The INDEPENDENT, November 17, 2005
Banks school board looks at class sizes
From page 14
by five percent overall. Rourk
said they are still working on
how to make the cut without re-
ducing services.
The bill also changes how
ESD boards are elected. In-
stead of a general election,
board members will be elected
by the component school
boards. Each board will have
one vote. All current board
members will be eliminated and
new ones elected as of June
30, 2006. They will then serve a
four year term. Initially, this will
take place in three ESDs, in-
cluding NWRESD. The pilot
programs will report to the state
legislature in Fall 2006 and Fall
2008 about how the new sys-
tem is working.
Audit Report
Forrest Arnold of Jones and
Roth presented the annual au-
dit report. The district received
a clean report from Arnold, who
said that the auditor’s job is to
give an opinion on the district’s
financial statements and to
check compliance with state
and federal regulations.
Superintendent Marv Ott
noted that the audit revealed
that the ending fund balance
was approximately $54,000
less than anticipated, which
means that the district started
this year with $54,000 less than
thought. Two other factors are
impacting the district’s fi-
nances, Ott added. One is that
PERS bills that were not budg-
et for, will be starting in Janu-
ary. Also, the quarterly estimate
of revenues shows that proper-
ty tax receipts are down. This
decrease is from property taxes
that haven’t been paid.
Class size
Ott and the board discussed
class size issues with adminis-
trators. Marty Voge, principal of
the elementary school, said
that they are using parent,
Americorp and high school vol-
unteers to get as much one-on-
one instruction as possible. He
thought that the children and
the teachers were adjusting.
He added that smaller classes
would be nice and that, eventu-
ally, teachers will burn out if
something isn’t done. Ott said
that given the budget, there
weren’t any paid solutions
available at this time. He asked
the board to meet with him ear-
ly in December to start looking
at what can be done in the
coming years.
The board stressed their de-
sire to communicate with the
parents who had spoken last
month, to let them know that
they had been heard and that
the board is working to make
things better in the future.
Policies approved
The board approved district
goals, child abuse reporting
policies, and a student search
and interrogation policy. They
also approved the budget guid-
ing principles for 2006-09.
Ott reported that he had con-
sulted with both OSBA lawyers
and the Washington County
Sheriff’s Department about the
interrogation policy. A member
of the public relations depart-
ment of the police department
will meet with administrators to
make sure that the role of the
school in such instances is
clear.
Page 15
Cultural Summit on November 18
Members of the Washington
County arts, cultural and her-
itage communities are invited to
attend a Cultural Summit on Fri-
day, November 18, from 4-6:00
p.m. at the Oregon College of
Art and Craft, 8245 SW Barnes
Road, Portland. The Summit is
sponsored by the Washington
County Arts, Heritage and Hu-
manities Coalition (WCAHHC),
which is seeking input to help
prioritize community needs for
its 2006 grant cycle. In addition,
representatives from Northwest
Business for Culture and the
Arts, Technical Assistance for
Community Services, the Re-
gional Arts and Culture Council
and the Oregon Cultural Trust
will be on hand to answer ques-
tions about improving grant
writing, board recruitment and
successful non-profit manage-
ment.
Light refreshments will be
served. The featured entertain-
ment will be Ballet Folklorico
‘Lo Nuestro,’ a student dance
troupe based in Forest Grove,
and a recipient of a 2005 WC-
AHHC grant. Attendees are en-
couraged to RSVP to the Ore-
gon College of Art and Craft,
503-297-5544.
WCAHHC
distributed
$1,000 grants to fifteen organi-
zations in 2005. An increase in
both the number of grants and
the size of grants is anticipated
in 2006.
The Oregon Cultural Trust
was established by the state
legislature to strengthen Ore-
gon’s culture through the es-
tablishment of a permanent en-
dowment. Funding is derived
from the sale of Cultural license
plates and from gifts through a
state tax credit program. The
Trust invests a portion of pro-
ceeds from the endowment in
annual grants to Oregon coun-
ties and tribal planning groups,
funding for statewide cultural
agencies, and competitive
grants to cultural non-profits. To
learn more about the Trust, vis-
it the website <www.cultural-
trust.org>.
To view the Washington
County Cultural Plan, visit
< w w w. w e s t s i d e c u l t u r a l a l -
liance.org>.
47J discusses superintendent criteria and lockers at middle school
From page 1
Rainier. In addition to the fin-
gerprint scanner helping, the
staff at Rainier displayed ‘terrif-
ic’ teamwork.
Two scanners, plus changes
in the way the lines are handled
would improve the cafeteria
use in Vernonia, Wallace said.
She also told the board that the
kids in Rainier think the scan-
ner line is the ‘cool’ line to be in,
and that those who don’t want
to be fingerprinted can use a
card. No decision was made on
use of the scanner in Vernonia
at this time.
Superintendent Search
Board Chairman Randy
Hansen presented a list of su-
perintendent qualities and crite-
ria gleaned from all of the meet-
ings so far. The list was:
1. Good communicator
2. Good collaborator
3. Education leader
4. Superior knowledge of
school law
5. Community leader/visible
in community and schools
6. Knowledge of educational
process.
Hansen also reported that
the input leaned toward hiring
an interim superintendent and
during the process, to look for a
permanent superintendent. He
told the board that there was
even split on whether to hire a
full time or a half time superin-
tendent, but that his recom-
mendation was for half time.
The board voted unanimous-
ly to include the six qualities as
superintendent search criteria.
Statutory changes
Acting Superintendent Anne
Kingsley told the board that a
new law will go into effect soon
that makes it illegal to allow
anyone under 18 years of age
to ride in the back of a pickup,
except in a few instances, such
as when moving from one hunt-
ing camp to another. She also
said the law will require chil-
dren under 16 to wear helmets
W illiams
M etal
F ab
S PECIALIZING
P HONE /F AX
IN
while skateboarding.
District Report Cards
Kingsley also reported on
the District Report Cards and
AYP results, saying “We are
pleased with our scores, but we
are not happy with our scores,
we…are working very hard and
are pleased with our progress.”
Middle School lockers
Middle School Principal Nate
Underwood provided a quote of
$7,800 to $10,000 for lockers at
the middle school, depending
on who puts the lockers togeth-
er. Underwood said the chil-
dren have to carry everything
with them, all day long, and
lockers would make it easier on
the students. He is seeking ad-
ditional quotes. Underwood of-
fered to give board members a
tour to show where he is sug-
gesting the lockers be placed.
Parent notification
Parent Amy Cieloha asked
the district to do a better job of
letting parents know before
early releases. Cieloha said
she had not known about the
early release on November 9
but was home when her child
showed up unexpectedly. Chil-
dren had been sent home with
notifications and the reader
board had the information, ac-
cording to Kingsley. Kingsley
thanked Cieloha for her com-
ments and said it would be tak-
en under advisement to im-
prove their notification.
The next board meeting will
be December 8, at 6:00 p.m. at
the 47J District office.
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