Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home School District Board of Directors is planning to speak out against the plan supported by the Oregon School Activities Association Classification and District Committee’s for athletic classifications and leagues for 2018-22.
The School Board directed Supt. Tom Yahraes Monday to draft a letter in opposition to that plan and in support of a six-classification system.
Sweet Home High School Athletic Director Steve Brown told the board Monday during its regular meeting that the most recent proposal for reclassification would create a five-classification system.
Sweet Home would be in the same league as Central, 895 students; Corvallis, 1,117; Crescent Valley, 937; Lebanon, 1,052; South Albany, 1,158, Sweet Home, 639; and Newport, 550, Brown said, noting that South Albany is projected to grow.
“Athletic directors and administrators have great concerns with the health and physical welfare of all participants and the competitive balance or equality of schools that are alike,” Brown said. “Today, Tom (Yahraes, superintendent), Ralph (Brown, principal) and I stood in solidarity with Stayton, Cascade, Newport, Klamath Union, Cottage Grove, Marshfield and many other 4A administrators as Cottage Grove’s superintendent relayed our concerns of competitive balance and equality to the Classification and Districting Committee in Wilsonville.”
Brown compared Sweet Home to Crescent Valley, he told the board. “Besides the difference in size, they look nothing like us. You look at their student population and everything. Our free and reduced lunch is like 55 percent. Theirs is well below ours. As far as if you look at our overall IEPS (individualized education plans), we’re higher than them. They have high talented and gifted numbers.
“The size is only one aspect. What about the communities? We look more like Junction City and Sutherlin than we do Albany schools or Albany schools, and that’s across the board in 4A. They just want that competitive balance.”
The plan did weight student populations based on free and reduced lunches, but it started with a number that included the High School’s Access College Today students, who deferred receiving their diploma while the district paid tuition for them to attend Linn-Benton Community College, about 70 students. They remained officially enrolled at SHHS last year.
As a result, the committee’s calculation started with a high school enrollment of 740 – compared to an actual enrollment of 673 as of Monday. The committee subtracted 101 from the first number based on eligibility for free and reduced lunch for an weighted enrollment of 639.
Brown compared members of the proposed league in football.
“The majority of those schools except for Newport have well over 100 people in their program,” he said. Sweet Home and Newport have more like 70 in their programs.
Safety is a key concern, said Ralph Brown. The larger schools will field more seniors, while the smaller schools field more younger athletes, including freshmen.
By the third and fourth quarter, those athletes will be tired, Steve Brown said, while the larger opponent can substitute more fresh players.
Those conditions may lead to more injuries, Ralph Brown said.
“We want as many as possible to participate in athletics and after-school activities,” Yahraes said. “I’m worried our kids will be disillusioned” as they face schools double their school’s size.
“It’s not fun getting beat all the time,” Ralph Brown said.
“We want our kids to compete fairly with other (similar) schools,” Yahraes said, but the plan supported by the committee “hurts our kids.”
Brown provided information to the board should it choose to submit a letter to the Classification and Districting Committee, which will continue to meet during the school year and then make a final recommendation to the Oregon Student Activities Association in October.
The OSAA Executive Board will make a decision in October, Steve Brown said, and the new system would take effect in the 2018-19 school year.
The board will review and decide whether to approve the letter at its regular meeting on May 8.
Present at the meeting were Jason Van Eck, Jenny Daniels, Chanz Keeney, Jason Redick, Mike Reynolds, Angela Clegg, Carol Babcock and Debra Brown. Mike E. Adams was absent. Keeney arrived late. Van Eck left early.
In other business, the board:
n Approved a calendar for 2017-18 following an executive session about bargaining with teachers.
The calendar will add 25 more instructional days than this year, from 149 days to 174 days, Yahraes said. “It increases instructional days, and it increases instructional hours.”
The total number of work days increases from 178 to 192.
It will add more than 50 hours per year for elementary students, more than 47 for junior high students and more than 42 hours for high school students.
“You’ll also see there are considerably less four-day weeks,” Yahraes said. “We have more five-day weeks.”
That addresses the concerns the board has had about regression, where student progress slides backward over three- and sometimes four-day weekends, Yahraes said. It helps students nutritionally, ensuring they eat well at least one more day a week.
“This calendar is very representative of 2009-2010,” Yahraes said. The transition committee looked at calendars from 2000 to 2010. It didn’t look at later calendars because they included furlough days.
The calendar also is representative of regional calendars in terms of the number of instructional days, he said.
“Instructional days will be modestly shorter,” Yahraes said. “We’ve incorporated professional development.”
That will be made available through regular early release days on Wednesdays, Yahraes said. On those days, students will be released roughly 15 minutes earlier than normal, but bell times have not been set yet.
Schol will begin Sept. 5, immediately following Labor Day. School will end for Christmas break on Dec. 22 and begin again on Jan. 8. Spring break is from March 26 to March 30, and the school year will end on June 13.
The district is currently bargaining with the teachers’ union.
“Things in bargaining can influence the calendar,” Yahraes said. “If that happens, we would present the calendar to the board for its consideration again.”
Voting to approve it were Daniels, Keeney, Redick, Reynolds, Clegg, Babcock and Brown. Adams was absent, and Van Eck had to leave early.
n Approved a contract with Environmental Controls to upgrade heating system controls at Foster, Oak Heights, Hawthorne, Holley and the Central Office. The new controls would be the same as those used at SHHS and the newer wing of eight classrooms at Hawthorne.
The total cost is $145,669.
The Energy Trust will pay $31,000, and the district is working with the Oregon Department of Energy for additional support.
Business Manager Kevin Strong said the project could be covered by the proposed bond measure set for the May 16 election if approved. If not approved, the district could use General Fund or Long-Term Maintenance Fund dollars.
It will decrease temperature variability, Srong said. It’s difficult to troubleshoot problems with the current systems, and the new one is more energy efficient.
“Because of the energy savings it will generate, there’s a fairly short payback on it,” Strong said. That’s why the Energy Trust and Department of Energy are willing to help pay for it.
The control upgrades are already among items listed in the proposed bond, Board member Jenny Daniels said. “I’m afraid people will think we’re spending money for something we’ve already got. Not saying I don’t agree that it needs done.”
The Energy Trust funding is likely to be lower or eliminated next year, so the district needs to commit to doing the project this summer, Strong said. “The hope is that what we’re trying to do is get as much outside funding as possible.”
The Energy Trust is a statewide program paid for through a surcharge on power bills. The funds are used to pay for energy efficiency projects.
The board voted 6-1 to approve the contract. Voting yes were Van Eck, Redick, Reynolds, Clegg, Babcock and Debra Brown. Daniels voted no. Keeney had not arrived yet.
n Voted 7-0 to appoint Don Hopkins to the Budget Committee; to accept the donation of a 2007 Nissan Versa from Dave and Chris Hiassen; accepted the resignation of Oak Heights kindergarten teacher Stefanie Steffensen; accpted the retirement and a post-retirement agreement for the 2016-17 school year for Susan Walling, second and third grade at Foster; and accepted the resignation of Kwasi Diehl, special education teacher at Sweet Home Junior High. Voting to approve were Van Eck, Daniels, Redick, Reynolds, Clegg, Babcock and Brown. Keeney had not arrived yet.
Four openings remain on the Budget Committee for Liberty, Foster, Cascadia and Sweet Home. For more information about serving on the committee, call the superintendent’s office at (541) 367-7126.
n Following a second reading, approved multiple policy revisions regarding animals in district facilities, homeless students, head lice, admissions, nutrition, staff reimbursements, academic integrity and staff development. Voting to approve were Van Eck, Daniels, Redick, Reynolds, Clegg, Babcock and Brown. Keeney had not arrived yet.