Benny Westcott
Sweet Home School District’s 2021-22 Proposed Budget proposes using the Student Investment Account (SIA), funded by the state, to eliminate pay-to-play fees for sports and other extracurricular activities so every student can participate without fees being a barrier.
The budget also proposes using the SIA for funding for additional staff to help reduce class sizes, funding for mental health services, funding for behavior support, funding for special education staffing, and, finally, funding for two elementary music teaching positions.
For the two elementary music teaching positions, Supt. Tom Yahraes wrote in his 2021-22 budget message that “we will wait to fill these positions until we have a better idea of what type of instruction can be offered while following COVID-19 safety precautions.”
At the Sweet Home School District’s May 10 board meeting, Yahraes reported that student enrollment in the district was 2,171 as of May 3, a figure that is virtually identical to the 2,173 students that were enrolled a month prior.
He noted that the district must follow quarantine duration updates instituted by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) on April 29. On that date, OHA updated the investigative guidelines and the quarantine guidelines to make 14 day quarantine mandatory (shorter quarantine is not permissible).
Yahraes said “just north of 50 students have been quarantined, and there have been under a dozen positive cases. Most of our students are coming back and we’ve had no new cases since last week.”
Additionally, Yahraes told the board that elementary students are back five days a week at a full schedule, while junior high and high school students are also in school five days a week, for slightly less than full days.
“We haven’t had any problems with our students coming to school and wearing their masks. It’s just the new normal and they’re used to it,” said Hawthorne Elementary Principal Barbi Riggs. “We praise them for keeping their masks on, and we offer them mask breaks when appropriate.”
Holley Elementary School Principal Josh Dargis said “It’s been fantastic to be back with kids. So many of the educators at my school, the reason they got into education is to be around kids. So having them around even though their smiling faces are behind masks is why we do it.”
At Holley students stand on a dot 6 feet away from their peers during recess and eat snacks.
“Kiwi has been very popular this year,” said Dargis.
“They’re outside enjoying a snack, and then they get to run over and have recess,” he said.
Students at the Junior High have been using the brand new gym for PE class.
“Students are in there,” said Principal Terry Martin. “But not as much as you might expect, because every day when the sun is shining, they’re going outside for PE.”
The high school is having “May Month” instead of the typical “May Week,” in order to keep kids spread out, said Principal Ralph Brown. The fun athletic competitions will be held on Fridays over several weeks this month.
In his budget update, Business Manager Kevin Strong said that year-to-date spending through the end of April is just over 435,000 less than the same time period last year.
He said that the primary reasons for the decrease in spending was substantially less spending on substitute teacher expenses and savings in “other labor areas this year.”
“Financially, we are positioned well to end the year,” he said.
Rachel Stucky gave a presentation on summer school structure for the upcoming months, as well as goals for the summer program.
She said that the summer programming will focus on emotional reengagement between staff and students and among the students themselves.
She said that summer school will be open to all students, but it’s also going to be first come first serve.
“We have some very tired, hardworking staff, and believe it or not, not all of them wanted to sign up to teach summer school and summer programming,” she said with a hint of a laugh in her voice.
“Depending on how many staff members we are able to employ this summer, we have to cap how many students can attend summer school, but we’re not identifying a specific subgroup of students that need to go to summer school,” she said.
She said that every school building in the district has been able to commit to at least 20 days of summer programming.
“We know this is going to set up our students for success in the fall, as well as our staff,” she said.
Summer school programming offerings start July 19 and run through August.
In other action, the board:
– Approved the temporary hire of Robbie Ellis, science teacher at the Junior High, effective April 26, 2021.
– Approved the hire of Leslie Curran, Title 1 teacher at Foster Elementary for the 2021-2022 school year.
– Accepted the resignation of Linda Luu, Grade 3 teacher at Foster Elementary effective June 30, 2021.
-Accepted the resignation of Skyler Bascom, counselor at the Junior High School effective June 30, 2021.
-Accepted the full-time retirement of Jim Kistner, re-engagement specialist at the High School, effective June 18, 2021.
-Approved a leave of absence for Theo White, special education teacher at the High School for the 2021-22 school year.
-Approved the hire of Brittany Brownell, Grade 2 teacher at Foster Elementary for the 2021-22 school year.
-Accepted the resignation of Dustin Nichol, tech education teacher and head football coach at the Sweet Home High School, effective June 18, 2021.
In response to a question from a board member about Nichol’s retirement, Yahraes said, “the high school’s actively looking for a football coach, and they have a committee together to seek out the best coach we can get for our high school.”
Asked about his retirement earlier in the month, Nichol told a reporter that he didn’t want to comment on it.