Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board agreed Monday night to open enrollment to anyone during the month of April.
The Oregon Legislature began allowing school districts to accept enrollment from other districts without the approval of the home district in January 2012, said Supt. Don Schrader. Sweet Home, like its neighboring districts chose to continue doing what they had been doing, requiring approval from the new district and the home district.
But he doesn’t recall seeing a request that wasn’t approved by both districts since then, he said. This year, Lebanon is opening its enrollment, which means Lebanon could accept a Sweet Home student without asking permission of the Sweet Home School District.
“I’m saying we should actually move toward that enrollment system, that we open it to any non-resident student,” Schrader said. The only limitation is based on space available. With all of the other districts opening enrollment, he believes it’s time Sweet Home does too. A bill under consideration by the legislature this year would open up enrollment all year instead of just April 1 to May 1.
“We have a lot to offer in Sweet Home,” Schrader said. It could be for the upcoming on-line school, or “just because we have a lot to offer here.”
These students are handled just like resident students, Schrader said.
It also means that high-cost special education students must be accepted as well, Schrader said. If there is no space available in a program, then the district must provide service in another way until space opens up.
Which school an incoming student attends depends on space at the schools, Schrader said. Fourth grade at Foster, for example, couldn’t take students from outside the district. Those students would need to attend a different elementary school.
Right now, Sweet Home has a few more students coming in from other districts (than are going elsewhere), Schrader said, but the numbers are getting closer because of on-line schools elsewhere.
The board voted 9-0 to open enrollment.
Present at the meeting were Mike E. Adams, Jan Sharp, Chanz Keeney, Dale Keene, Chairman Jason Redick, Mike Reynolds, David VanDerlip, Jenny Daniels and Kevin Burger.
In other business, the board:
n Accepted a $25,000 College Access Challenge Grant from the Oregon University System to fund a frozen yogurt shop at Sweet Home High School.
Last year, the GEAR UP (Giving Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) class developed a business plan to help fund GEAR UP after its grant cycle is complete. Initially, students hoped to open a frozen yogurt shop, but the machines were cost-prohibitive, and they had to remove the feature from their business plan in favor of developing a teen hangout in the commons.
This year, with a new grant, coordinator Kristin Adams has been able to put it back into the business plan.
The $25,000 grant will fund The Husky Den, Adams told the board. Thirty percent of the profits will go toward funding current GEAR UP activities, 50 percent for new activities and 20 percent to the high school to offset potential losses in other high school sales.
The program has 15 students this year at the high school, Adams said. It involves students from the seventh grade through the 11th. Next year, the first group of GEAR UP students will be seniors.
“What we’re trying to do is change the culture,” Adams said. The program encourages students to attend college and helps them achieve that goal, offering scholarships of $1,000 to all students for their freshman year of college and $500 per year for the sophomore through senior years.
“Hopefully it’ll be a culture shift, not just for the school but the community,” Adams said.
n Accepted the resignation of David Younger, high school health and PE teacher. Younger has accepted a position at South Albany High School.
n Hired Deniece Thompson as a temporary high school math teacher.