Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
High school juniors in Sweet Home will begin taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery next year.
The ASVAB is used by the armed services to determine how qualified prospective recruits are for certain military occupational specialties and enlistment bonuses. The test is administered at more than 14,000 sites and schools across the country.
Those sites include Oregon districts, such as Stayton and Salem-Keizer, Sweet Home High School Principal Pat Stineff said.
While administered by military personnel, the ASVAB is not used as a recruiting tool by the armed services, Stineff told the District 55 School Board Monday night during its regular meeting.
With the school’s emphasis on career exploration, the ASVAB is a good tool, better than the Career Information System testing that students do their freshman year, Stineff said. “We decided it might be a good idea to give the ASVAB.”
The ASVAB gives a good idea to students and staff on where to focus in terms of careers, Stineff said. The ASVAB is much more extensive than the CIS, which is given to freshmen who aren’t yet as serious about about where they want to go.
“I know there’s a lot of nervousness about it among parents,” Stineff said. They might think the military will get a bunch of information about their children, but it doesn’t – not through the administration of the ASVAB.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Stineff said, schools are already required to release information about juniors and seniors to military recruiters.
The law requires districts provide the same access to military recruiters that college recruiters and prospective employers have, but parents can opt out of this requirement. Schools that do not comply can lose federal funding.
At Sweet Home High School, either the student or the student’s parents can decide that the student will not take the ASVAB, Stineff said. For those who do, no scores are given to the military unless parents permit, although the scores are good for two years for those interested in entering the armed services.
The scores that the armed services do receive are used to normalize and adjust tests, Stineff said. In Oregon, about 5 percent of scores are released to the military, while in other states, especially the south, upward of 75 percent of scores may be released to the military.
“They’re not going to recruit our kids based on the fact they’re giving this test,” Stineff said.
Sophomores also will begin taking a new test next year, Stineff said. The 2007 Legislature directed schools to administer nationally standardized tests, like the PSAT, to sophomores to predict college success.
Board members present at the meeting were Jeff Lynn, Leena Neuschwander, Jason Redick, Ken Roberts, Diane Gerson, Mike Reynolds, Chanz Keeney and John Fassler. David VanDerlip was absent.
In other business, the board:
– Learned the high school dropout rate increased from 3.3 percent in 2005-06 to 5.7 percent in 2006-07. Stineff said she didn’t know why the rate increased, but it increased across the state.
“I didn’t see it coming,” she said.
The trend has been downward the last few years, Supt. Larry Horton said.
– Received a presentation from the Sweet Home Education Association in preparation for upcoming contract bargaining with the board and set to begin on April 29.
The teachers said their goal is move closer to the average compensation in their comparison group, which includes 25 districts with student populations ranging from about 1,200 to 5,450. In the comparison group, Sweet Home is about the middle with student population but second to last in compensation when controlling for variables in retirement, according to the association’s comparison.
– Hired Bonnie Putnam as a temporary teacher for family and consumer sciences at SHHS; Sarah Lynn as a temporary .2 full-time equivalent for ELL at Foster Elementary School; and hired Tiffany Lambert as half-time principal and half-time special education teacher at Holley Elementary School. She is a special education teacher at Sweet Home Junior High School.
– Accepted the retirement of Hawthorne Counselor Georgetta Howard and hired her back on contract.
– Accepted the retirement of SHHS business teacher Lynn Ellis.
– Approved the Oak Heights Earth Shuttle trip to Florida.
– Learned of a $35,000 grant that will fund a physical education instructor to be shared by Holley and Crawfordsville schools. Horton said a half-time instructor will be included in next year’s budget for the remaining schools, Foster, Hawthorne and Oak Heights.
– Announced Strategic Plan Community Meetings, 6:30 p.m., April 24, Crawfordsville; 9:30 a.m., April 26, Sweet home High School; and 6:30 p.m., May 5, Foster.
– Declared two milk coolers, two belts, a sander and a buffer surplus.