Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
A steady decline in the number of students has School District No. 55 officials scratching their heads and getting ready to tighten their belts.
That was the message district Supt. Larry Horton and Business Manager Kevin Strong delivered to the School Board Monday night at the board’s monthly meeting.
The meeting was held at the high school library because the district office conference room was rendered somewhat noxious by a Talented and Gifted student activity Friday that involved the dissection of sharks in the board meeting room.
Strong told the board that the district student population has decreased by 122 students since December 2005, a steady falloff that no one can explain.
Although the Sweet Home Charter School accounts for approximately 70 students who may have otherwise attended district schools, officials are unsure why another 50 or more have departed from the district. Strong said one explanation is that “we’re graduating high school classes of 200 and replacing them with kindergarten classes of 160 or 170.”
Horton told the board that the decline goes opposite to what he expected, with new housing being built and new industry coming to the area. He said he still expects a population surge when Lowe’s Distribution Center is expected to be completed in Lebanon next summer.
Still, he said, what has happened in the last year has puzzled him and other school officials.
“We’ve gone through the largest decreases in the five years I’ve been here,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it.
“We’re 122 kids down and at $5,500 or $6,000 per kid, that is a lot of money.”
Horton warned the board that cuts may be necessary, though the district will try to maintain its staffing levels. He and Strong said all indications are that the state will boost the per-student payments to school districts. But that infusion of revenue may only serve to keep the district afloat at its present levels.
“We’re not going to have the hundreds of thousands of windfall that districts with stable populations will experience,” he said. “The economy’s booming. Everything’s rosy, but not in Sweet Home.
“Will it stay that way? Will the houses (being built) fill up with retirees or will they fill up with families?”
In other action Monday,
– Board members learned from Curriculum Director Jan Sharp that elementary school students will have a harder time meeting state reading standards if the state adopts proposed new standards.
Sharp said a comparison of the number of third-graders meeting or exceeding the old standard, and the number that would pass the proposed new standard, shows a decrease of 6 points, from 91.5 to 85.6 percent.
At the sixth-grade level, Foster students would show a 30-point decrease, from 91 percent to 61 percent.
She said the standards would not change the outcomes at the junior high level, while results for tenth-graders would actually improve, due to the fact that the difficulty of test questions on the high school tests have been reduced slightly.
– High school Principal Pat Stineff reported that a survey of the community around the school indicates that students are behaving better when they are off campus during the school day.
She passed out copies of a survey conducted by Vice Principal Dave Goetz and members of the Leadership Class to local merchants and residents. Of 14 responses, 11 said they had noticed a “positive behavior change this year from students at the high school.
“I think, overall, it shows our students have improved in their behavior,” Stineff said.
Respondents said they have specifically noticed students staying in crosswalks while crossing streets, being more friendly and respectful, being courteous to other customers and employees in local businesses, and keeping the area cleaner.
She said the efforts to maintain good behavior from students during lunch period would continue.
“We’re not going to stop just because we got some positive comments from the community,” Stineff said.
Board member Jeff Lynn, a police officer, said he has noticed that there have been less problems with trash being left behind by students.
“I’d like to say that it’s nice to see that students have acknowledged this problem,” he said. “There has been vast improvement, especially in the trash.”
– Heard a report from Aquatic Director Andrew Schmidt on the challenges he sees in operating the Community Pool in the black. He said improvements have included the installation of circulation fans to decrease humidity in the bleachers at the pool, the painting of a husky mural on the north wall, and generally making the facility and staff more inviting to the public.
He said he is looking into ways to make the pool more attractive to non-school users, such as installing a rope swing or a diving board. Schmidt said a rope swing is the most promising option at present.
– Heard from Stineff that the attendance rate at the high school is up to 92.69 percent from 88.45 percent a year ago.
– Agreed to purchase 11 new school buses for $823,465. The board approved the lease/purchase of 12 buses for $860,000 in December, but Transportation Supervisor LD Ellison was unable to procure the buses he planned to buy. Horton told the board that he, Strong and Ellison decided to limit this purchase to 11 buses, which will have better engines than originally planned, and to hold off on the purchase of snow chains.
– Approved a request by choir director Jesse Chandler-Dreher to take a group of high school choir students on a performance tour to the Seattle area May 5-8, provided the students can raise the approximately $9,000 necessary to pay for the trip.
– Recognized Transportation Department Supervisor Deborah Maskal and bus driver Kathleen DeMille for alerting school officials after DeMille found a note written by a troubled student on her bus. The student was provided counseling as a result. The two were given plaques by Board Chairman Mike Reynolds in appreciation of their response.
– Approved a leave of absence for the remainder of the school year for Foster teacher Katie Adams.
– Accepted a donation of a REDCAT infrared classroom amplification system for junior high teacher Colleen Henry’s classroom. Her brother, Shawn Henry, works for the manufacturer, LightSPEED Technologies.
Horton said studies indicate that 30 percent of school children do not hear well in the classroom. The systm amplifies a teacher’s voice to allow students to hear better.