Benny Westcott
Sweet Home High School Principal Ralph Brown told School Board members, at their monthly meeting Monday, Feb. 14, that the percentage of freshmen on track to graduate worries him “greatly.”
Brown said that the percentage of ninth-graders on track to graduate for the class of 2024 is 68%, the lowest that figure has been in the last eight years and a marked decrease from the class of 2023’s “ninth grade on track” percentage of 84% and the class of 2022’s rate of 88%.
“I am nothing but a realist, and this is the thing that’s got me most worried right now,” Brown said. “”Ninth grade on track” is a really great indicator that these kids are going to be successful down the road.”
“The COVID stuff and having the kids distant learning impacted our ninth- graders maybe more than any of our other groups,” Brown continued. “That is an area that we are very concerned about and are hitting hard to try to make some gains.”
Part of that effort has involved an “alternative education program” begun at the high school this school year that allows students to recover credits, in addition to the students’ regular course work.
“We feel we’re having some impact,” Brown said. “We’re working hard to try to regain.”
He also noted that the graduation rate for the class of 2021 was 82%, down from 88% the year prior.
“The concern we have is that many of our students really struggled with online learning, when our students were not in school,” Brown said.
The graduation rate in 2021 of the High School’s economically disadvantaged students was 83%, down from 88% the year prior. And the graduation rate of the District’s population of homeless students fell from 80% in 2020 to 63% in 2021, a 17 percentage point swing.
“It wasn’t entirely surprising, because a lot of the students who were navigating homelessness, and fighting the COVID things, with all of the stuff that was going on with not being in school, struggled at a high level as well,” Brown said, nothing that that group of students is a “target group” for the District.
The graduation rate among students with disabilities went from 79% in 2020 to 74% in 2021.
In other business, board members heard from Director of Student Services Thad Holub on the Oregon Department of Education ‘s new guidance specifying that come March 31, schools will be calling the shots when it comes to masks.
Holub shared a statement from the ODE explaining that as of March 31, the day the Oregon Health Authority is scheduled to lift the statewide indoor mask rule, the decision to require universal masking in school settings will rest with decision makers in school districts, charter schools, private schools, and local public health authorities.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, OHA and ODE continue to strongly advise the use of face coverings in schools in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and minimize the impact of quarantine through the school year.
The statement from the ODE noted that schools may continue to require students, staff, volunteers, and/or visitors to wear face coverings during indoor or outdoor activities if they so choose, and that schools may be required by local ordinance to continue requiring staff and students to wear face coverings.
The ODE’s remarks stated that in the absence of universal masking, schools will return to using the “general exposure” definition for quarantines, meaning that such protocols would go into effect if an individual has been within six feet of a confirmed or presumptive COVID-19 case for 15 minutes or more within one day, or has been in contact with the infectious secretions of a confirmed or presumptive COVID-19 case.
“This will likely result in more days out of school for unvaccinated students and staff, and more classroom and school closures due to staffing constraints,” the ODE’s statement read. “As we have seen throughout the pandemic, this will impact district’s medically complex and historically underserved students, staff, and communities the hardest.”
Additionally, in the absence of universal masking, schools will not be able to use Test to Stay Protocol to allow students and staff to attend school during a quarantine period, because universal use of face coverings remains a prerequisite for the Test to Stay Protocol. Diagnostic testing will remain accessible to all schools regardless of mask use.
General quarantine guidance for students and staff who return on Day 6 of their quarantine will include the continued need to wear a well fitted mask for Days 6 through 10 of their quarantine.
ODE’s guidance stated that universal masking is a key measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that in its absence, schools should anticipate significant increases in workload from contact tracing and notification.
In other business:
— District Business Manager Kevin Strong told the board that the district’s legal counsel has recommended that The Oregon Jamboree Music and Brews event scheduled for Apr. 15 and 16 not be held on district property, after Oregon Jamboree Director Robert Shamek came before the school board at the last meeting to ask if the event could be hosted at a parking lot across from the front entrance of the High School on the north side of Long Street.
The attorney discouraged the idea because it would be an event that included alcohol on the District’s campus, Strong said.
Shamek has already moved ahead with plans to hold the event at the parking lot west of the Rio Theatre, 1306 Long St., instead. Shamek would still like to be able to use District property for parking during the event, Strong said.
— As of Feb. 7, the district enrollment was 2,239, down 11 students from 2,250 on Jan. 3. The current enrollment is the second lowest recorded mark in the 2021-22 school year, the lowest being an enrollment of 2,096 on Sept. 13, 2021. Recorded enrollment for this school year peaked on Dec. 6, 2021 at 2,283 students.
— Holub reported that the total number of incidents of physical restraints at the district for the 2020-2021 school year was one.
He said the number “had been hovering around 12 or 13 for the years past,” and speculated that the fact that school was not in-person for much of the 2020-2021 school year was the reason for the decrease.
— Learned that the District’s auditor, Pauly Rogers and Company, has issued a “clean” opinion on the district’s financial statements with no reservations. The district’s 2021 fiscal year financial report showed that the district’s net position in the government-wide financial statements increased by $2,764,460 during the fiscal year, primarily due to the district’s general fund ending balance increasing by $1,848,409 during the fiscal year, from $1,206,472 to $3,054,881.
General fund revenues increased as compared to the prior fiscal year, while general fund expenditures decreased. The report also indicated that the district’s total outstanding debt decreased by $1,429,472 (5.9%) during the fiscal year as the district continued to meet its debt service schedule requirements.
Board members also:
— Accepted a resignation from Michael Rolph, special education teacher at Hawthorne Elementary, effective June 17, 2022.
— Accepted a resignation from Dave Tolle, science teacher at Sweet Home High School, effective Jan. 31, 2022.
— Approved the hire of Tamara White, temporary special ed teacher at Holley Elementary/Charter School, effective Feb. 9, 2022.