The INDEPENDENT, November 20, 2008 47J Board hears VHS gym is open At the 47J School District Board meeting on November 13, Superintendent Ken Cox announced that the Vernonia High School gymnasium is now open. The first home basketball games will be December 3, with Junior Varsity playing at 5:00 p.m. and Varsity at 7:00 p.m. This is the same evening as the next Flood Town Hall, to be held in the Middle School cafeteria after a spaghetti feed starting at 5:00 p.m. for the community. The board approved new policies, approved attendance at a conference in Seattle for the high school band teacher, and approved the establish- ment of the Vernonia Education Foundation. The foundation is being set up so the district can accept donations from organi- zations that cannot donate to schools directly. District policies are now on- line at http://policy.osba.org/ vernonia/. Users need to be aware there may be a delay be- tween the time of approval of changes to policies and the posting of the changes. In other business, the board: • heard that there were 13 more students in October than in September, • heard that the district is working with Northwest Re- gional Education Service Dis- trict to set up a secure payment account so parents and staff can pay online for school lunches. The next Board Meeting will be December 4, at the district office, starting at 6:00 p.m. VHS 1st Quarter 08-09 Honor Roll The following students were named to the Vernonia High School academic Honor Roll for the 2008-09 first quarter. Grade Point Averages (GPA) are on a scale of 1-4, with 4 equaling a perfect score. Principal’s Honors, 4.00 – Kaytee Burghard, Joshua Butcher, Crystal-Ann Carreon, Laura Hein, Samantha Lee, Tri- cia Levenseller, Jackson Miller, Souvanny Miller, Chelsea Pat- ton, Sicily Scott, Kelly Smith, Natalie Wallace, Nicholas Young. High Honors, 3.50-3.99 – Janda Barber, Joseph Benes, Bonnie Birkmaier, Jacob Bring- W N E H man, Kyle Brixey, Kelsey Brown, Rachel Brown, Tim Brown, Eric Budge, Kaitlyn Carr, Gillian Cheney, Charles Colburn, Christopher Dass, Darly DeWitt, Jacob Dixon, Jed Douglas, Sarah Dupree, Cody Eaton, Katie Ellington, Robin Elliott, Joey Fergusson, Brandy Fosdick, Danyell Freeman, Brandon Gilbertson, Melissa Hermet, Quinlan Johansen, Calie Johnson, Keli Krieger, Alex Lende, Nicole Mitchell, Gia The Nguyen, Tara Ostran- der, Ashley Paleck, Tasia Pond, Tim Prpich, Justin Rainbolt, Amy Rethwill, Gavin Roberts, Please see page 21 RS OU Chalk Talk Chalk Talk is a monthly column of information about Vernonia schools. It is written by various staff mem- bers. This column was provided by Superintendent Dr. Ken Cox. The safety of our children is one of the pri- mary concerns we have as a district. Each year we have safety inspections of our playground equipment and buildings. In addition, our build- ing Safety Committees’ meet monthly to review all accidents in their building and address safety concerns. I also meet quarterly with the District Safety Committee to address items identified at the building level. We take the safety of your children very seriously! One concern that has been expressed to me recently, and on more than one occasion, is chil- dren walking to school in dark clothing. This can be very dangerous since the majority of our roads do not have sidewalks or even a decent shoulder on which to walk. So please check your children’s clothes and have them wear some- thing bright. To assist you in this, we are looking into order- ing some reflective arm bands, which we hope to have available at a minimal cost in the near fu- ture. Remember, it is going to continue to get darker and darker for the next few weeks, so please think of your children’s safety as they get dressed in the morning. As the rainy season begins, we all watch the level of the river and streams next to our homes. I want to assure you that we are also paying at- tention to the water level and weather forecasts as a district. I believe that we have an effective early warn- i n g sys- tem in place, thanks to the dili- gence of Curl School Bus Service employees, so we would not have students in school during a flood. However, I believe in the Boy Scout motto ‘Be Prepared’, so here are some of the things we are doing ‘just in case:’ • We will be working with local authorities to coordinate weather updates and road conditions throughout the winter. • We have contracted with Alert Now, a phone dialing service that will enable us to contact all parents in case of an emergency. We will keep you informed as to when this becomes available. • We are in the process of fine-tuning an evac- uation plan in case we have another incident like last year. To assist us in this, we will be asking parents to respond to a survey confirming your instructions on what you would have us do in an emergency where we had to evacuate our schools and you were not at home. We are always on the lookout for ways to im- prove student safety. If you have any ideas and suggestions that we might consider please con- tact your building principal, the district office, or me directly at ken.cox@ vernonia.k12.or.us. Pictures with Santa Saturday, December 6th. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Vernonia Head Start Center 500 California Avenue Come tell Santa what you want this holiday season! Quality Photo 4 X 6 Print with decorative photo frame card! $5.00 each or 4 for $15.00 Wednesdays - Fridays 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. and some Saturdays 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. Also open by appointment, call Camrin @ 971.998.2223 725 Madison Ave. Vernonia, OR Page 11 H OLIDAY S WEETS , H OT C OCOA , & A PPLE C IDER FOR S ALE