The INDEPENDENT, June 5, 2008
Miller named OCEA Educator of the Year
Aaron Miller, far left, holds his Oregon Community Education
Association (OCEA) award. Also pictured are the other state
award recipients. Photo courtesy of OCEA.
Aaron Miller, principal of Ver-
nonia School District’s Mist
School and Washington Grade
School, was named Communi-
ty Educator of the Year by the
Oregon Community Education
Association. The annual award
goes to an individual involved
with a community school, who
has made a significant contri-
bution to the success of stu-
dents.
Miller was nominated by the
Commission on Children and
Families for his work in the de-
velopment and management of
a successful after-school pro-
gram for Vernonia students. He
is the principal of Mist Elemen-
tary and Washington Grade
Schools.
The program was started in
1998 by the Commission on
Children and Families to assist
in decreasing juvenile crime in
Vernonia.
Younger
and
younger children were commit-
ting crimes during after school
hours.
In 2005, it became neces-
sary to find a new contractor for
Vernonia’s after-school pro-
gram. Miller completed a pro-
posal to the Commission on
Children and Families request-
ing funds for after-school and
summer programs. His propos-
al was successful and the Ver-
nonia School District was
awarded the funds. It remains
in place to date.
The
program
includes
homework
clubs,
twilight
school and summer school
Ballpark Celebration on June 14
A special Take Me Out to the
Ballpark celebration will be
held at Spencer Park on June
14 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Events will include a player
and coach appreciation cere-
mony at 10:00 a.m., Vernonia
Slugfest ‘08 with 10 pitches
from a pitching machine for
$1.00, Throwing Heat (test your
throwing speed) with three
balls for $1.00, a baseball
BBQ, donation car wash, pop
can drive, Red Cross blood
drive and bike safety aware-
ness information.
Join in a good time and help
raise money for kids and field
maintenance.
Mariolino’s Save
Two Dollars Off
Large Combo Pizza
With this Coupon!
Coupon expires 6-19-08
721 Madison Ave.,Vernonia • 503-429-5018
classes. It serves an average of
90 elementary through high
school students during the
school year, and about 90 stu-
dents in the summer.
One of the program’s goals
is to increase school success
as shown by an improvement in
grades. Under Miller’s manage-
ment, the academic program
has reached or exceeded this
goal. When interviewed, all stu-
dents in the High School com-
ponent stated without the pro-
gram their grades would be
lower and/or they would not be
graduating.
When the December, 2007,
flood resulted in students being
displaced, Miller immediately
changed the hours and location
of the program so it could be
continue to provide these serv-
ices to the students.
Another part of the program
is summer swimming lessons.
About 35 students, ages 5 - 13,
attend classes at Cedar Ridge
Summer Camp. The swimming
program’s goal is to increase
child safety. It has consistently
exceeded its goal, showing 50
percent of the youth in the pro-
gram successfully complete the
course as shown by course in-
structors.
As research shows, after-
school programs decrease ju-
venile crime and can increase
school success. Both are re-
sults of the Vernonia After
School program under Miller’s
management. He has engaged
parents and community mem-
bers in supporting the program
and the District. Through his
work, the safety and wellbeing
of the children and youth in
Vernonia and surrounding ar-
eas has improved.
Page 11
Chalk Talk
Chalk Talk is a monthly column of information
about Vernonia schools. It is written by vari-
ous staff members. This column was written
by Superintendent Ken Cox, PhD.
We are nearing the end and I think both students and staff are
ready for some summer weather and a chance to take a break
from a very difficult year. The challenges we have faced as a dis-
trict and as a community have been difficult both physically and
emotionally. We all need to take some time to recharge our bat-
teries, so to speak.
As the school year winds down it is important for us as a dis-
trict and particularly as administration to look ahead and begin
preparations to get next year off to a good start. Planning for ef-
fective staff development activities throughout the year is vital for
us as educators to be most effective. We need ongoing profes-
sional support so that we too can continue to learn and grow as
we work with your children.
Earlier this year, I announced at a board meeting that we would
change our early release time on Friday afternoons to a late start
on Wednesdays. This had been done in other districts, but was
met with little enthusiasm and I realized that I had made that de-
cision in a vacuum. Over the past few months I have visited with
our administration and they have visited with staff and after gath-
ering their input we are going to try a pilot program next year. We
will move our early release staff development days from Friday to
Wednesday afternoons in order to strengthen the learning oppor-
tunities for our staff.
This will require some schedule changes for you as parents,
which is why we are sharing this information now and look to you
for input now and throughout the pilot next year. We have also dis-
cussed the need to adjust the kindergarten schedule to coincide
with early release days so kindergarten students will attend on
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I have heard that
many of our kindergartners are very tired after four straight days
of attending school and this will help address that concern.
As always please feel free to email me or stop by and visit. I
have posted some updated information concerning where we are
headed with the high school on our website and give an update in
my next article.
Don’t Forget ~
Father’s Day is June 15.
Free Floral Delivery
in the Vernonia area
See floral examples on our website
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