Voi. 17, No. 5
“ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
D ifficult decisions
facing school board
A good read...
The latest recipient of funds earned by the Vernonia Friendship Jamboree Committee
was the Friends of the Library, which will use the $500 donation to help supply materi
als or activities the public library can’t afford. Jamboree Committee President Randy
Parrow presented the check to Friends President Jennifer Butcher. Looking on, left to
right, are Librarian Nancy Burch, Jamboree Vice-president Glenda DeLemos, EIDonna
Williams (in back), Enid Parrow, Randy Parrow, Myron Lane (in back), Butcher and Joann
Glass. Another donation, for $250, went to Echoing Evergreens Youth Camp.
Council adopts design guidelines
Vernonia City Council Adopt
ed Design Guidelines for the
downtown commercial area at
their March 4 meeting, and
made appointments to three
committees that will be dealing
with different aspects of the
city's future.
The purpose of the Design
Guidelines is to acknowledge
V ernonia’s historic heritage
while providing a fram ework
within which to improve the ap
pearance, econom ic vitality,
and livability of dow ntow n
through future changes. The
guidelines consider building
materials, sign placement, size
„ and. design;. building heights
March 6, 2002
and facades, awnings and
much more. They will be ap
plied to remodeling projects, as
well as new construction.
A committee appointed to
develop plans for utilizing the
recently com pleted Vernonia
M arketing Analysis, included
Marcie Gwin, Kerry Lyon, Gil
Tavares, Isabelle McDaniel,
Janelle Serafin, Royce Hagel-
stein, Jerry Keenon and Coun
cilor Shirlee Daughtry.
A group appointed to study
requirements for a Technology
Center, possibly in the old city
hall, included Darlene McLeod,
LV
Schoonover,
M argaret
Dena, Councilor Cindy Ball and
City Administrator Mike Sykes.
The third group of ap
pointees will be studying how
to incorporate Smart Develop
ment principles into the city’s
zoning
and
developm ent
codes. This will require a re
view of existing codes and rec
ommendations for changes.
Smart Development com mit
tee appointees include Carol
Sawyer, Matt Davis, Lisa
Edgar, Susi Siote, Nancy Dai
ley, Don Wallace, Jay Nesmith,
Noni Andersen and Councilor
Ball.
The next council meeting will
be March 18 at 7:00 p.m. in
City Hall.
4 « 9
-
Who? and How? dominated
the Vernonia School District
Board of Directors, at their
workshop and meeting Febru
ary 27. Chair Carla Strand and
directors Randy Hansen, Cari
Levenseller, Leslie O’Leary and
Jim Krahn focused on two high-
pressure items of business -
the search for a new superin
tendent and setting budget pri
orities. Director Tim Titus was
unable to attend.
In January, the board dis
cussed alternatives to the cur
rent adm inistrative structure
(superintendent/principal/vice-
principal, etc.) with the present
adm inistrative team. At that
time, the board determined that
it would probably be best to hire
an interim superintendent until
a permanent superintendent is
selected. In this way, the district
could save money and retain
experienced leadership until
the transition is complete.
Interim superintendents gen
erally are retired superinten
dents who agree to work with a
district for a specific period of
time, usually one year. They
bring with them a wealth of ex
perience and are able to take a
fresh look at whatever issues
and difficulties a district may be
facing.
Vernonia used the services
of an interim superintendent,
Jim Ulum, during the 1996-‘97
school year. Ulum guided the
district through the FEMA maze
after the flood, helped conduct
a superintendent search at the
same time, and started repair
ing problems left over from pre
vious administrations.
John Young, of the Oregon
School Boards Association, ex
plained the executive search
services provided by OSBA.
As director of the executive
search staff, Young’s goal is “to
handle the details so board
members are free to concen
trate on choosinq the best Der-
son for the job." OSBA can fa
cilitate a search for a superin
tendent and also maintains a
roster of qualified people who
are interested in serving as in
terim superintendents. The cost
for an interim search is deduct
ed from the fee for a superin
tendent search.
A full superintendent search
may be a six-to-twelve month
process. When selecting a su
perintendent, the board is re
quired, by statute, to get input
from the com munity at large in
determining the selection crite
ria. Though this is not required
for interim superintendents, the
O SBA’s interim search is a
four-to-six w eek m ini-search
process that w ould require
com munity meetings and spe
cial board meetings to secure
the best candidate for the dis
trict.
Q uestioned by the board
about the availability of quali
fied superintendent candidates,
Young indicated that a district
of Vernonia’s size should re
ceive applications from about
25 to 30 candidates for perm a
nent positions. About 30 candi
dates are on the current list of
those seeking interim positions.
Because they w ere in a
w orkshop, not a business
meeting, directors could not
vote on a course of action. Be
cause the retirement of Super
intendent Larry McClellan will
take effect this summer, the
board will make a decision at
their regular board meeting on
March 14.
Budget priorities
and fiscal restraint
In spite of the dominance of
school funding issues in the
news, and even though it is the
board’s responsibility to provide
the superintendent and other
administrators with specific pri
orities fo r developm ent of the
Please see page 13