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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 June issue is Tuesday, May 15.

Renew the promise of David Douglas schools

To the Editor:

Insuring a strong, quality education has always been an essential part of the fabric of the David Douglas community. David Douglas School District has a fifty-year legacy of providing our children with first class opportunities from talented and dedicated staff in well constructed and cared for facilities that are the centers of our neighborhoods.

On May 15, David Douglas is asking voters to renew that promise of earlier generations by replacing an expiring bond with a new bond-you can support the bond and your tax rate for schools will stay the same.

With their tax dollars, earlier David Douglas residents built schools that not only made our kids want to come to school, they strengthened our property values. Our generation now has the opportunity to come together-with Scots' Pride-to renew that investment in our schools' safety and efficiency.

The new bond will pay for simple things to make our schools safer, like repairing roofs and fixing old plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems. It will make energy efficiency improvements that can save money in the long run.

Renewing this investment will help preserve the integrity of what our community has worked hard to maintain: high quality, full-day kindergarten programs, PE, music, art and college preparatory classes that are the envy of other communities that have had to cut, or eliminate them altogether.

We are fortunate that an existing school bond is expiring and we can fund these needed improvements without raising our tax rate for schools. The jobs created by this bond will go to David Douglas residents and businesses. We can continue to improve and conserve our buildings-to renew the promise of earlier generations of David Douglas residents-without paying more.

Bob Earnest
Hazelwood resident







Parkrose alum, former teacher takes issue with district budget committee selections

To the Editor:

After attending the second and last Parkrose School District budget committee meeting last spring I had concerns. So I started attending Parkrose School District board meetings.

In education, the majority of the budget goes to staffing due to the nature of the business.

The work the budget committee did last year was finished quickly. The easy route is to cut school days and hours. Combing through the many categories of a school district's budget document is difficult. Yes, it takes time and many questions to understand how each category directly affects the students or is this item a State or Federal mandate.

Last Spring, I thought the budget committee would have looked very carefully at items such as: not purchasing smart boards; cutting travel out of state; finding ways to use fewer substitutes; looking at all positions not dealing directly with students [administration]; and maybe letting go of PLCs [Professional Learning Community] that take staff time with no additional planning time found.

Some would say the items suggested are nickels and dimes, but they add up.

When I learned there were three openings on this year's budget committee I decided to submit my application. I had it into the district office before the deadline. I waited for some kind of response from Ms. Reese, member of the Parkrose School Board and chair of the budget committee, or the superintendent's office. Some response like: “Thank you for applying. The board will determine membership by the following date.” I heard nothing! No notification they had received my application. No notification when the board would pick new committee members. No notification what the process was. Nothing. No contact from the district whatsoever. So, I started paying attention to the district website.

When I submitted my application for the budget committee I knew I had not taught in the district as a substitute teacher for over a year. When the forms arrived at my house to continue subbing in the summer of 2011, I shredded them. I knew and understood if I was subbing it would be unethical to even apply for the budget committee or for that matter, any committee. I had been asked to apply for the budget committee when I first retired, and had said no as I planned on subbing.

At the March 12 board meeting Reese reported to the board that five people had applied for the three positions on the budget committee. She stated one applicant did not live in district and one applicant worked for the district. When I found out that I was the person supposedly working in the district I questioned some of the board members. They told me they would need to check on this matter, I sent them a detailed e-mail, then I was told they were told I was on the sub list and then I was told no you are not on the list. It turns out that one applicant did not really live outside the district as they had used an old map to check the address. To be very truthful, I did receive an e-mail response from the superintendent on April 12, telling me that I was correct I had not subbed in the district, so I could have served on the committee after all. She was sorry for the mix-up.

Having attended a special board meeting dealing with the budget, I no longer have to guess who got appointed to the three positions, one is new, one is a repeat member of last year's budget committee, and one is a former school board member that I was told was asked to apply by the superintendent. Oh, yes, the school board has chosen to not revisit the issue. My guess is this committee will go with what the superintendent recommends, probably just cutting school days.

Are you now wondering why the Parkrose teachers ended up taking a strike vote? The teachers have worked very, very hard on trying to reach a settlement with the board and the superintendent. Our teachers had to make a very tough choice. I've been there. I understand how gut wrenching it is, but bargaining with this board and this superintendent is not happening. The superintendent said in the April Mid County Memo there is not a planning time issue. There is a huge planning time issue the teachers have none; as one teacher told the board they have 56 seconds of planning time per student, which is not enough.

I did not expect to be appointed to the budget committee, I have written too many letters to the Memo, but I did expect to be dealing with people who had all of the facts before they made decisions particularly since they knew there were questions not answered. If this is happening with just the appointments to the budget committee one can only wonder what is happening at the bargaining table and elsewhere.

This is our community. I was educated in Parkrose, taught in Parkrose, retired in Parkrose, and love this community. It has given me much and I feel a responsibility to give back. This is not a place I am passing through to increase my salary. I am staying and will continue to support the staff of Parkrose School District. They are working very hard for our students. I just hope the folks in charge decide to treat the staff as the professionals they are and the patron that pays the taxes with more consideration.

Thank you,
MaryLu Baetkey

Besides a 1966 Parkrose graduate and resident of the district, Baetkey was a Parkrose School District teacher and full-time employee from 1972-2002. She was the Parkrose High School Community Center Project Coordinator for construction. A former Parkrose Faculty Association president, she was active in the statewide Oregon Education Association.
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