Benny Westcott
Sweet Home School District trustees voted unanimously Monday night, Nov. 14, to change Terry Martin’s role from interim superintendent to superintendent, pending a mutually agreeable contract between the board and Martin.
“Terry has done a good job of stepping in in a positive way that has helped unify our district,” said Board Chairman Mike Reynolds.
“Morale is way up. The board feels that we are willing to take a chance and have him lead the district forward, and has faith that he will do so. He’s doing a great job.”
Martin said the board’s decision is “a real welcoming feeling. I’m humbled by it.”
He added that “It’s a welcome relief, because there were folks that were still thinking and asking ‘are you going to be here next year?’ and ‘are you going to stick around?’ Well, we answered that tonight.”
He said that moving forward, he wants the district to “continue to do good things for the kids, increase achievement, and do the absolute best we can for our students. We’re refocusing on our strategic plan, and programmatically that’s driving everything we do.”
Martin took on the role of acting superintendent on May 2 after former Superintendent Lisa Riggs took a leave of absence beginning on that date. Riggs officially resigned from the role of superintendent on June 30, after serving roughly six months in the position.
On July 11, the School Board unanimously approved an employment contract for Martin to continue in the capacity of interim superintendent through the 2022-23 academic year.
Martin started working in the district when he became principal at Sweet Home Junior High School in the fall of 2020. He has 26 years of educational experience, including 22 years in education administration, mostly in Alaska. He grew up in Hermiston.
He started his career in education in Oregon as an English teacher at Stanfield Middle School from 1996 to 2000. That role preceded a long stint in Alaska for Martin, during which he held various administrative roles.
Martin was the principal at Nikolaevsk Elementary-High School in Nikolaevsk, Alaska, from 2001 to 2004. He was then principal at the Ninilchik School in Ninilchik, Alaska from 2004 to 2011, and principal at Marshall School in Marshall, Alaska, for one year after that. He then served as director of human resources at the Northwest Arctic Borough School District from 2014 to 2020, before becoming principal at Sweet Home Junior High School in the fall of 2020.
He received his associate of arts degree in liberal arts at Blue Mountain Community College in 1990, then his bachelor’s of arts in language arts from Western Oregon State College in 1993. He received his master of education in school leadership from Eastern Washington University in 2000.
In other action Monday:
n Board members voted 5-2 to direct staff to draft a board policy change that would allow alcohol to be sold and consumed on district property when specifically authorized by the superintendent in writing following the submission of a district Alcohol Use Request Form and a certificate of insurance coverage, and get the potential change reviewed by the district’s legal council.
The vote comes after Oregon Jamboree representatives asked for permission to host a music and brews festival at the school district owned parking lot north of the high school on April 15 and 16, 2023.
Two board policies currently prohibit alcohol on district property. Policy KGB reads that “No person on district property will consume, sell, give or deliver alcoholic beverages or controlled chemical substances.” Board Policy KG-AR reads that “alcohol, tobacco and drugs are prohibited on district property.”
Voting in favor of having staff draft a board policy change to be voted on at a later date were board members Reynolds, Jason Redick, Debra Brown, Mike Adams and Sara Hoffman. Opposed were Kevin Hill and Dale Keene. Jim Gourley and Jason Van Eck were absent at the meeting.
“Considering our relationship with the Jamboree, the parameters, and that it’s just that one spot where we would allow it, I’m not opposed,” Brown said.
Hill took a different stance. “I, for one, do not desire to pursue allowing the door to open for alcohol consumption on school grounds,” he said. “Because when you open the door, it’s really hard to close it. I think it sends an incorrect message to the community and to the kids especially to allow it.”
Redick responded by saying “I’m afraid that door’s been open for 30 years. Because if you think there’s no alcohol consumption on school property during Jamboree, you’re probably blind to the situation.”
— High School Student Representative Max Klumph reported that 193 students came out for fall sports. He said that the elimination of “pay-to-play” fees for extracurricular activities last school year caused a “very big increase in numbers.” That policy was continued this year.
Klumph shared that Head Football Coach Ryan Adams said that at least 10 kids rostered in the high school program this past season wouldn’t have come out to play if there was a fee. Fifty-one girls tried out for volleyball, the most ever for the program, Klumph said.
A soccer player himself, Klumph added that “just about half” of the boys soccer team wouldn’t have come out if there were still fees to play sports.
As winter sports kick off, Klumph said signups have already increased 25-30% compared to last year.
“Pay-to-participate being gone is a game-changer,” Klumph said. “Lots of our kids that don’t usually want to get involved in this now are able to go and do this. That’s a very big win.”
Clarifying Klumph’s remarks, Athletic Director Dan Tow said “Some of the kids that Max mentioned probably would have played (even if there were still pay-to-play rules), while some of them probably wouldn’t have.”
Tow added, “I talked to (Head Boys Wrestling Coach Steve Thorpe) today, and he said ‘I’ve got all kinds of kids that have a hard time wrestling because of finances.’ A lot of those kids have historically still made a way to come out. Somebody pays it. Steve pays it. The club pays it.
“I’ve had community members come to me when I was a baseball coach and pay for kids.”
Tow emphasized that if pay-to-play were still in effect, “some of those kids would still play, but some of them wouldn’t. Some of them were quiet kids; maybe they were off our radar, and they didn’t come out. So taking the pay-to-play thing away has been a great thing to get kids out, for sure.”
— The district’s total enrollment as of the end of October was 2,338 students, up from 2,243 at the same date last year, and also eclipsing the pre-pandemic figure of 2,319 students that the district had enrolled at the end of October in 2019.
“Talking with the other superintendents, a lot of the surrounding districts are struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels,” Martin said. “We’re actually slightly above. Enrollment is strong, so that bodes well for all of us.”
— District Business Manager Kevin Strong shared that through October, district general fund year-to-date spending was up just over $480,000 compared to the same time period last year.
He said that the increase in spending is largely driven by higher labor costs for the district, especially for classified labor.
— The district’s attendance champion for September was Holley Elementary School, with an average attendance rate of 92.16%.
— The board unanimously gave approval for the high school cheerleading team to attend USA Spirit Nationals in Anaheim, Calif., Feb. 23-28, 2023.