Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The District 55 School Board has accepted the $25,000 promised to it by Sweet Home Economic Development Group in exchange for removal of the tennis courts at the high school.
Community donations have been key to getting the tennis courts out, Supt. Larry Horton said at the board’s March 10 meeting. The board officially approved the deal at that meeting.
Initially, district officials thought the removal of the courts would leave a 3-inch hole, Horton said, and the district would fill it with topsoil. However, the removal of the gravel that lay below the courts left a 12- to 16-inch hole to be filled.
Cascade Timber Consulting donated 180 cubic yards of topsoil, and Eric Sheets, who is building the Canyon Creek Subdivision at the south end of 10th Avenue, donated 725 yards, Horton said. CTC handled the transportation of the dirt.
That was added to the 400 yards that Jim Cota had already donated to the project, which was the amount district officials thought it needed, Horton said. When the weather clears, the district will top dress the area with the 400 yards, install sprinklers and seed the area.
The city of Sweet Home donated a grader and labor time as well, Horton said.
“It really has been a community effort to try to get the topsoil in there.”
At a price of $26 per cubic yard, he said, the project would have cost the district $33,800, not counting labor and other costs. The district is saving the gravel removed from the pit to be used for new courts, he said.
The agreement between the district and SHEDG allows the district to receive up to $75,000 more if it can raise matching funds, but it does not allow material and labor donations to count toward that match.
District officials want SHEDG to count the soil donations as part of that match.
Horton said he hopes SHEDG will reconsider that requirement based on the community effort and donated materials so far. Removing the courts would have cost probably $40,000 if the district had to pay for it all, he said.
“We’re really hoping SHEDG will take another look at the contract,” he said. “We have definitely had a lot of community support. We couldn’t have afforded it. It would’ve been a hole come Jamboree time.”
The project will benefit both the district and the community, Horton said. “I know the soccer players and the football players are looking forward to using that space.”
In the long run, once new tennis courts are built, the community will benefit as well, Horton said.
Last week, he received the paperwork to apply for a $50,000 grant to help build new courts, he said, and the district will return that application soon.
The front runner for the location of the new tennis courts is between the bus garage and the baseball field on 18th Avenue, Horton said. That was the number one pick of the committee that looked at what to do with the tennis courts after SHEDG made its offer.
The SHEDG funds have been placed in the district’s long-term maintenance fund to be used toward the tennis court removal, new courts and the repair and replacement project on the Husky Field grandstands.
District staff is working on design documents for the grandstand landing, Horton said. The idea is to make the landing in concrete, with storage bays beneath it on the track side for equipment storage. After designing it, the district will get quotes to build it and replace the wood landing, which is suffering from dry rot.
In other business, the board:
– Accepted the resignations of Melissa Severns, elementary teacher, Oak Heights; Brad Sperry, assistant principal, Sweet Home High School; Marie Spackman, family and consumers, Sweet Home High School; and Sylvia Anderson, Title I coordinator.
– Declared a “Powermatic 20” planer surplus.
– Adopted the 2008-09 calendar. School will start on Sept. 2. Christmas Break starts Dec. 22, and school resumes on Jan. 5. Spring Break runs from March 23 to March 27, and school ends on June 11.
– Held the second reading on a variety of policy revisions, ranging from child identification procedures and discipline of disabled students to individualized education programs and private schools.
– Appointed members of a strategic planning committee, including board members Jeff Lynn, Jason Redick, Diane Gerson and Ken Roberts along with Sheree Aiello, Mike Anderson, Cindy Bell, Brett Bowers, Keith Currey, Pat Davis, Glenna DeSouza, Luke DiFalco, Steve Ellingboe, L.D. Ellison, John Fassler, Diane Gerson, Dave Goetz, Steve Hanscam, Larry Horton, Sherrie Ingram, Dale Keene, Chanz Keeney, Craig Martin, Scott Melcher, Milt Moran and Keith Winslow.
The group will develop strategic plans and long-term goals in eight areas, including facilities, finance, student achievement, curriculum, staffing, community involvement, technology and transportation, Horton said.
At its first meeting on March 20, the committee will work on draft plans for the district, the district’s mission statement, a district motto and revising a set of beliefs adopted by the board 10 years ago.
Then the committee and district will hold three or four public meetings in different areas to receive public input, vision and ideas in each of the eight areas. A survey also will be available at the district’s Web site, http://www.sweethome.k12.or.us.
Horton will compile the information and ideas into action plans for each area that try to achieve the community’s vision for the district, he said.
– Approved a school trip to Washington D.C. with Foster School teacher Willa Martin. The trip still has slots available. Anyone interested should contact Foster School, 367-7180.
– Approved a $3,000 stipend for Keith Winslow, who is administering the district’s English Language Learning program.