
the wood to town. Charlie
Grabeel off loaded the logs
in Heppner. Hydraulic split
ters were supplied by Robert
Reid and Tim Rankin.
Labor in cutting, splitting and delivery of the donated firewood
was supplied by the Heppner Ranger District employees who,
along with some valued assistance from the following members
of the Heppner community, processed the wood over the course
of a week and delivered all the wood on Saturday. Volunteers
included Wayne Seitz, Charlie Grabeel, Robert Reid, Meeka
Boyd, Jessie Boyd, Patrick Collins, Maggie Collins, Craig Guti
errez, Justin Gutierrez. Mike Doherty, Deb Mafera, Dick Sar
gent, Larry Lutcher, Brian Spivey, (¡ary Popek, Dan Michael.
Tim Rankin, and Tomas Klguezabal.
Closed for Christmas
Morrow County School Dis
trict just prior to the creation
o f the lone Charter School,
but the high school is in
need o f renovation. Space
is also an issue. The board’s
goal is to eliminate blended
classrooms, however, said
board member Anne Morter,
if the last blended classroom
w ere to be "u n b le n d ed ”
there w ould be no more
classrooms available.
The board agreed to
pay Willamette ESD $95 per
hour, with a $15 thousand
cap, to help determine what
projects the board had ear
lier earmarked could qualify
for a bond issue, how much
the bond might be and the
feasibility o f floating such
a bond .
David McKay, di
rector o f facility services
for Willamette ESD, Salem,
told the board that some
o f the projects the board
wanted to accomplish would
probably not qualify for a
bond as the projects were
maintenance in nature rather
than construction projects.
He at first said the renova
tion should be broken down
into sm aller projects, but
later in the meeting said that
the board may want to ex
pand the scope o f the project
to include smaller projects
under one umbrella.
M cK ay also su g
gested that the board may
want to consider a local op
tion tax to fund the renova
tion, rather than a bond, but
Morter cautioned the board
against this, saying that the
amount that could be levied
under a local option tax
would be too small to fund
the projects. “A local option
tax is really expensive and
d o e sn ’t generate m uch,"
she said.
" I f we truly w ant
to renovate the high school
it (the current list) is not
enough,” said Morter. But,
she cautioned that with an
extensive list, "W e’re go
ing to get to the end o f our
bonding capacity in a big
fat hurry.”
"What I’m hearing,"
concluded McKay, "is that
the board doesn’t think vot
ers would support a new
high sch o o l.” "We ju st
don’t want to ask them ,"
replied board member John
Rietmann.
The board is consid
ering placing the bond on
the May ballot. Morter com
mented that getting the bond
on the May ballot "looks
u nrealistic" and said she
believed it would be better
to place it on the November
ballot. "I think we probably
could do it (place the bond
on the May ballot),” said
board Chair Joel Peterson.
“ But time is short, yes.”
M c K a y s a id he
would consult with M or
row County Assessor Greg
Sweek and other experts
before returning to the board
with more information at
their next regular meeting
January 22 and plans to
bring in a contractor to get
a total cost estim ate. He
also told the board that it is
crucial that they prioritize
the projects.
McKay said that it
w ill take at least two to two-
and-a-half months to gather
and review information to
present to the board with
the goal o f coming up with
a bond amount to put before
the voters.
S u p e r in t e n d e n t/
Principal*Bryn Browning
and possibly board mem
bers plan to attend a bond
and ballot workshop set for
January.
A lso at the m eet
ing the board learned that
the d istrict has received
$324,153, the bulk o f the
property tax collections, and
a $49,787 School Improve
ment Fund grant. The grant
was set aside for schools
by the state legislature last
June.
In other business,
the board:
-le a rn e d th at the
follow ing tran sfers were
m ade from th e g en eral
fund-$20,000 to the capital
projects fund; $10,000 to
the food service fund; and
$5,000 to the pool fund.
-le a rn e d th at the
special revenue funds re
ceived: $5,601 from gate
receipts and pay-to play
receipts; $2,755 from state
Title funds; $2,274 from
lunch receipts; and $1,300
from a state award.
-learned that the el
ementary school budget cur
rently has a minus $31,585
balance.
-accepted the Divi
sion 22 Standards report
that the district has complied
with educational standards
required.
-le a rn e d th a t by
2009 the state will require
24 credits for graduation, up
from the current 22, how
ever lone already requires
24 credits.
-approved a mutual
agreement for release o f a
student from the lone School
District to Arlington.
-a p p ro v e d h irin g
D iana M cE lligott as the
assistant girls’ high school
basketball coach.
-learned that the next
board meeting will be held
on Tuesday, January 22,
rather than Monday because
o f the Martin Luther King
holiday.
-heard the follow ing
administrative report from
Browning:
-en ro llm en t as o f
December 10 was 162 stu-
dents-67 in kindergarten
through grade five, 40 in
grades six through eight
and 55 students in grades
nine through 12, with four
students enrolling since the
November board meeting.
Brow ning told the board the
district anticipates approxi
mately the same number of
students next year, but with
a different grade configura
tion.
-a letter from the
school district in support
o f a highw ay project in
the Horseshoe Bend area
o f Highway 74 will be in
cluded as a public comment
and will be shared with the
North East Area Commis
sion on Transportation.
-the school website
has been updated with the
assistance of the Umatilla-
Morrow ESD. Teachers can
now post inform ation to
their individual web pages,
such as personal informa
tion, instructional resources,
pictures, homework, project
due dates and videos, for
example. The staff met to
learn how to use the new
website.
-a teacher who plans
to have surgery at the end o f
January will be replaced by
a long-term substitute for
the second semester. The
cost o f the substitute will be
offset by an adjustment to
the teacher's contract.
-elementary teach
ers and middle and high
school math teachers met
to identify and review math
standards.
-learned that the kin
dergarten-grade five Christ
mas program on December
11, directed by e lem en
tary teachers, brought in a
packed house.
Elks Hoop Shoot coming up in January
The Elks Hoop Shoot will be held on January 6 at 1 p.m. at Heppner High School.
Trophies will be awarded for the first three places for 8-9 year old boys and girls. 10-11
year old boys and girls, and 12-13 year old boys and girls.
Colt basketball sign-ups will also be held at the same time for third through
sixth graders.
HES
holds Christmas program
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed for the
Christmas holidays on Monday and Tuesday, De
cember 2 4 and 25. Newspaper deadlines will be
Friday, December 21, a t 5 p.m.
Mevuf Chxi>tma>
puun ail af.ui at JU6ÇÇ
and Jiappy JVew ïfeai
We will be closed starting at 12 noon on Monday, Dec. 24
through Tuesday, Dec. 25 at all MCGG locations
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment. »Islt oar web sit« at www rocf| n#t
There were elves, reindeer and Santas everywhere you looked at the HES Christmas Elfis
program. The program was held on Tuesday, December II. Photo hy Sandy Matthew «