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