Page 12
The INDEPENDENT, May 2, 2012
VMS Honor Roll announced
Chalk Talk
Chalk Talk is a column of information
about Vernonia schools. This column
was provided by Superintendent Dr.
Ken Cox.
Lockers for the new School! You recently learned that the in-
stallation of lockers for the new school had been postponed due
to funding. However, thanks to the generosity of a local donor, the
bases for the gym lockers will be built, and both the gym lockers
and hall lockers will be installed before June 8. We live in a won-
derful, giving community! Thank you Vernonia!
On a more sobering note it is May already, the month of budg-
ets for public agencies. We have been working to sort out our
funding from the state and how we can balance the District budg-
et. Unfortunately, once again, our revenue is not enough to cov-
er our projected expenses. Our shortfall is primarily the result of
a slowly decreasing student count, increased costs in providing
needed Special Education staffing and additional routes that
have increased transportation costs.
The board recently approved an amendment to our contract
with Curl Student Bus Services that will freeze much of our trans-
portation costs for the next three years. However, this means that
we still need to budget for the increases in transportation that we
experienced this year. Our first Budget Committee meeting will
be part of our regularly scheduled Board Meeting at 6:00 p.m., on
May 10th. The public is welcome. We do have a vacancy for that
committee. If you are interested please contact the District Office.
In preparation for our move to the new school this summer we
are going to have a surplus sale. We have collected a lot of ex-
tra furniture and equipment that we no longer need, and are look-
ing to eliminate as much as we can before we move. The Board
has declared a great deal of surplus and we will have a list avail-
able of what will be for sale at the District office beginning Mon-
day, May 7th. The equipment will be available for preview and
sale the evening of Tuesday, May 22nd. More information to fol-
low.
Come to An Evening with Oscar
An Evening With Oscar will
be presented, by the Vernonia
High School Band, on Satur-
day, May 5, at the high school
gymnasium. Doors open at
6:30 p.m. and the event begins
at 7:00 p.m. Join them on the
red carpet.
Admission: Advanced tick-
ets, $8 Adults, $5 seniors and
students. Tickets available at
True Value Hardware and the
district office. Price at the door,
$10 Adults, $7 seniors and stu-
dents. Dessert will be provided
during intermission.
Pet of the Month
Find the pet that’s right for you at the Columbia Humane Society
2084 Oregon Street, St. Helens. Phone 503-397-4353
Open Mon - Fri 1 pm to 5 pm & Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm
Tabitha a short-haired brown
tabby, can be a bit shy at first, but
warms up fast and is ready for
some attention. Tabitha was found
as a pregnant mom, nesting under
a house. Her rescuer was unable
to keep her and brought her to
CHS. Tabitha is a cute, well-man-
nered and friendly cat. She is cur-
rently in foster care. She is
spayed, up-to-date with routine
shots and house trained.
The Columbia Humane Society is a No-Kill non-profit shelter
dedicated to helping friends find each other since 1985.
This Month’s Pet is Sponsored by:
THE
INDEPENDENT News & Information you can use
The following students were
named to the Vernonia Middle
School academic Honor Roll
for the 2011-12 3rd quarter.
Grade Point Averages (GPA)
are on a scale of 1-4, with 4
equaling a perfect score.
Principal’s Honors, 4.00 –
Annika Johnson, Jacob Patton,
Jocie Ranay-Roberts, Megan
Rice, and Chase Tolonen.
High Honors, 3.50-3.99 –
Tristan Adams, Emily Berger-
son, Brittney Brandt, Lily Bu-
chanan, Jacob Butcher, Brad-
ley Ely, Kaitlyn Eyrrick, Jessika
Goodman, Storm Henson, Ash-
ley Jackson, Bryanna Larson,
Cheyanna March, Ariel Masog,
Sheyanne Pedersen, Jacob
Perry, Paige Smith, Ian Torres-
Petersen, Jarrett White, Ma-
haila Wilhelm, Payton Wolf,
and Madison Zavales.
Honors, 3.25-3.49 – Eliz-
abath Aeh, Kara Christie, Hay-
den Cieloha, Brandon Clap-
shaw, Megan Ely, Hannah
Fleck, Breanna Gardner, Nic-
hole Gardner, Amanda Jen-
nings, Brett Jones, Jackhenry
Masog, Jared Medearis, Bren-
dyn Mullikin, William Scheuer-
man, Meagan Schirmeister,
Jamie Scott, Jarod Shaw, Sara
Smith, Autumn Sorenson, and
Clay Sullivan.
Honorable Mention, 3.00-
3.24 – Nicholas Bennett,
Emma Campos, Grace Cole-
man, Daniel Fletcher, Morgan
Harral, Gabriel Hart-Roberts,
Hera Hopkins, Mariah Miller,
Coral Pearl, and Cassidy Whit-
ton.
4-H Summer Camp dates decided
The 4-H Camp committee is
busy working on making the
2012 camp another great expe-
rience for those who attend.
The committee has selected
June 17-20, 2012, for the annu-
al 4-H Summer Camp, held at
Camp Kiwanilong on the North
Coast.
Please mark your calendars
and begin now to prepare your
fourth through seventh graders
for the 2012 4-H Summer
Camp. Registration forms will
be distributed through the
schools as in years past. Reg-
istration forms are due by June
1, 2012 with the $85.00 regis-
tration fee.
Oregon State University Ex-
tension Service offers educa-
tional programs, activities, and
materials.
New Vernonia school
fundraising continues
From page 1
won’t be ready to go for the
2012/2013 school year. Shop
classes will be held in the new
school building, but will be lim-
ited to drafting, building green-
houses and other small proj-
ects. The district is looking for
ways to utilize an existing barn
on the new school site to hold
shop classes in the future. A
concrete floor will need to be
installed before it can be used
for storage and shop equip-
ment.
The fundraising effort, over-
all, still needs to come up with
about $3 million dollars by the
end of 2013. $37 million has al-
ready by raised or pledged, in-
cluding the $13 million voter
approved bond measure. The
Metropolitan Group has over
$50 million in possible opportu-
nities identified and continues
to seek donations to fill the gap
and reach the final finish line.
The district took out a Quality
Schools Construction Bond
loan for $3.4 million two years
ago, to continue construction.
That loan is for 17 years at 1/2
percent interest and has pay-
ments of $200,000 per year.
The district has already made
those payments for two years,
using funds from the Vernonia
Community Foundation.
Though books, chairs, and
other items from the old
schools will be moved into the
new school starting in June, the
district does not expect to get
the final occupancy permit until
about August 1. There will be a
four week period while the sys-
tems are being “fumed” (turned
on to clear out the new system)
when no one will be allowed in
most of the building. The gym-
nasiums and wrestling rooms,
however, are on a regular
HVAC system, so work could
continue in those areas.
It’s Kindergarten
Round-up time
Washington Grade School’s
(WGS) Kindergarten Round-up
2012 will be held Friday, May
18. Please call the WGS office
at 503-429-7941 to set up an
appointment.
Immunization records and
birth certificates will be re-
quired for pre-registration. Chil-
dren must be five-years-old on
or before September 1, 2012.
Forest
Grove
HS gives money
Forest Grove High School
students
have
donated
$1,809.40 to Vernonia’s new
school project. The students
raised the money by putting on
a talent show in April.
The talented students in the
show included a comic, pi-
anists, a dance team, a belly
dancer, a singer/guitarist, a
dance duo, and a guitar, fiddle,
and banjo trio.
“Guys of VHS”
calendars on sale
Vernonia High School lead-
ership class has published a
calendar entitled “Guys of
VHS”. They calendars are $10
each, and are available at both
the high school office and the
Made In Vernonia store, 805
Bridge Street.
Wauna annual
meeting held
From page 4
Serra and Milton Parham, in
addition to informing the mem-
bership that he had chosen to
retire from the board after serv-
ing three years.
Results from the annual
election by the membership in-
cluded the reelection of incum-
bents Erlene Darby, Clatskanie
(1-year term) and Debbie Huff-
man, Astoria (3-year term), plus
the election of Julie Gassner,
Astoria (3-year term), Bill De-
Jager, Clatskanie (2-year
term), and Philip Lager, Warren
(3-year term) to the board. At a
later meeting of the Board of
Directors, George Dunkel,
Scappoose, was selected
Chair, Erlene Darby, 1st Vice
Chair, Lester Kahr, 2nd Vice
Chair, Don McDaniel, Finance
Officer, and Debbie Huffman,
Secretary. Additional members
of the Board of Directors in-
clude Paul Lewicki, Astoria.