 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
MEMO BLOG | |
Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memos | Loaves & Fishes | Letters | Home |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Mid-county Memo is your newspaper. We want to hear from you. Discuss an important issue or address a concern you want to call to the attention of the community. We prefer e-mailed letters to the editor sent to Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Please put “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. You may also mail your letter to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230 or fax it to 503-249-7672. Deadline for the January issue is Thursday, Dec. 15.
Proposed land purchase perplexes reader
 |
| The Parkrose School District wants to purchase this quarter acre from the Rossi family to “square-up the property” Parkrose Middle School sits on. Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran |
I am feeling lost, I need your help here. I read in the November Mid-County Memo that the Parkrose Superintendent is having discussions with the Rossi Family concerning the Parkrose School District purchasing some land by the middle school. The reason stated is to “square-up the property.” I do not remember property purchase in the bond, so will these funds be coming from the general fund?
Where these funds come from is important. The Parkrose School Board just voted to cut eight days from the current school year (2011-2012), days Parkrose students will not go to school to learn.
Then, the school board added eight days after students go home at the end of the school year directing Parkrose teachers to come back. To do what?
My confusion is students having instructional days cut, but there are funds to “square-up the property?” I sure could live with a rectangular shaped property if it meant Parkrose students would have their eight days of instruction put back in the school calendar year.
MaryLu Baetkey
Parkrose
Students scold littering neighbors
 |
| Eleven Parkrose students used a recent day off to collect litter around their grade school and neighborhood. Posing with the 31 pounds of collected litter - plus one deflated soccer ball, is, first row, from left, Anya Grobey and Jack Lippy. In the second row, from left, Kate Grobey, Zyna Fernee, Daniel Humphrey, Maddie Lippy, Daniel Humphey and Anna Humphrey. Ali Fernee is in the back. COURTESY ADAIR FERNEE |
What do all of these things have in common: a shirt, a deflated soccer ball, a pair of broken windshield wipers, one adult-sized work boot, a dish towel, a large plastic object that appears to be the underside of a car and a half-empty bottle of wine? We can tell you!
These are all things that we found on Friday, Oct. 28 as we did a 1.5-hour litter pick-up. We started at Northeast 109th Avenue and Skidmore Street and walked to 105th Avenue. After that, we cleaned up Prescott Elementary School grounds.
Next, we walked down Prescott Street and picked stuff up all the way back to 109th and Skidmore. We picked up six pounds of recycling and 25 pounds of garbage in only four blocks.
We had 11 Parkrose students helping. Parkrose Middle School sixth graders Johnny Humphrey, Kate Grobey and Ali Fernee, Prescott Elementary School fourth grader Daniel Humphrey, third graders Maddie Lippy and Anya Grobey, second grader Zyna Fernee, first graders Leif Grobey, Anna Humphrey and Xander Fernee; and Kindergartener Jack Lippy.
With a total of 31 pounds of litter, that works out to almost three pounds of litter [collected] per student.
We had the day off school for conferences and were looking for a way to help out in our community because we should take care of it. We all were disgusted by how much garbage we found and it was really depressing to see how people would just throw stuff on the ground of their neighborhood as if they expected it to magically disappear.
We live in a nice community and it looked really awesome after we cleaned it up. We would like to ask our neighbors to help keep it clean by using recycling bins and garbage cans.
Thanks!!!
Ali Fernee, Kate Grobey and Johnny Humphrey
Parkrose Middle School sixth grade students
P.S. Mom's note: Four parents supervised this activity and all the kids wore gloves - safety first.
We are talking about making this a bigger event next year during conference times to see if we can get families to adopt streets and get the whole neighborhood picked up. I think I'll call SOLV and see if we can get a garbage truck.
Adair Fernee Parkrose school board member and parent
Parkrose teachers want more planning, prep time
 |
| Led by Parkrose Faculty Association Vice-President Jerry Landreth, left, district teachers, classified employees and Oregon Education Association members held an informational picket on Northeast 122nd Avenue near the high school last month. Teachers and classified employees have been working without a contract since July. Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran |
It is time to make the greater Parkrose community aware of a significant labor management disconnect in the Parkrose School District.
At this time, the teachers and the school district have been unable to reach agreement on a new contract. The current contract expired June 30.
Working to agree on a few minor items, both groups have met many times, but the major issues remain unresolved and largely unexplored.
At this point, both parties will resume talks in January with a mediator.
In the interest of public awareness, I mention the major point of disagreement: workload. Parkrose teachers are increasingly unable to do their jobs due to challenging working conditions. We have more students than ever with less preparation and planning time.
Parkrose students are more diverse and come to us with a variety of needs. The classified [employee] partners that we rely on for help had their hours reduced to as little as five hours per day.
Some of our schools have a small custodial staff, forcing staff to leave their buildings earlier than they wish. This might seem like a small matter, yet having adequate time to prepare and plan for our students is perhaps our most vital tool for teaching in today's ever-changing classroom.
One might think money would be the key issue in our labor/management disagreement. Surprisingly, teachers have packaged proposals with the PSD that include 10 unpaid furlough days; no base salary adjustment; little or no insurance adjustments and a moratorium on some professional development money used for workshops.
Certainly, working creatively with the scarce resources we have is important; we understand this.
We continue to stand ready to sacrifice financially in order to get to an agreement. In fact, we also agreed to 10 unpaid days last year.
Do we see a path to a settlement? Yes, we absolutely do.
In these difficult economic times, we are prepared to sacrifice.
Simply put, we wish to have moderate workload mitigation, assisting us with addressing the learning needs of the Parkrose student body. Mitigating our workload is the biggest step to take on the path to settlement.
I love Parkrose and have worked hard to make it better for 24 years. I want the community to be educated about what is going on. I have felt your support and wish to thank you. Your support is what makes Parkrose a wonderful community. I am proud to be one of 179 dedicated teachers here in Parkrose!
If you would like additional information about this situation, contact me at landreth3@comcast.net.
Jerry Landreth
Parkrose Faculty Association Vice-President, 5th grade teacher
MEMO Advertising | MEMO Archives | MEMO Web Neighbors | MEMO Staff | Home