June 10, 2008

Sherman hears earful on closure
Wasco residents oppose closure strategy

By ED COX
of The Dalles Chronicle

     MORO —It seemed as if all of Wasco was in one room and up in arms over the possibility Sherman County School District board would close North Sherman Elementary School.
     The crowd of 110 that attended Thursday night’s board work session in Moro was thought to be the largest ever at such an event and represented close to 6 percent of the entire county population.
     A show of hands revealed a handful of Grass Valley and Moro residents, but the vast majority were from Wasco, with a few out of Rufus or Biggs Junction.
     “The motion did part of what it was intended to do — it got people involved,” said board member Alan von Borstel, referring to a motion made, and then tabled, at the May 12 meeting.
     The proposal was to close the school in Wasco in preparation for a new, unified elementary on the high school campus in Moro. In the meantime, North Sherman’s approximately 65 students would be sent to South Sherman Elementary in Grass Valley, a much newer facility with an almost identically low student population.
     North Sherman Elementary was built in 1916 and has seen few major modifications besides the addition of a gym in the 1950s. It just got a new boiler, but will need a new $60,000 roof in two or three years, according to superintendent Ivan Ritchie. He said no true structural analysis has been done.
Meanwhile, South Sherman Elementary was built in 1991. “It’s a beautiful facility,” he said, noting that many would like to see a comparable one in Moro.
Ritchie said the board had hoped to jump-start a discussion with the motion, and a discussion they got — or at least an earful.
     “I don’t want my kids on a bus all day long and not with me,” said Fred Blakely of Wasco during the extended public comment period, which was the main feature of the meeting.
     Blakely’s feelings about bus travel were echoed many times, as were concerns about whether parent volunteers would drive that far, whether small communities can remain vital without a school located nearby, and whether there was even a plan in the works for a Moro elementary school.
     That plan is being built, board members assured the audience, and the night’s meeting was part of the process. Alan von Borstel noted that the district is trying to get the county to share proceeds from windmill projects to help build the school in Moro.
     Board members had officially gathered to consider five questions:
     • Do we want to close North Sherman Elementary and move to South Sherman Elementary with or without Moro site development?
     • What is a timeline for moving elementary students to South Sherman Elementary without a Moro Elementary site becoming a reality?
     • Should we go out to the voters for a bond for construction at Moro?
     • Should we consider a remodel at North Sherman or a new school at North?
     • What are some possible grade level configurations to achieve single grade classrooms using both North and South Sherman elementary schools?
     In practice, board members did a lot of listening, reserving all but the briefest responses to the extended comments for upcoming publications and meetings.
     Some of those responses were devoted to clearing up what the board and superintendent said were misconceptions — no decision was required that night on the motion, which has been indefinitely tabled; North Sherman has not been neglected more than the other schools in terms of repair; South Sherman has a 65-student population rather than 16 or 22.
     And Ted von Borstel, the third-year board member representing Grass Valley district who made the motion, read a list of 11 advantages to the plan.
     Those included single-grade classrooms; lower costs through the elimination of one full-time employee and travel time; having a full-time principal on site rather than roaming between two campuses; and logistics-related enhancements to a variety of programs: special education, talented and gifted, music and sports.
     “This is a stepping stone to get us [to a single campus],” Alan von Borstel said. “We can cure a lot of our problems by doing this.”
     But the Wasco crowd seemed unconvinced.
     “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” said a woman who identified herself as Naomi.      And Jerry Crusum, at Wasco’s United Church of Christ, suggested “leaving it like it is until we figure out where the windmill money is going.”
     He and others recommended putting the proposal on an upcoming ballot for a community vote. Still others suggested hiring more teachers and administrators rather than move people around. And some even suggested closing the Grass Valley school and moving kids up north, arguing that the population is greater there.
     “I’d like to know why either school has to close,” said Wasco mayor Karen Kellogg, who reported that 264 people had signed a petition to keep North Sherman open.
     And Link Shadley of the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District stressed the attractive power of community schools, even as at least two new Wasco residents said the presence of the small school had factored heavily into their decision to move there.
     Still, not all saw it that way.
     “Even if we get together in the middle here, we will still be a small school,” noted Laurie Tatum. There are approximately 130 elementary students in the entire district, though the county seems poised to grow with an influx of wind power jobs and a new housing division going in in Wasco.
     Wherever students go — or stay — the board would like to see each grade have its own classroom and teacher. Currently, grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 share those things at both schools.
     Board member Bill Martin (Rufus district) identified single-grade classrooms as the highest priority among four goals that came out of a series of sessions with staff, administrators and community members.
     The other goals were being in the top 10 percent of the state, pursuing alternative funding and having a single campus.
     Still, faced with the prospect of the closure of the Wasco school, staff at opposite ends of the district had diverging opinions on the importance of “one teacher, one grade.”
     “It’s not easy on the teachers, but they’re doing their job, and they can do it,” said Samantha Smith, a teacher at North Sherman Elementary.
     “You just can’t possibly get as much done when you’re spread that thin,” said Cindie King, a teacher at South Sherman Elementary, who explained that the need to accomodate a variety of abilities means she doesn’t cover as much curriculum in her grade 3-4 class as she used to with a single grade.
     Superintendent Ritchie had explained earlier that new state curriculum requirements in science and social studies are causing a further push for each grade to be on its own.
     While board plans remain conceptual, some citizens, Kellogg included, were clearly bothered by the fact that the motion remains — albeit in suspended animation.
     One board member stated emphatically that the North Sherman closure remains an option, and the motion can be called back at the discretion of the chair, Verna Simantel (Wasco district), at any time.
     That possibility was clearly on the mind of such Wasco residents as Amy Asher, who is also an ELL instructional assistant at the school.
     “Please don’t do anything this fall,” she begged the board. “Give us more time.”