Morrow County School District
escapes staff, program cuts
B essie W etzell N ew sp ap er Librarv
University o f O regon
^
E ugene, OR 97403
By April Sykes
M orrow C ounty
School District Superinten
dent Mark Burrow s told the
board at their regular meet
ing in Lexington Monday
night that there will be no
staffing or program cuts
for the upcoming year, in
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 129
NO. 24
10 Pages
Wednesday, June 16,2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City of Heppner launches new web site
The City of Hep
pner has a new web site at
www.cityofheppner.com.
“As an experiment
(and a cost savings for our
citizens) we are going to
begin posting more things
at the web site rather than
pay for paper, postage and
labor,” said City Manager
Dave DeMayo. DeMayo
said the city quarterly news
letter for spring of 2010
will be placed on the web
'■jte before the end of June.
He said the city will only
mail the newsletter by nor
mal mail if requested by a
citizen.
DeMayo also asked
people to provide the city
with comments after they
have used the web site.
“We would like to do more
things on the web in the fu
ture if this proves useful to
our citizens. We know that we are willing to accommo-
not everyone feels comfort- date this need if you let us
able using a computer, and know,” DeMayo added.
“Welly Toss” incorporated
into Celebrate Heppner event
The “Welly Toss” competition was held during this year’s
Celebrate Heppner event. In addition to the individual com
petitions, team competition was also held. See Page FIVE for
complete results. -Photo by David Sykes
Heppner co-gen plant may burn
sorghum to produce electricity
Ceres President Richard Hamilton, a self-proclaimed “recovering molecular biologist” who
stands at 6-foot-6, is dwarfed by his company’s fast-growing high biomass sorghum. Ceres
applies the knowledge gleaned from research on the human genome to plants, making large-
scale production of biofuels possible while minimizing impact on food supply.
Editor’s note: The above pic
ture and caption were taken
from the Ceres Company web
site. The California based
company produces high bio
mass sorghum seed o f the kind
that might end up being used
to grow fuel for the former
Kinzua co-generation electric
plant located near Heppner.
By David Sykes
The co-generation
plant at the former Kinzua
mill site may end up burn
ing high biomass sorghum
to produce electricity, the
Heppner City Council was
told Monday night.
Kurt Christensen,
president o f Renewable
Ag Energy, Inc., told the
council his company is in
terested in assisting a grow
ers’ co-op in purchasing the
co-gen plant from the Port
of Morrow and operating
it using the sorghum. He
said the sorghum would
most likely be grown in the
Hermiston area, but that he
had contacted a couple of
local growers to see if they
might be interested.
Christensen is from
the Treasure Valley area
of Oregon and is working
on a similar project there.
He asked the council for
its support and indicated
he has a 90-day option to
purchase the 10-megawatt
facility.
C hristensen said
he had also met with David
Mitchell, a former operator
at the plant, to learn all he
can about its condition and
operation. Christensen said
he has some concerns about
the condition of the boiler,
but feels there aren’t any
problems that cannot be
overcome.
“We have 90 days
to do our due diligence and
then if everything looks
good we will move forward
with the purchase and hope
fully be operating in the
fourth quarter of this year
or the first of next year,”
he said.
He said, when op
erational, the plant should
employ three people per
shift with one supervisor
position. The plant will
run 24 hours per day and
with trucker jobs probably
have 20 people employed.
He did not say how much
the jobs would pay, but
that they would be “above
average.”
C hristensen said
the Port of Morrow is of
fering them a good deal
on the plant, and it also
included the planner build
ing which he has plans for
but did not divulge what
they were. Christensen also
-See CO-GEN PLANT/Page
SIX
sharp contrast to many
school districts which have
been forced to make dras
tic budget cuts. “I’m not
asking the board to make
any draconian cuts,” said
Burrows, who qualified his
statement by saying “unless
the governor” cuts the state
education budget further.
He said that the district has
a higher than normal cash
carryover that it can rely on
and has not spent the federal
stimulus monies it received.
He also credited patron
support through the local
option tax approved earlier.
“Every month I thank the
patrons,” said Burrows.
Burrows told the
board that the district was
not cutting its budget in
the event that more money
became available, through
the state or federal govern
ment. While the district is
not cutting programs, nor
losing staff, it is, however,
taking some cost-cutting
m easures. Burrows said
that an English language
learner teaching position
they hoped to fill will not be
funded, new cars to replace
older models will not be
purchased, some textbooks
will be adopted, but not pur
chased, and $90,000 will be
cut out of the maintenance
budget. He also said that the
district will reduce its con
tingency by almost a quar
ter of a million dollars.
He told the board
that the district has joined a
consortium which will give
the district a zero percent
interest on the Riverside
High School HVAC (heat-
ing/ventilating/air condi
tioning) project, which will
also^save the district money.
The project com pletion
date is set for the end of
August.
Also at the meet
ing, the board approved a
one-year contract with the
Morrow County Education
Association (the teachers’
union) which provided for
no salary increases, with
the exception of step-raises,
which kick in when an em
ployee has been with the
district a certain number
of years or when the em
ployee completes a speci
fied amount of additional
education.
The contract with
the teachers was modified
to include an insurance opt-
out for the employees. Ac
cording to the agreement,
“active em ployees who
maintain and provide proof
of another medical benefit
plan may opt-out of district-
sponsored health insurance
coverage. Employees who
opt out o f health insur
ance coverage and who are
otherwise eligible for a dis
trict contribution towards
insurance premiums may
received 50 percent of the
employee’s maximum dis
trict insurance contribution
as a contribution toward a
district-sponsored health re
imbursement arrangement,
as long as such contribution
would not create disadvan
tageous tax consequences
for the district or the em
ployee.”
The district cur
rently pays $982 per teacher
for insurance. If an em
ployee opts out of the dis
trict insurance plan, $491
will go monthly into an
insurance pool and will
be divided among the re
maining active employees
enrolled in OEBB plans.
Opt-out decisions must be
made at annual enrollment
and the pool will be based
upon opt-outs at annual
enrollment.
T he a g re e m e n t
specifies that eligible em
ployees who don’t maintain
and provide proof annu
ally of another employer-
sponsored group medical
plan will not be permitted
to opt out of the district-
sponsored group insurance
coverage. Burrows said
that the plan would create
no extra expense on the
district’s behalf.
Other aspects of the
one-year successor agree
ment between the school
district and the teachers
include the following:
•Employees’ per
sonal life: “The personal
life of an employee is not
the appropriate concern
of the board unless it can
be shown to be im pair
ing the effectiveness of
the employee in his or her
work assignments. (Update
is as follows) ’’Employ
ees do recognize than' an
Oregon licensed teacher
must meet the standards
o f Teacher Standards &
Practices Commission and
OAR 584-20-0000-0035-
the Competent and Ethical
Educator.”
•Employee hours:
R egular building hours
for teachers shall be 8-1/2
hours for the four-day stu
dent week and 7-1/2 hours
for the five-day student
week. On the last student
day of the week and the day
preceding a school vacation
period, teachers may leave
one-quarter hour after dis
missal of students. Teachers
shall request permission
from their adm inistrator
or when deviation from
these hours is necessary.
“Modification to the work
day for PLCs or similar
workgroups may be made
at the building level by a
two-thirds majority vote of
teachers.”
•School calendar
and school work year: “It
is understood that teacher
presence is highly valued
at student/parent activities.
Teachers’ participation in
their building’s student/
parent events is strongly
encouraged.”
•Professional and
educational development-
tu itio n reim bursem ent:
“The employee may submit
for tuition reimbursement
prior to receiving a tran
script, but must do this on
or before May 15.”
In other business,
the board:
-learned from Bur
rows that the administrators
requested an audience w ith
the board concerning their
contract. He added that he
believed that the adminis
trators’ proposal was budget
neutral.
-discussed the first
reading of a policy con
cerning non-resident status
students with regard to
admission, tuition and at
tendance. Burrow s said that
the new policy would al
low him to make decisions
about student variances
w ithout having to refer
each instance to the board.
Board member Craig Miles
voiced some objections
to the proposed policy. “I
hate seeing a governmental
agency like us taking over
parental rights,” he said.
“The family should have
more right to decide w here
their child goes to school.”
Board member Bill Kuhn,
w ho sought changes to the
current policy and prov ided
input to the proposed policy,
said he thought the variance
policy should be defined to
a greater extent.
-approved the fol
lowing employment action:
resignations/retirements-
Judy Brown, A.C. Hough
ton Elem entary School
third grade teacher, Chris
tina Bettesworth, River
side High School ed as
sistant. Kristen Caldwell,
RHS middle school lan
guage arts, Michael Cates,
Windy River Elementary/
Sam Boardman Elemen
tary PE; employ ment-Leah
Thompson, SBE teacher,
increasing from half-time to
full-time, replacing Alison
Ogden.
-approved the fol
lowing extra-duty (non
coaching) positions: Hepp
ner Elementary School-Tal
ented and Gifted program
coordinator-Jannie Allen
and Pam Dowdy; DART-
K aren S m ith -G riffith ,
English Language Learn
er site coordinator-Mary
Ann Elguezabal; Heppner
High School-annual-va
cant; half-time band -Joe
Lindsay; half-time rally
advisor-V irginia Grant;
drama (one-play onlv)-Jodi
Chapa; Talented and Gifted
and DART-John Flaherty.
-approved the fol
lowing extra-duty coach
ing contracts; H eppner
Junior High: head foot
ball coach-Chad Doherty,
assistant football coach-
Dennis Peck, head vol
leyball coach-Mindy Wil
son, assistant volleyball
coach-Madison Rosenbalm,
head boys’ basketball-Mike
Ehrsam, assistant boys’
basketball-vacant, Head
g irls ’ basketball-M indy
Wilson, assistant girls’ bas
ketball-Anna Conklin; head
wrestling-Ken Bailey, head
track-Stefanie Sweeney, as
sistant track-Larry Palmer;
Heppner High School-ath
letic director, head football
coach, head golf coach-
Greg Grant, assistant foot-
ball-Les Payne, assistant
football-Kevin Payne, head
volley ball-Pam Dowdy, as
sistant vollevball-vacant,
head b o y s’ basketball-
David Norton, assistant
boys’ basketball-vacant,
head girls' basketball-Mark
Dowdy, assistant girls’ bas-
ketball-Chris Rauch, head
wrestling-Mark Lemmon,
head baseball-Jim Kindle,
assistant baseball-Scott
Coe, head track-M elissa
Coiner, assistant track-Ja-
son Palmer, head softball-
Petra Payne.
-approved desig
nating the following or
ganization details: super-
intendent/clerk/custodian
o f funds/check facsimile
signature/budget officer/
designee to apply and sign
on grants and contracts/set
fidelity bonds at $75,000
-Mark Burrows; assistant
superintendent/special id
coordinator/designee to ap
ply and sign on grants and
contracts-Phyllis Dan ie Ison ;
ELL director-Joe Chavez;
deputy clerk/business man-
ager/custodian of funds fac
simile signaturedesignee
to apply and sign on grants
and contracts/set fidelity
bonds at $75,000-Rhonda
-See SCHOOL DISTRICT/
Page FIVE
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