The INDEPENDENT, January 15, 2009
47J adds days to school schedule
The Vernonia School Board
spent time at their January 8
meeting discussing the poten-
tial budget shortfall that was
first brought up at their Decem-
ber meeting. Superintendent
Ken Cox told the board that his
recommendation, for now, is
that any shortfall be made up
from the capital reserve fund, if
necessary. He said that staff
pay-cuts are not needed and
that no final decision needs to
be made prior to June.
Cox told the board that sev-
en days have now been missed
due to weather. The board
agreed to use February 13,
May 22 and June 10-12 as
class days (June 12 would not
be a class day for seniors). If
more make-up time is needed
they can add five minutes to
each day and make up another
13 hours.
Columbia County Commis-
sioner Tony Hyde spoke to the
board about the possibility of
the school district hiring a fed-
eral lobbyist to help move the
school replacement project for-
ward. The board unanimously
approved up to $50,000 for this
expense, if needed.
The board accepted the res-
ignation of Maintenance Super-
visor John Lewis, with his last
day of work scheduled to be
March 31, 2009.
The next board meeting will
be February 12, starting at 6:00
p.m., at the District Office.
Apply now for ag scholarships
The Oregon Agricultural Ed-
ucation Foundation (OAEF) is
pleased to announce that appli-
cations are available for two
scholarship programs for the
upcoming 2009-2010 academ-
ic year.
Oregon
Farm
Bureau
Memorial Scholarships are
open to any Oregon high
school graduate preparing for
an agriculture or forestry-relat-
ed career. Students attending
institutions outside of Oregon
are also eligible. The goal of
the OFB Memorial Scholarship
program is to “Support stu-
dents that will have a positive
impact on production agricul-
ture and other agriculture-relat-
ed fields”. The deadline for ap-
plications is March 1, 2009.
The Willamette Valley Ag As-
sociation, in conjunction with
the OAEF, also offers scholar-
ships to college-level juniors,
seniors, and graduate students
seeking a degree in an agricul-
ture-related field at an Oregon
university. The deadline for ap-
plications is April 1, 2009.
Scholarship
applications
and additional information is
available on the OAEF page of
the Oregon Farm Bureau web-
site at http://www.oregonfb.org/
programs/oaef_mem_schol.
shtml .
For more information, Con-
tact Dana Eckfield, OAEF
Scholarship Coordinator, at
dana@oregonfb.org.
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.
We made it! 2008 is behind us and we have
been able to dodge Mother Nature’s mischief
twice so far this year already. I would like to give
a special thanks to those who helped us empty
our freezers when high water came on New
Year’s Day and then helped us again on the 3rd
to put it back, with a special thanks to Steve
Weller who helped coordinate it both times.
Last week was particularly stressful on all of
the District staff as we prepared for the worst. I
would like to thank the Oregon State Department
of Corrections and the inmates who came on
Wednesday and helped us load two U-Hauls, a
semi, a freezer truck, and sand bag the entire
middle school. Then they came back on Thurs-
day and helped put everything back. We of
course had our own staff working right along side
of them, who put in many extra hours, and I am
sure, had some sore muscles to show for it.
We are gathering data about these two events
to take to our elected officials and others to show
them how important and urgent it is to get new
Girls names gaining dramati-
cally in popularity this year in-
clude Payton at number 2 and
Sophia at number 6, neither of
which appeared in last year’s
top 10.
Here are St. John’s top baby
names of 2008:
Girls
Boys
1) Aidan
Emma
2) Nathaniel
Payton
3) Alexander
Hailey
4) Braden
Madison
5) Landon
Lilly
6) Luke
Sophia
7) Hunter
Alexis
8) Brody
Addison
9) Conner
Allison
10) David
Alyssa
The list also reveals that
some recently popular boy
schools. We are now
better prepared than we
were a week ago in
knowing how to protect
our schools and our
kids, but we cannot do this two or three times a
year forever!
On a more official note, the District is required
by law to report to the public on how well we are
meeting the standards set by the State of Ore-
gon in OAR 581-22. I shared with the School
Board last week the fact that we are indeed
meeting all of those standards, with one excep-
tion. That exception is our need for a document-
ed library program under the direction of a certi-
fied librarian. We have great library assistants
who help students and staff take advantage of
our current libraries, and our deficiency is prima-
rily a paperwork requirement.
We are documenting how we meet all of the
state standards and will have that information
available for the public to review by the time we
file the assurances with the state at the end of
February. Please feel free to stop by the district
office and visit about this or any other concerns
you might have. Our normal business hours are
from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
Standing in back is Roger Whitton (on left) who, on January 13, presented a check for $200
from the Vernonia American Legion to Jerry Butcher for the Vernonia Youth Basketball Asso-
ciation, whose members and coaches are seated.
Is your baby’s name on the top 10 list?
The St. John Medical Center
Top 10 Baby Names list fea-
tures some new names mixed
with some old favorites.
“For boys, the number one
name is Aidan, which also
topped our list last year,” said
Veronica Hartley of St. John’s
Labor & Delivery Department in
Longview, Washington. “The
popularity of Aidan came on
rapidly, as it didn’t even make
our top 10 list three years ago!
Some people choose to spell it
Aidan, while others prefer
Aiden.”
Research
reveals
that
Emma has reclaimed the top
spot on the list of favorite girl
names. Emma was temporarily
dethroned last year by Hailey,
but Emma is riding high again.
Page 11
names seem to be falling out of
favor. Three years ago the top
boy name was Austin, but
Austin fell to fourth in 2007 and
off the list completely in 2008.
The same thing happened to
2006’s number two Samuel
and number three Michael!
Girls names sinking in popu-
larity include 2006’s number
two Samantha and number
three Emily, neither of which
appears in this year’s Top 10.
RS
OU
W
N E
H
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