$117 million allocated for Oregon

By Dylan Thompson
Burns Times-Herald

The Harney County District No. 3 School Board meeting opened on Tuesday, Aug.  10, with big news concerning the education jobs bill, which passed in the House of Representatives, 247-161.

The bill, part of an emergency stimulus package aimed toward job creation, will provide schools in the state of Oregon with $117 million that would be used to recall or rehire former school staff members,  increase salaries and hire new staff members.

A special session of the legislature will be called in September to address the bill and funds could be on the way to Oregon schools no later than October.

Katie Baltzor, principal of the recently renamed Silvies River Charter School (SRCS), reported that she met with Morgan Smith of the Oregon School Board Association (OSBA), and Phyllis Guile of the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), to revise the charter school’s contract. She stated that the ODE has signed off on the action plan. The board will perform a complete review of the contract after the completed document is achieved in the next two weeks.

Bond Project Manager Bill Renwick came to the meeting with both good and bad news. Though he reported that the windows at the high school cafeteria were still not finished, he was pleased to inform the board that he had received the go-ahead from the State Historical Preservation Office to replace the windows at the Lincoln District Office Building.

The State Historical Preservation Office also expressed a desire to design a website that would keep the histories of all the school buildings and other notable buildings within the district. Renwick added that the project would benefit from student involvement.

The overall plan would assume certain costs and particular performance criteria would be involved, being that the preservation office doesn’t want to lose the integrity of the building’s look. The table decided to hold off a vote to approve the action until next month.

In other news:

• Nancy Walker reported that the play structure being built at Slater Elementary School is now up and secure. The landscaping of the surface below the structure will need to be completed before the structure is cleared to be played on. Everything will be done before school;

• Hines Middle School Principal Gail Buermann announced that registration would be held on Aug. 24;

• Student Services Director Geoff Robinson stated that the bottom corner of Lincoln will be used to house kids from the Eastern Oregon Academy. They will be enrolled in the same program as the alternative school, but will not be mixed in with those alternative education students;

• Business Manager Petrina White reported that she has updated the projected budget, but that not much will happen with the budget until next month.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, at the Lincoln building.