Editor:
The school board spends hours trying to make good decisions for our community.
Now the school board is split on whether or not to insist that PIE (People Involved in Education) form a new corporation. The board says it is the safest way to avoid legal entanglement. The board was asked “Do you have historical precedent that would make you believe PIE needs to be a separate corporation?” The answer was “No.”
Surely the lawyers and the insurance carrier would have presented such examples. However, the board has been presented with two examples, Mitch Charter Schools and Arthur Academy Charter Schools, that operate in seven districts under single corporations. The OSBA (Oregon School Board Association) represented each of these districts in negotiation with the charter schools.
Attorney Dassow works for the OSBA and is providing council to District 55. If the OSBA approved a single corporation for Mitch and Arthur Academy, who is insisting on PIE forming a separate corporation? Why didn’t LBCC or Kidco Head Start or any of the various businesses that contract with the school district have to form new corporations? Kidco Head Start resides in more districts than PIE, so why is the school board requiring that PIE form a new corporation?
While the board worries over legal entanglement with PIE, the School Based Health Center is on the way to becoming part of District 55. Multnomah County SBHC currently offers birth control and emergency contraception. Even though the Department of Health claims this is not the current plan for Sweet Home, the school board and community will not control the policy once the SBHC is established. So sometime in the future emergency contraception could be issued or a referral given.
The Morning After Pill has had complications leading to death. Legal entanglement is the reason that the board gives for their demand that PIE form a new corporation. While the charter school contract negotiations drag out, the SBHC is getting the fast track with limited public input and more potential for legal entanglement. Why is PIE required to do something no one else is required to do? The board needs to be equitable in its decision making.
Mike Ingram
Sweet Home