Sean C. Morgan
After School Board approval, the School District is submitting an application for nearly $1.8 million in Student Investment Account funds which would pay for an expansion of programs and more than 14 full-time equivalent employees.
The funds are derived from a .057-percent tax on gross receipts for businesses with $1 million or more in sales, created by the 2019 Student Success Act, which state officials estimated would raise $2 billion statewide, implemented this year. School Districts will receive the funding next school year.
The district has agreed on five priorities, including reducing academic disparities, addressing behavioral and mental health issues, providing equitable access, providing opportunities for staff to review data and strategize collaboratively and to strengthen stakeholder relationships, Chief Academic Officer Rachel Stucky told School Board members during their regular meeting on March 9. The funds will be spent in health and safety, reducing class size, providing a well-rounded education and increasing instructional time.
The School District sought input from the community about how the money should be spent. A committee analyzed the feedback, and administrators developed a plan that funds 83.4 percent of those ideas. A small percentage of them were already funded or will not cost anything to implement.
Themes emerging from a survey included mental health and behavioral support and removal of barriers for underserved populations, including transportation, fees and better communication. Other themes included class size, music and art education, increasing support for all staff training, additional support for students with disabilities and learning experiences outside the traditional school day.
The district is proposing to spend about $605,000, about 34 percent of the SIA budget, in health and safety, including a behavioral facilitator, an additional operating room, a half-time nurse, a mental health specialist at the high school, two secondary level hall monitors, expansion of alternative education and a homeless liaison. The district will also make modifications to the facilities serving alternative education and special education.
The application adds two full-time equivalent teachers to address overloaded classrooms, a special education teacher, additional elementary level instructional assistants and two math or English language arts teachers at the junior high to help reduce class sizes. The cost is about $480,000, about 27 percent of the funds.
To provide more rounded education, the district proposes two new music teachers to begin providing music education at all grade levels. The district will expand summer school and after-school activities to increase instructional time, and it will eliminate fees to participate in sports in grades seven through 12. It will add a part-time technology specialist. The district also will offer funding for artists in residence, career fairs, field trips, elementary clubs and staff training. The programs will cost about $380,000, about 22.5 percent of the funds.
The district will pass about $95,000 on to the Sweet Home Charter School, about 5.3 percent of the funds.
With board approval, the application goes to the Oregon Department of Education for review and approval. The district will negotiate with the ODE for growth targets to be used to measure success. With board approval of growth targets, the district will implement the new programs.
Present at the meeting were Joe Kennedy, Chanz Keeney, Chairman Jason Redick, Debra Brown and Angela Clegg. Absent were Jim Gourley, Jason Van Eck, Mike Reynolds and Jenny Daniels.
In other business, the board:
n Approved the 2020-21 school calendar.
School will begin next year on Sept. 8 and end on June 17. Graduation will be June 11.
Christmas break will start Dec. 21 with students back in class on Jan. 4. Spring break will be March 22 to March 26.
The calendar has a total of 174 instructional days.
School start times will be 8 a.m. at elementary schools, 8:02 at Sweet Home Junior High and 8:10 a.m. at Sweet Home High School. The day ends at 2:30 p.m. for elementary students, 3 p.m. for junior high students and 3:15 for high school students. Early release days end at 1:30 p.m. for elementary students, 2 p.m. for junior high students and 2:15 p.m. for high school students.
Conferences are set for Nov. 5 and 6 and April 15 and 16.
– Approved the resignation of junior high special education teachers Kathy Parsons and Joel Applebaum effective June 30.
– Approved the retirement of .5 full-time-equivalent district nurse effective June 12.
– Approved a leave of absence for 2020-21 for Shelly Ottre, Sweet Home Junior High counselor.
– Approved the hiring of .5-FTE sixth-grade math teacher Colleen Unger at Hawthorne and Foster, effective Feb. 24.
– Approved the retirement of Stucky, with a post-retirement agreement through the 2020-21 school year.
– Approved policy updates governing reporting of child abuse, reporting and procedures; licensing requirements; use of personal electronic devices; admission of resident students; use of restraints and seclusion; and workplace harassment.
– Approved the annual renewal of contracts with all current permanent teachers and administrators.