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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2009)
The INDEPENDENT, June 18, 2009 Page 11 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 Vernonia Parks Committee recently purchased new play- ground equipment for Hawkins Park. On June 16, Public Works employees, Carl Pense and Jim Gido, were installing the new equipment. It should be ready for the kids by now. VHS scholarships announced The following 2009 Vernonia High School graduates re- ceived these scholarships: Elks Lodge, Forest Grove ($250); Samantha Lee. Gene Weller Memorial ($500); Taylor Smith. Hancock Forest Manage- ment ($500); Tara Ostrander. Holce Logging ($1000); Tay- lor Smith, Rebekah Young. ($1500); Nicholas Young, Samantha Lee, Megan Hieron- imus. ($2000); Tricia Lev- enseller. ($2500, Class of 2006); Kristin Cota. Kaiser Permanente ($2000); See Scholarships, page 22 47J approves 2009-2009 budget From page 1 Superintendent Dr. Ken Cox will take a salary freeze through January. The board unanimously ap- proved the budget as present- ed. In sports, Golf and Equestri- an were removed from the budget and will be “club” sports next year, not funded by the district, though Cross Country was retained. On the other hand, a new Life Skills special education teacher will be added, using some special funds available. BOORA gave a report on the new schools project, saying that preliminary findings indi- cate the need for 150,732 square feet of space for up to 750 students, with expansion possible for up to 1,000 stu- dents. The direction is for one two-story building with sepa- rate entrances on each side of administrative offices, one for the K-5 students and one for 6- 12 students. The aim is for a building that will last, at least, 100 years. Preliminary cost es- timates given were $49.36 to $51.91 million. That estimate includes buildings, site im- provements, utilities, roads, 30 percent extra for contingency, furnishings, fees, and land ac- quisition. The district is tentatively planning to ask voters to pass a $13 million bond in November. If the bond passes and the cost of the new schools comes out to $50 million, that would mean the cost to the citizens would amount to 26 percent of the to- tal cost of new schools placed out of flood’s way. [See related article on the bond measure on page 15 for more information.] BOORA will next hold a Town Hall meeting at the VMS cafeteria at 7:00 p.m. on Thurs- day, June 25, to provide more details and receive community input. In other business, the board: • Approved the 2009-2010 calendar with 170 student class days; • approved the second read- ing of 10 policies; • heard from Athletic Director Gordon Jarman that dead week (when no practices, train- ing, open gym or other athletic activity may take place) will be August 1-8, and that regular fall sports practice will start August 24. The next board meeting will be held July 9, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the District office. Another year is behind us. Now that school is out, summer is officially here. Students are glad to be home, and not have to come to school every day. We saw another class graduate from VHS and some good look- ing eighth grade students became freshman. Hopefully, all of our students, and by extension their parents, felt a sense of accomplishment in making it through another year and progressing one more step along their educational journey through life. Teachers have sorted out their rooms and are beginning their individual summer routines. Some of them will be going back to school, oth- ers taking up a part time job to supplement their income, all of them getting a well-deserved break from the daily challenge of finding effective ways to share their knowledge with anywhere from 20 to 80, or more, students each day. It is my hope that, if you bump into any of them over the summer, you thank them for the work they do with our children. Two of our teachers have retired and will no longer be in the classroom every day. Nayan Fleenor came to the district in 1977, she has spent 32 years of her life influencing the lives of our elementary chil- dren. I am sure that many of you reading this had her as a teacher. If you figure an aver- age of 25 students per year, that is 800 lives she has influenced over the years. We wish her well in her retirement. The other teacher leaving our ranks this year is Cathy Ward. Once again, I am sure that near- ly every person reading this will have been influ- enced by her in some way over the years. Her ability to do pretty much anything was only ex- ceeded by her desire to teach whatever she knew to her students. She has had a great deal of influence in the education of our middle school age students for nearly 20 years. She spoke at the VHS graduation at the request of the stu- dents, all of whom had her as a teacher at least once in their educational career. She will be missed. On behalf of the school board, administration, and other staff members of the Vernonia School District I would like to thank these two teachers who have dedicated so much of their lives to en- riching the lives of our children. Thank you Nayan and Cathy! You have served the district and this community well.