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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2002)
Page 8 The INDEPENDENT, August 15, 2002___________ _______________________________________________ ___________________________________ Teacher wants more drug testing; principals cite budget needs From page 1 healthy environment for chil dren to attend compulsory edu cation. Krahn explained that the state supports operating costs of school districts, but that capital expenses, i.e. build ings, have always been the re sponsibility of the community. Krahn said that state funds are simply not available for new buildings, which are historically and legally the responsibility of the local district. Teacher wants return to increased drug testing Cathy Ward, WGS teacher and Outdoor School advisor, reminded the board that, in the past, all athletes were tested for drugs at the beginning of the season, with random testing following throughout the sea son. Ward said she feels that it was beneficial for students to know that they would be tested. The district fought hard for the right to test athletes, all the way to the Supreme Court, and should not let up on the policy according to Ward. She would also like to have testing ex panded to include all student activities, not just sports. WGS Principal Kirk Sherrill and Vernonia High School Prin cipal Mike Durbin responded that they had gone to a system of random testing of a percent age of athletes because of budget pressures. When Ward countered that athletes are re quired to “pay-to-play," it was explained that, though it may be a hardship for parents, the amount of revenue generated is very small. Junior high stu dents have not yet been re quired to pay fees for athletic participation. VHS athletes paid slightly more than $10,000 this past year, while athletic pro grams for the coming year are budgeted at nearly $135,000. Several years ago, Durbin said, when all students were tested at the beginning of a season, followed by random testing throughout the season, the program cost $6-7,000 for the testing alone. The full pro gram also requires consider able administrative time. Both principals told the board that, if a full testing program were rein stated, funds would have to be taken from other areas of the budget. Parents angered by new non-resident policy Superintendent Funderburg presented the board with a re vised policy, developed with Di rectors Carla Strand and Randy Hansen, on the admis sion on non-resident students. The policy applies to the trans fer of students with addresses inside the Vernonia School Dis trict to other districts, and the transfer of students outside the district to Vernonia schools. The old policy allowed the board to accept or reject stu dents based upon available space, resources, personnel, appropriate programs and a re view of educational records. It did not accept students who were under expulsion from an other district. The revised policy retains the situations the board may consider when granting trans fers, including students with un usual academic, behavioral or emotional needs, students liv ing in remote areas and stu dents whose parents are em ployed within the district. The revision also maintains the re quirement for a written agree ment with the affected school district, but the revised policy would allow the district to re voke the agreement at any time, for any “appropriate" rea son. The revised policy includes administrative rules and forms which meet the district’s need for docum entation. A parent who wishes to transfer a stu dent to another district must complete a request form after June 1st for transfer the follow ing academic year. The super intendent would then determine whether a student is eligible for transfer, under the guidelines set by the new policy. These guidelines establish that a max imum of four students be ap proved for transfer to any one school district, that a waiting list be developed when the maxi mum is reached, that the maxi mum can be increased on a 1:1 basis, and allow the maximum to be exceeded for special or unique circumstances. Funder burg also told the board that his decision could be appealed to a com mittee composed of two board members and the appro priate school administrator. During the 2001-2002 school year, 18 students from the Vernonia district, primarily from outlying areas, attended the Jewell School District (com posing more than 10 percent of the student body). Parents of these students were insistent in their refusal to send their chil dren to Vernonia because they felt the Jewell district offered better opportunities to their stu dents. Several people, notably Win Carter, made lengthy com ments about the superiority of the Jewell schools. The remote location was also mentioned as a reason to attend Jewell school, which is geographically closer to some residences in the Vernonia school district. Particularly objectionable to these parents was the limitation to such a small number of stu dents. Several families send all of their children to school in Jewell. Carter said that he was deeply concerned about sepa rating families of students and that it would not be right to dis rupt children’s lives in this way. Other audience members in sisted that the students, and families, currently enrolled in Jewell should be “grand-fa thered in” so that they could com plete their education in Jewell. Board chair Carla Strand had to insist that the au dience cease comment and al low the board to deliberate. The board and administra tion listened courteously to au dience comments, but had diffi culty responding because of in terruption. Hansen said that, while he understood the con cerns of those living in remote locations, the district must set a hard line somewhere to limit the loss of state school funds. Director Leslie O ’Leary pro posed that, because school opens soon, the policy be adopted leaving the children currently in Jewell in place for one year. Superintendent Mike Fun derburg told the board that he had recently received informa tion indicating that Vernonia may be able to retain state school funding for students at tending school in Jewell. Ac cording to Funderburg, be cause the Jewell district is one of only two districts in the state that do not receive funds from the state, when students go from Vernonia to Jewell the money is simply not allocated by the state. He thinks it is pos sible to reach an agreement that would allow the students to attend Jewell, but receive the state school funds in Vernonia. Finally, to a round of audi ence applause, Jim Krahn moved that the revised policy be approved with the provision that families with students cur rently attending the Jewell dis trict may continue to attend school in Jewell and that the superintendent pursue the pos sibility of retaining state school funds for those students. The motion was opposed by Cari Levenseller and Carla Strand but was approved with votes from Leslie O’Leary, Tim Titus, Jim Krahn and Randy Hansen. Darryl Hamblet was not able to attend the meeting. Textbook adoptions are delayed In other business the board: • Delayed health (K-12) and science (K-8) textbook adop- tions. • Approved a new organiza tional chart for the district, out lining the primary duties of the administration, defining a chain of command for all employees to facilitate problem solving, and specifying safety as the duty of the maintenance super visor. For the first time, stu dents are included and, while student management is a duty of adm inistrators, the chart makes clear that students also have a direct line to the super intendent. Budget factors remain uncertain From page 2 No members of the public at tended the Budget Hearing in June, when the board adopted the budget as approved by the committee but took no action on the budget com mittee’s rec ommendations regarding future cuts. Board chair Carla Strand has told The INDEPENDENT she is recommending that the budget committee be recon vened. Elem entary Principal Kirk Sherrill and high school Principal Mike Durbin said that discussions had begun on where to make cuts. Two full time teachers re signed during the summer, po tentially affecting the budget shortfall by nearly $95,000 in combined wages and benefits. Whether they will be replaced, or whether the positions will be left unfilled, will depend on nu merous factors. G overnor John Kitzhaber has called the legislature back into session August 16, and made it clear that, if the legisla ture sustains his veto, he will call them back again in Sep tem ber to develop a revenue measure for a public vote in November. Voters are already being asked to vote in September on a measure, referred by an ear lier legislative session, on $150 million to be taken from the ed ucation trust fund to support the state school fund. This is es sentially the same measure as one defeated by the voters in May, but for a smaller amount. If the voters defeat the meas ure again in September, it will present another reduction for local districts. L ittle G uy F ootball R egistration for 3 rd - 6 th G rades A ugust 17,10 am U ernonia H igh S chool F ootball F ield $75 per player I $35 per add’l player same family P unt , P ass & K ick C ontest R egistration 3 rd - 6 th G rades A ugust 17,10 am U ernonia H igh S chool F ootball F ield $5 per player Questions? can Jay Barber (3rd & 4th Grades) 503 429-0314 Ernie Smith (5th & 6th Grades) 503 429-4026
