Parents Get Their Say
It was a meeting that presented the cool, calm, and collected side of a very tenuous issue. What started as a very volatile petition regarding student athletes and dress codes at Siuslaw High School, became an opportunity for parents to address issue before the Siuslaw school board. Stacey Collins initiated the petition and was in part concerned about the apparent double standards when applying rules.
“You take kids out of class to give them referrals for dress codes while other students wearing the exact same thing are still sitting in class and it’s not an issue.”
Ultimately what it came down to for Collins was a simple principle:
“It’s my job to parent my kids, I’m not saying don’t have boundaries and don’t have guidelines, but it’s my job to parent my kids.”
Five concerned parents spoke on this issue all of which were in unison in expressing their views on how they perceive enacting policy is skewed towards some but not all children at the high school. Jennifer Waggoner saw this as a symptom of a larger problem.
“Due to a lack of administrative leadership the exception to the rule and circumventing the rules has become the norm at the high school.”
Waggoner petitioned the board to remember the guiding principles on which the school is based.
“High standards, high expectations, accountability for all, providing a safe and mutually respectful educational environment, involvement of the entire community as being essential to our students success and that quality communication and collaboration are critical to the educational process.”
One other issue addressed was the way information was collected in order to hand down suspensions, which according to parents was the use of social media photos as a guideline for determining the behavior of a child. Collins stated that decisions should not be made using random photos collected because they fail to show any of the circumstances behind it. At that time the board did not respond to any of the comments.
Cascadia Rising Results
It took a year to compile all of the information, but the Emergency Managers for Oregon, Idaho, and Washington are calling Cascadia Rising a huge success. One of the lessons learned from the 3 state emergency drill conducted last year was that residents and businesses along the Cascadia Subduction Zone should have a proper amount of emergency supplies. Cory Grogan with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management:
“The recommendation before has always been 72 hours and Cascadia did play a role in that truthfully for that 2 weeks model, we knew that if it were a large event that 3 days, 72 hours would not be enough.:
Grogan said that this is the largest emergency exercise the State of Oregon has ever conducted. And in addition the collaboration between government and private sector participants was strong and he believes it will continue to gain strength as they work toward enhancing the states preparedness.
“To be as prepared as we possibly can for what will be Oregon’s worst day when a Cascadia Earthquake/Tsunami happens. We know now because of events like Cascadia Rising that we’re much more prepared than we were 20 or 30 years ago
Ribbon Cutting Postponement
The weather forecast has dampened plans for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the Rhododendron/Kingwood road project. It was initially scheduled for Friday but with the threat of rain possible City manager, Erin Reynolds says that they will convene and find another date that will hopefully be free of inclement weather.
Emergency Drill
This morning at 10 am the joint emergency services will be performing a drill at the boat ramp in old town. A spectator viewing area has been set up to the west of the Bridgeport Market in the parking area. Access to the area will be cut off by 8 am and people are asked to not be in the active scene area. The drill is expected to be completed by 1 pm.
