It was a busy night for Sweet Home School Board members on Sept. 8.
Much of the three-hour meeting was devoted to discussions of allegations of illegal meetings and the removal of board members Floyd Neuschwander and Mary Speck from their board officer positions.
Midway through the meeting, Neuschwander announced he was resigning (see www.sweethomenews.com/school-board-member-added-another-resigns).
However, board members also took care of a wide range of other business.
One was where the district is headed on implementing Gov. Tina Kotek’s July 2 executive order to prohibit student use of cellphones.
The order requires school districts to adopt policies banning cellphone use by students by Oct. 31 and to fully implement those policies by Jan. 1, 2026.
Board Member Jenna Northern and Steve Thorpe, a high school teacher and president of the district certified employees (teachers) union, both discussed the order and its impact on the Sweet Home district.
Speaking during the portion of the meeting allotted to board concerns, Northern asked if there was an “ETA” on the cellphone policy, and suggested that the board should discuss the matter at its Oct. 13 meeting.
Supt. Terry Martin said that the district is required to create a policy that fits within the governor’s order.
He and Board Chair Mike Adams both said they expected a sample policy from the Oregon School Boards Association, but that it had not yet materialized.
“What we’re seeing is schools not putting out policies, but putting them into practice,” he said of the contents of the governor’s order, which came after the Legislature failed to pass a similar, bipartisan bill in its long session last spring.
The order technically bans all “personal electronic devices,” which includes “any portable, electrically powered device that is capable of making and receiving calls and text messages,” and can access the internet independently from the school’s wireless network. It does not include laptops or other devices that support classroom activities.
“Talking to teachers, I know in the buildings, the teachers are kind of modeling this very well,” Thorpe told board members, adding that students were not walking down hallways in the high school using their phones.
Both he and Northern asked that there be input taken into consideration before the board decides on a policy.
Thorpe asked if the policy has any “wiggle room.”
“Speaking as a coach,” he advised, “make it manageable, because one of the things we’ve done in the last several years is we have a Band app” which allows coaches to send messages “and they all get it – parents, coaches, everyone.”
“I would appreciate some input from staff and administrative input before you lay that policy down and show it to us,” he concluded.
Northern also voiced concerns about students being unable to access Band messages.
“I actually have a kid there and I see the impact that it’s having,” she said. “The Bandapp and those kinds of things, that’s a communication line that goes to all the kids at one time, like ‘Hey, we’re having a lunch meeting for baseball, don’t forget.’ And they’re not supposed to have their phones with them at those times.”
Thorpe told the board he hoped the cellphone policy would include “some input on what fills the needs of our kids.”
He cited classes he teaches in Financial Algebra and Math for Trades, in which students use cellphone apps to calculate housing prices, how to figure how much gravel would be needed to fill a particular space.
Adams said he was at an OSBA conference the weekend before the board’s Aug. 11 meeting and “they had a draft, but they were going to talk to the governor’s office and tinker with it.”
He said he hadn’t heard anything since, but added that he believed it was “doable” to get it on the board’s agenda for discussion in October.
Member Dale Keene suggested that they should aim to have a first reading of the policy in October.
Martin agreed that input is necessary: “We really need to hear from parents, the community, our staff,” he said.
Students Getting Involved
High School ASB President Trinity Victor reported that participation in school activities is on the rise in participation in school activities, which, she said, declined after COVID.
“We’re starting to see an upturn now,” she said, noting that 195 students are participating in fall sports and 30 had turned out earlier in the day to audition for the school play.
She also said students’ focus this year will be “embracing traditions and creating new ones.”
Last year we started the “Their First, Our Last” in which the district kindergarteners and the high school senior class members line up on the 40-yard lines at Husky Field and the seniors give the kindergarteners keychains with their graduating year on them.
Good Things Happening
Thorpe followed up on Victor’s presentation by adding that this year’s “Their First, Our Last” will take place Wednesday morning, Oct. 1, at 10:20 a.m. during the high school’s Home Room period.
Thorpe noted that the district has 10 new hires.
“Some people think that’s a lot,” he said. “That’s incredible that the district has 10 new hires.”
Five, he said, replace retirees. Three, including one that will split time between the high school and Holley School, are filling positions occupied last year by emergency licensures.
One will replace former high school science teacher Harrison Neal, who was offered a position on the faculty at Western Oregon University. The vacancy is due to a teacher who had to leave and move away due to family needs.
“I’m gonna tell you, this is a good place to work,” Thorpe said. “Our three administrators at the high school are incredible. They do great things. And I see that across our community and our schools.”
The vacancies, he said, “were not because people were disgruntled.”
Responding to an earlier comment from a board member about the district needing to offer more classes for higher-level students, Thorpe said the high school is currently offering “34” college credits, though he later said he realized there are more: – three in history, three in political science, three in math 105, four in Math 111, 112 and 251, three in biology, three in marine biology, and three each in advanced writing and English 4, “and this is after losing Harrison (who taught classes in advanced chemistry) to Western Oregon.”
Also, he said, the school offers seniors opportunities to earn nine to 12 credits at Linn-Benton Community College “on our dime.”
“We are offering a very rigid curriculum,” Thorpe said. “Sorry if the state test scores don’t scream that. You just saw one of the products of what we’re doing,” he added, gesturing toward the seat Victor had occupied.
“Plus, there are kids that are getting an alternative education and meeting them where they’re at and looking at different things.
Board Member Dale Keene interjected that he knows of one student recently graduated with not only a high school diploma and associate’s degree.
“The teachers, you guys, are our first line of defense with those kids – and the classified staff,” Thorpe said. “You never know who you’re going to connect with.”
He pointed out that staff members often help students with more than school subjects, “meeting kids where they’re at, families surrounding kids during tragedies.
He told board members that the union is preparing to begin contract negotiations with the district, which takes place every three years.
He cited comments made earlier in the meeting, crediting Business Manager Kevin Strong for his leadership in keeping the district financially stable.
He said the last contract was “the best one you’ve ever been part of,” gesturing toward Strong and Martin. “It was very fair and very well-worked, and I’d like for us to do that again.”
Surprise Enrollment Numbers
Martin reported that the district’s initial enrollment figures, noting that they exceeded what was expected.
“We went through the summer thinking we were only going to have about 85 kindergarteners, and they showed up – 126,” he said, adding that the total for the district schools, 2,265, is “still smaller, but more consistent” with last year’s at this time, 2,322, and 2023 (2,369). The district total at the end of the 2024-25 school year was 2,148.
“That’s really good news for us,” Martin said. “Our finances are tied directly with our student enrollment numbers. Hopefully, a month from now we will still see these same numbers because things settle out – students move and such.”
Board Member Rachel Maynard asked what factors might be contributing to the decreased enrollment numbers.
Martin responded that nationwide, birth rates are down.
“All across Oregon, schools are down.”
Recently, he said, “Corvallis was at its lowest enrollment since 1956, somewhere in there.”
“This is something that has impacted not only our district but districts all around the state. Fortunately, we’ve been better financially prepared for this. If you go back in the last six months of newspapers, there have been a lot of really traumatic things that have happened with school districts.”
Many districts who received extra money from the state during COVID “upstaffed,” he said, “and ended up falling off the fiscal cliff” when enrollment declined and they failed to “adjust accordingly, and so a lot of districts found themselves with huge financial gaps.”
On another note, responding to the turmoil that has embroiled the School Board over the past two months, including during the Sept. 8 meeting, Martin said he was echoing “what a number of people have said” earlier in the meeting, including Thorpe.
“What lies behind us pales in comparison to what lies before us. We are not functioning as well as we have in the past, and I too look forward to a time when we can work in unity and focus on our students, which is what we’re all here for.
He said that if the district needs to bring in “someone from the outside” to hold meetings and get disagreements worked out, it can do that.
“We have to work together, get past the difficulties, and work for what’s best for our kids before it does trickle down into the classrooms.”
Quoting former Board Chair Jason Redick, who spoke earlier in the meeting, “If it goes long enough, it will get into the classrooms, and I know for a fact that nobody sitting around this table wants that.”
Flag Policy Discussion
Board members also discussed wording changes proposed by member Mary Speck to the district’s policy on flag displays and salutes.
Speck’s proposals included requiring that a POW/MIA flag be flown “in the same manner” as the U.S. and Oregon flags already mentioned in the existing policy, “when required by state law.”
She also proposed that “appropriate”-sized U.S. flags, “manufactured in the United States, be properly displayed in each classroom” and that “no other flags other than those mentioned in the district policy be displayed in classrooms.”
Speck’s third proposal was that students be provided an opportunity to salute the flag daily by reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” and be instructed in how to respect the flag.
She also suggested wording stating that the School Board “encourages district schools to give students opportunities to raise and lower the outdoor flags and to recite the Pledge or Allegiance over the loud speaker.
Speck said she was “pretty shocked” to see that the salute was only required once a week.
Member Jenna Northern asked why the policy was changed to once a week and when that happened, though she added that because her own children have been students in the district, she was aware of that.
Member Dale Keene said he wasn’t sure, but he said he believed it had been changed in response to “litigation.”
Speck noted that Oregon law specifies once a week, “but after that, it’s option.”
“So when I saw that, I thought, ‘Wow, we should make it every day.”
She recalled “getting called to the office and doing the Pledge of Allegiance over the microphone and raising and lowering the flag.”
“I would love to see that come back to our community,” she added.
Adams, who chairs the board and has been an attorney for decades representing cities and various service districts, and Keene voiced concerns about the “no other flags” restriction suggested by Speck.
Adams noted that the Newberg School District was sued over a similar ban. In that case, a Yamhill County Circuit Court judge ruled against the school district and four members of the school board after a Newberg teacher and the ACLU sued over a policy the board approved banning employees from displaying “controversial” or “political” signs or symbols.
The teacher had hung a sign depicting a rainbow flag with a heart superimposed and the words “Be Known” in her classroom window at a local elementary school.
Judge Cynthia Easterday ruled that the policy is unconstitutional under Article 1, Section 8 of the Oregon Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech and the press.
Speck asked her fellow board members to agree to discuss her proposals, and they voted 6-1 in consensus to have Martin check with counsel to make sure the district would not be exposed to liability and then, there are no legal concerns, advance the proposal to a first reading.
Voting yes were Adams, Keene, Maynard, Northern, and Speck; newly sworn member Kris Hiaasen voted no, to discuss the matter at a future meeting. Amanda Carter was absent and Neuschwander resigned before the board addressed the flag matter.
In other action, board members:
N Accepted the resignation of Neal, whose last day was Sept. 12.
N Approved the temporary hire of Serena Compton to teach third grade at Hawthorne for the 2025-26 school year.
N Approved an agreement to allow Central Linn athletes to participate in the Sweet Home High School dance/drill program during the 2025-26 school year, because Central Linn is not offering dance this year. Practices and home competitions will be held at Sweet Home.
N Received a questionnaire from the district’s auditing firm, Pauly Rogers and Co. of Tigard, offering board members a chance to ask questions and report any suspected financial malfeasance they might be aware of and asking how often they are made aware of the district’s financial affairs.
N Learned that they would hold a meeting to review the district’s Strategic Plan at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, prior to the board’s regular meeting at 6 p.m.
N Agreed to move their December meeting from Dec. 8 to Dec. 15, to avoid conflicts with school Christmas programs scheduled during the same time as the board meeting.
N Received a report on the district’s Integrated Programs, reported annually by the Oregon Department of Education, which surveys how the district is using Student Investment money from the state Corporate Activities Tax.
The 11-page report can be viewed starting on page 27 at shsd55or.gov/media/2025/09/September-8-2025-Board-Packet_0001.pdf.
N Heard a report from Strong that the district’s general fund spending, which includes most of its operating expenses, was $2,646,614 at the end of August, two months through the fiscal year, compared to $2,453,121 at the same point last year. The reasons for the $193,493 increase, he said, were insurance premium increases, higher labor costs and pension rates, all of which were expected, he said.
“We’ll continue to see this through the year and it is budgeted out,” he said.