Kindergarten Round-up numbers down slightly

OROVILLE – End of year enrollment at the Oroville School District appears to be about the same as the previous school year.

“There’s one more count to go… currently we are at 544 to 546 FTEs, which is about the same as we had at the end of last year,” said Superintendent Steve Quick.

The district is required by the state to take several counts each school year and the district has one more count to make, according to District Business manager Shay Shaw in her report to the Oroville School Board during their last meeting.

These counts are important because the state uses the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) students to pay basic education funds throughout the year. It is also important because the board will use these end-of-year numbers to determine next year’s budget.

“The board traditionally sets the upcoming school year’s budget conservatively. In other words they base it on a number lower than the end of year count… last year they set it at 525 FTEs,” said Quick.

The district’s Kindergarten Roundup, a way to estimate how many new Kindergarteners, will be enrolled next year, attracted 49 students, according to Quick. He says is down a little compared to the past three years where it had been climbing.

“We still might pick up a few more in August,” he said.

Under good news and announcements School Director Amy Wise said she went up to sixth-grade camp and it looked like everyone was having fun.

Tam Hutchinson, the Athletic Director reported two students competed in state in golf and two girls competed in pole vault for state track.

“Nick Hugus was an alternate for tennis and our doubles team missed by one point,” he said.

During the public comment section of the meeting, parent Lisa Cole asked for a clarification on the district’s bullying policy.

“It’s kind of generalized on how you handle a bully. How do you handle bullying, threatening and name calling?” she asked, wanting to know if the response was based on the type of bullying involved.

“We have changed our policy in the last couple of years as the state made new guidelines,” replied Kristin Sarmiento, the principal at the high school.

“We look at each incident on an individual basis, we get them counseling, talk about behavior that is appropriate and inappropriate,” Sarmiento added. “Some students have been suspended on the first incident because of the severity.”

The principal said parents always have the option on whether it should be handled at school or go to the police.

“We have been meeting on the discipline so there are changes coming,” she added.

The public comments were followed by an end-of-season coaches’ reports from Dane Forrester, the softball coach and Hutchinson, the baseball coach.

“I thought the girls worked hard, we had five eighth graders nearly all season long… there were always three in the outfield,” said Forrester.

“The baseball team had a lot of fun, we had a lot of young players,” said Hutchinson. “It wasn’t a success with wins, but we always drew big crowds.”

After returning from a closed-door executive session where they evaluated Supt. Quick, the board approved a consent agenda of several items. These included policy on public access to school district records; renewal of the agreement with Compass Group for food service and approval of an AVID Products and Services Agreement.

The board also accepted the resignation of teacher Cenah Whiteaker and hiring of spring coaches. Shaw will be re-hired as business manager, Joan Hoehn as K-6 principal and Sarmiento as high school principal. Evaluations of Quick are ongoing by the board which has not been offered him a contract yet and is expected to make that decision at their next meeting.

Ila Hall, Shelly Martin and Jennifer Burgard were approved as the elementary summer school teachers.

The next meeting of the Oroville School Board is scheduled for Monday, June 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the District Office located at 816 Juniper Street.