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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1956)
Sunday. April 1, 1958 Background on Proposed School Consolidation Given by Officials of Districts MXDFORD (ORIOOK) MAIL TRIBUNE April 9 Set for Vote on Merger of Bedford, West Side, Oak Grove Residents of the Merffnrrf nav Grove and West Side school dis tricts will 20 to the polls Mon day, April 9, to determine wheth er the three districts will con solidate. Polls will be open from 2 to 8 p.m. Medford residents will vote in the girls gymnasium on the south side of the Medford High school; the Oak Grove poll will be at the Oak Grove school; and West Side at the West Side school. Voters must be registered in the precinct where they reside at the time of the election, be registered for at least 30 days prior to April 9, and must have resided in the school district at least six months immediately prior to the election. Absentee ballots may not be used at a school election. By Boundary Board The Jackson County Boundary Board, composed of the county court and the county school su perintendent, is responsible for the election. Information pertaining to the consolidation of the districts has been prepared by school officials and is being distributed through out the districts. Here are facts concerning the proposal as set forth by the school districts: 1. What hag brought about the consideration for consolidating the three school districts? The educational and financial problems relating to operating standard schools as required by the State of Oregon are becom ing more complex and difficult for all districts, especially small residential type districts. Many authorities believe that the best solution to the problem is for these districts with mutual eco nomic and educational interest to consolidate. According to the records, Medford and adjoining districts comprise the only large area in the state which has not consolidated. 2. How may school districts join for educational purposes? There are three ways in which school districts may join accord ing to state law. The status of the district determines the method. a. Suspended districts. This re- c 3 WATSON'S STEAK HOUSE 3310 No. Pacific Highway SUNDAY ' W DINNER Old Fashioned BAKED HAM . ROAST VEAL and Dressing Fried Spring CHICKEN $25 $100 $00 HOME-MADE PIES OUR WEEK-DAY Lunches - 75c fers to a school district which does not operate any type of school. Such districts normally contract with nearby schools to take their students on a tuition basis. Dewey and Kenwood are local examples of this type of dis trict. Existing laws make it man datory for susDended districts to begin operating an elementary school andor high school, or join a district that does. All of Dewey district will be Dlaced in Medford District 49, and about 80 per cent of Kenwood will be placed with District 49 on Julv 1, 1956. A small section of Ken wood will go to Central Point and another section has already been placed in the Lone Pine district. b. Consolidation. School law permits two or more operating districts to join for the purpose of forming one district. This can only be done when the majority of voters of each district ap proves. c. Annexation. School law per mits one district to annex or be annexed by another district un der certain conditions. There ap pear to be a number of restric tions relating to annexation that do not apply under the consoli dation method. 3. Why was consolidation se lected as the method for joining Oak Grove, West Side, and Med ford School Districts? After careful study by mem bers of all three school boards, consolidation was selected as the better method because: (1) it was approved by the State Depart ment of Education, (2) it has been successfully used by many other school districts about the state and in Jackson county, (3) it was approved by the legal au thorities on school bonds and in debtedness, and (4) assurance was given through letter from the State Retirement Board that employees benefits would not be jeopardized. 4. Does consolidation mean that the new district will have to add an extensive pupil trans portation program? In all probability pupil trans portation through either district owned school buses or by con tract with private operators will be added as a new service. None of the three districts at present provide transportation services for their pupils. High school stu dents from Oak Grove and West Side receive a small allotment to assist them in paying for trans portation" to and from high school.. Dewey and Kenwood, the two districts contracting the edu cation of their students, do pro vide transportation. Medford does not provide transportation except for handicapped and crip pled children. 5. How are school board mem bers elected in a consolidated district? Board members are elected at large from any area in the new district just as they are in "any first class district. There would be a five member board. The law provides that board mem bers of the larger district shall continue to serve until their reg ular term expires. 6. Why the urgency of this election? It is essential that school boards of Oak Grove, West Side, the Rural School Board, and the Medford board know at the ear liest possible date in. order that proper operating budgets may be completed and presented to the voters' for the school year 1956-57. 7. What is the policy of the The Man Who Wears a HALO h taking his family fo the JACKSON HOTEL F.- Easter Dinner . Pleasant Atmosphere Delicious Food Juicy Prime Ribs at $2.00 Other Selections Complete Dinners 1.50 Children's Portions 75 Make it a Bright, Happy EASTER - Dine at the JACKSON HOTEL DIAL 2-6231 rrf " rT ii ... .... . . . ,--,:Vv : : 1 1 SIZE AND LOCATION OF DISTRICTS ; PROPOSED. CONSOLIDATION ' -Ay- ' - -v.": '" ... " , , r-l . t 1 . 1 , , , ,- . ' ... .. , -i?m SIK U "-yjjgjf nve , I I ' ' t ' mmmmmmmmmmJimm i.miir j i. v ffiAyt Kt .. .... J""'i"" 1 "' -f-1 A !. . r--" 1 Penny Barnum Starts Paper Deliveries by Horseback By MRS. H. H. CHAPMAN Hornbrook One of the surest signs that spring is here arrived Thursday night, when Penny Barnum, for the first time this season, delivered The Mail Trib une on horseback. Penny, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Barnum, and a sev enth grade student at Hornbrook CONSOLIDATION VOTE SCHEDULED Voters in the Medford, Oak Grove and West Side school districts (shown above) will go to the polls from 2 to 8 p.m. April 9 to deter mine whether the three will consolidate. Voting will take place in the school building of each district, Medford residents . voting in the girls gymnasium at the high school. Portions of the Dewey and Kenwood districts will be merged with the Medford district in June by the county boundary board. Their assets and expenses will become a part of the Medford budget as of July 1, but Oak Grove and West Side would not be in cluded in the Medford budget until 1957-58 school year. The remainder of the Dewey district was absorbed by Lone Pine. UN Theme Planned For Dinner Here United Nations flags, colorful UN posters and table decora tions have been flown here from Portland and San Francisco for the sixth annual Roosevelt Me morial dinner Monday, April 23. Reservations for the 7 p.m. dinner at Hedrick junior high school are still available, accord ing to Mrs. W. G. Werner, foods chairman. "Your plans for the . . . dinner sound fine," Mrs. Roosevelt wrote. "I am looking forward to an enjoyable evening in Med ford." The U N decorations were geared to Mrs. Roosevelt's ad dress, which will give special emphasis to the international organization. Local Democrats in charge of decorations are Mrs. Harlan Bosworth Jr., Mrs. George W. Rode, Attorney Bruce Manley, Mrs. Moore Ham ilton and Mrs. Neva Clarke. Tickets for the event may be obtained at Walt Young's Sta tionary store, Lamport's Sport ing Goods, and from committee members. ' Main portions of the dinner will be furnished by the com' mittee, with supplementary dishes such as salads, or casser oles received as potluck contri butions. grammar school, has practically grown up on a horse. Since she was a small girl she has been a familiar sight riding around the country-side on her horse. And now she is putting this enjoyable hobby to good use as a business asset, asshe is sole agent inHorn brook for three daily newspapers the Sacramento Bee, the Siski you Daily News, and the Med ford Mail Tribune. . During the winter months, her father takes her on her rounds in the car, and helps with the deliveries, but as the days length en, she will be "on her own". It could be said of Penny and her father as with the mail car riers, nothing detained them from the completion of their rounds, for through all of last winter's bad weather and high water, they never failed to get the papers out. Medford School District regard ing maintaining schools in such areas as Oak Grove and West Side? School policies may be changed by each succeeding school board. Members of the present board believe that their traditional pattern of six ele mentary grades, three junior high grades, and three senior high grades is a sound and effic ient organization. They believe that the first six grades should be kept as close to home as an efficient and eco nomical operation will permit. Elementary schools will probably be constructed at places where enrollment or potential enroll ment warrants it. At present the school district owns an elementary site on Cun ningham Drive in the South western area of the district and another one on Grand Avenue in . the North central part of the dis trict. The present board favors con tinued operation v of existing schools in Oak Grove and West Side. Placement of students and grades would depend upon what was considered best for the stu dents plus the most educational and efficient operation plan. 8. What are the educational ad vantages and disadvantages for consolidating school districts? Briefly the primary advantage may be summarized as follows: All of the boys and girls of the district attend schools which are planned, operated,' and adminis tered under the same program. They are taught by the same methods. Thus all the pupils have the same advantages as any other student in the district. Pu pils are a part of a coordinated program grades one through twelve. The primary disadvantage is that a small school district loses its identity as a district, and must conform to the same gen eral policies established for all schools within the district. 9. Will consolidation result in lower operating costs? Generally speaking, savings can be made in a number of areas of operating schools such as: (a) purchasing supplies and equipment, (b) more efficient use of existing facilities through' flexible assignment of teachers, students, and equipment, (c) more elimination of duplication in areas of maintenance, trans portation, and teaching fields, (d) better adjustment of teacher loads. Experience has proven that such savings are usually offset j by the necessity of extending to 1 all children in the new district the same or best services and op I portunities given the children in : any other part of the district. ! Examples of these are: transpor- tation, vocal., and instrumental i instruction, special and remedial education, school nurse and su pervisory services. Such services add additional cost equal to the extent they are provided. ' 10. How will the bonded in debtedness of each of the three districts be handled? It is proposed that the three districts will share all assets and all debts after consolidation. The same i tax levy will apply throughout the entire new dis trict. State law permits this. 11. .If consolidation is ap proved, how will the districts be financed and administered? All consolidating districts will, according to law, be adminis tered by the School Board of the largest district. The first year (until June 30, 1957) the consolidated district will be financed as follows: Med ford, Dewey, and that portion of Kenwood annexed to Medford, will operate under the budget prepared by the budget commit tee and Voters of the Medford School District 49. Oak Grove and West Side will have to be operated the - first year (until July 1, 1957) under the rural school district budget, as pre pared by the local . district, ru ral school board and approved by the rural school district voters. This means that services, equip ment, and improvements will have to be limited to those pro vided in each school district's budget for 1956-57. Beginning with the budget for the 1957-58 school year, all dis tricts would be assessed the same which would be based on the single budget for the entire dis trict. 12. Will consolidation lower taxes? Consolidation, based on . a study of current operation costs for the three districts will have the following effect on taxes. As long as costs of equipment, sup plies, and services continue to rise school taxes will goup. Even if operating costs remain stable, school taxes would have to rise because student- population in and around Medford and in Oak Grove, West Side, Dewey, and Kenwood districts is increasing on an average of from 350 to 450 children a year. This is equiv alent to 10 .to 14 schoolrooms each school year. New school rooms must include the same number of teachers plus new equipment and additional sup plies. This increase in school population obviously will con tinue whether consolidation takes place or not. School census indicates that such an increase will continue at least for five more years because a number of children in the age group from one to five are already here. In general the consolidation of schools has no effect on the two primary factors which are causing increased school taxes: (1) increased costs of goods and services, (2) many more boys and girls to attend the schools. 13. How will consolidation af fect taxes In the three districts? Information on taxes can only be estimated. The following sum mary applies only to the current school year and asumes that the educational program and serv ices would remain just as they are now in each district. Consolidating all five districts for the purpose of budget making would have meant, for this cur rent school year, a Medford raise in millage approximately 35 of a mill (.6 mill); Dewey lower school taxes, approximately 10 mills; Kenwood lower school taxes approximately 10 mills; Oak Grove lower school taxes approximately 10 mills; West Side lower school taxes,' ap proximately 12.9 mills. These estimates 'refer to the difference in millage. rates be tween what they are now paying and what they would have paid had we been consolidated for the current school year and operat ing schools exactly as we are now. Proportionate differences may vary from . year to year. Next year Oak Grove and West Side will pay taxes on the basis of the 1956-57 rural tax even though they consolidate with Medford. No attempt is made to predict any. exact amount that the mill age will go up or down for any one district for the next, few years after consolidation. It can be estimated 'with evidence to support it that percentage wise the millage for taxpayers in each district would be affected in about that proportion in the for seeable future. "? Medford's increase would be partially if not entirely offset by the increased valuation brought in by the added districts. Each district would be . taxed to pay its full share of bonded indebt edness for- secondary students grades 9 through 12. Under ex isting state laws this is not being done. ther-Daughter tea. School was dismissed at 1:45 p.m. on Monday to give all stud- ents an opportunity to attend the Parade of Progress at Hawthorne park. Busses were, furnished to the park for students desiring their use. . The operetta cast and orches tra have been practicing furious ly for the presentation of "Babes in Toyland," which will be pre sented early in April. B A R B E C U E Broiled Steaks Prime Rib Spare Ribs Beef ' Pork Ham What Am GRILL 201 West Main OPEN TODAY High School News Notes By NELLIE RAWLINSS The , primary elections for next year's student body offices were held this week. Each can didate for an office gave a short speech Tuesday morning in front of the student body. The actual v o t i n g was Thursday, and was conducted Nellie Rawlintfs a C C O raing lO democratic, standards. Students were allowed to check out of school early Friday afternoon to attend special Good Friday services at the First Me thodist church. , Orders and measurements for the seniors' caps and gowns are being taken during both noon hours. The Girls' League senior com petition assembly was held Thursday. This meeting conclud ed the series of competition as semblies between the girls of the three classes. The winner was the junior class. Each junior girl received "suckers" as a prize. The new Girl-of-the-Month was announced. Former Girl-of-the-Month, Sandra Laing, pre sented Joyce Gregory with the "A Holland Hotel Wooden Shoe Restaurant , " Featuring Fine Food Reasonably Priced Open Daily 6:30 A.M. to Midnite Friendly Place to Dine" pin. All girls that have been hon ored as Girl-of-the-Month will compete for. Girl-of-the-Year, who will be announced at the next meeting. Plans are getting Hinder way for Girls' League week, to be April 23 to 27. Committees are I being organized, and the pro-J gram is taking shape for the Mo-1 HELD OVER! ENDS MONDAY! 1. ftiin a iHsm PLUS A GARY - BARBARA Cooper-Stanwyck at the 'CtlNCO GIANT' i till W0MM ! Nil DUIlS- Ruth ROMAN Anthony QUINN HOTEL Mi Oregon Crabmeot Cocktail 25c Alaska Shrimp Cocktail 25c O SELECTIVE DINNERS O SOUP Consomme Celestine or Creme of Chicken Royal Spiked Tomato Juice Cocktail SALADS Crisp Hearts Lettuce or Whipped Tropical Jello ENTREE Sliced Prime Ribs of Beef,. Au Natural - $2.25 Baked Honey Cured Ham, Cumberland Glaze - $1 .50 Leg O' Lamb Roast; Its Natural Gravy -$1.65 Salmon, Fresh Ocean King, Pan Broiled - $1.50 Selected New York Cut or Tenderloin Steak, $2.75 , Baked Potato Early June Peas . Sweet Potato Garden Green Beans Vienna Beverage Chocolate or Pineapple Sundae . Ice Cream - Sherbet I i M Breakfast 7:30 to 12 Dinner Noon 'til 9
