Debra Brown was sworn in Monday evening, Aug. 10, as the Cascadia member of the Sweet Home School Board, but that was the real highlight of what turned out to be the board’s shortest meeting thus far this year.
Brown was appointed to the position last month by the board after she ran uncontested as a write-in candidate for the board, when no candidates took out papers to run in the May 19 election.
Brown received more votes than anyone else in the election for the Cascadia position, but county election officials did not declare her the winner because the school district has three residents named Debra Brown and they could not “determine, without a doubt, the voters’ intent on it.”
Also on Monday:
– Superintendent Keith Winslow reported to the board that he is working to put together a committee to study the possibility of drug testing for athletes.
Board member Chanz Keeney earlier this year requested that administrators look into the issue and Winslow said that three other schools in the Sky-Em Conference are already doing testing.
He said Monday that he has talked with coaches and administrators and will put together a committee that will research the subject, draft a policy and report back to the board with recommendations.
– Winslow announced that Sweet Home Police Officer Geoff Hamlin will be the district’s new School Resource Officer.
Hamlin, a former military policeman, is a native of Southern Oregon and had been laid off from the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office before joining the Sweet Home department.
The SRO position was created in 2007 in an agreement with the School District, but was discontinued early in 2011 when financing for the program ran out due to budget cuts.
“We’re excited to have him on board,” Winslow said. “It will be cool.”
– Business Manager Kevin Strong reported that spending on the Sweet Home Charter School is coming in $55,516 below budget because Charter School officials have decided not to offer sixth grade this year, due to ongoing septic problems. That figure, he said, represents the difference between the amount spent this year, at the end of July, and last year, when sixth grade was offered.
He said that once the septic problems are dealt with, the school will offer sixth grade again.
Board members took the following actions:
– Accepted a grant of $7,000 from the Chintimini Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for TAG Science Camp for grades K-6 districtwide.
– Accepted an appropriation of $900 from the Oregon Department of Education to support training for students with disabilities.
– Accepted a grant of $1,586 from Oregon Response to Intervention to pay for team training, workshops and coaching capacity development.
– Hired June Lemke as a counselor at Sweet Home High School for the upcoming school year.
– Hired Jay Marble as a temporary health teacher at Sweet Home Junior High.
– Hired Susie Routes as counselor at Foster and Holley elementary schools.
– Hired Patrick Hartsfield as a temporary language arts teacher at Sweet Home High School.