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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2005)
The INDEPENDENT, May 5, 2005 Page 13 School Board hears criticism on the lack of information made public The five Vernonia School Board members (Jim Krahn, Cari Levenseller, Phil Doyle, Gienah Cheney and Ed Buckn er) attending the April meeting heard harsh criticism concern ing a lack of information provid ed to the public. Amy Cieloha protested the pessimistic nature of discus sions about Washington Grade School, telling the board “not to lose sight of the needs of WGS.” Expressing frustration, she said there were things at WGS that “cannot wait 2-4 years,” and accused the board of allowing WGS to deteriorate WEATHER REPORT APRIL 2005 DATE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 TEMPEHATUBE HI LO 54 53 49 52 56 66 66 54 53 52 49 46 51 52 53 55 50 55 63 68 68 74 55 64 53 61 72 65 58 60 37 42 34 33 39 39 32 29 29 33 30 34 30 30 38 33 36 30 30 37 39 40 44 45 44 44 46 48 47 40 PBEC1P. AMT, .05 .09 .14 .07 T .15 .33 T -- .33 .09 .19 .08 .02 .59 .09 .27 .02 - - - -- .21 .40 .19 - - .09 .02 and pirecipitatii Temperature from the official U. amounts are weather station at the Vernonia wa ter plant. Measurable precipitation in April totalled 3.42 inches. as a way of forcing voters to support a bond measure. Su perintendent Mike Funderburg assured Cieloha that the district was not ignoring everyday problems and invited her to at tend the maintenance commit tee meetings. Maintenance Supervisor John Lewis usually attends board meetings to discuss his monthly written report in detail, but was not present at this meeting. The reports have not been made readily available to the public, however. For most of the school year, the mainte nance report has been referred to, but not provided to the pub lic. Following the meeting, board chairman Jim Krahn told The Independent that a version of Lewis’s report, with confiden tial material removed, would be made available at the next board meeting. Geopotential, an environ mental and geophysics firm from Gresham, conducted a radar survey of the cafeteria kitchen area in the Washington Grade School basement, find ing what appear to be small voids, about two inches wide, where pipes should be. No large earth movements or sink hole were found, but the pipes don’t appear to exist. According to Funderburg, the building re tains structural integrity and solid footings under columns. Kate Conley was critical of the board’s lack of a long-term plan, and the lack of public in volvement or feasibility studies. According to Conley, the board made the decision to borrow money, and designed a building isolated from the public. She told the board, “I don’t want a Band-Aid that the board has decided to put on!” Krahn responded that the board has spent a lot of time “balancing expense with value”. Krahn said that O’Brien Con structors and the architect, DOWA, would be asked to work with the community to develop a site plan for the future of the district. He continued, “Let’s get a plan and let people throw darts at it for a year”. Later in an interview, he expanded that, saying he “would have liked it if [the decision to design/build] had not been a board decision, but there was no other choice.” The board voted unanimous ly to terminate the contract with Willamette ESD, which was originally guiding the building project. Since the contract was awarded to O’Brien Construc tors in January, far more progress has been made on the project, Funderburg told the board, adding that the district has not been satisfied with the services provided by the WESD. O’Brien Constructors and DOWA have been working directly with Funderburg and Dawn Plews. The district ex pects a savings of at least $45,000 as a result of manag ing the job in-house. In other business, the board: • Was told by Principal Curt Scholl that a “small glitch” at the Charter School had been resolved and students will no longer be using up bandwidth with streaming audio. • Approved a policy requiring students to pass eighth grade English and math before enter ing high school. Short remedial classes will be offered for both junior high and high school stu dents. The district is also work- ing on a schedule for summer classes that would correspond with dates a principal can be in the building. • Heard from Sally Harrison that she would volunteer to di rect school dramatic produc tion. • Approved the calendar for 2005-06, with classes begin ning after Labor Day. Students will have the day off when Cy cle Oregon comes to town, September 16. • Heard from Cathy Ward, the teachers union representa tive, that parents are more in formed about their students progress. Since full implemen tation of Grade Machine soft ware, parents receive the equivalent of a progress report every two weeks, but teachers would like to be able to meet with parents throughout the year, particularly on early re- , lease Fridays. • Students will be recognized for exemplary achievement through a student of the month program. Winners photos will be displayed at US Bank. Amateur radio examinations scheduled for May 15 An Amateur Radio Examina <wireless.fcc.gov/uls/>, then tion, including the 5 WPM click on CORES/call sign regis Morse Code, is scheduled for tration. If up-grading a license, bring Sunday, May 15, at 1:00 p.m. at the Vernonia Fire Hall, 555 CSCE certificate which is good for 365 days from the last E. Bridge St., Vernonia. A non-refundable fee of exam. Check the date for cred- $14.00 per exam is required. Cash or personal checks on lo cal banks, plus two sources of ID; one a drivers license and another document with a cur ■ rent address must be provided. A non-programmable calculator can be used, after it has been . i- ■ " checked. The FCC requires a social security number or an FRN • Exposed fastener Products 2’ number which can be obtained • No Clog G utter Systems in advance at the FCC web site • Consealed fastener Products • Purlins & Girts • Standing Seam 1", 1Z“ , 2" • Sofet System • Braked Shapes to 2 6 '4 " long 16 ga. max. it towards the upgrade. The exam is sponsored by the Vernonia Emergency Radio Association, W7VER, which is under the ARES system of Co lumbia County. Participants must be prompt I m WtOTO i T as the doors will be shut by 1:30 p.m and locked. The exam should take about two hours. 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