By Starla Pointer • Staff Writer • 

Mac school superintendent plans to retire in 2022

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Comments

Jim

It’s nice to know the end is finally in sight. Things are stale in McMinnville School District. It’s been time for change for years but we have a school board with no backbone. We have one male administrator left in our entire district. Our athletic programs have suffered greatly from neglect. The district spent millions of dollars on a district office that could of been spent on our students and the old office was plenty adequate.Things aren’t near as rosy as this article depicts them. I hope the school board takes a long hard look at who they hire because it is a critical time in education. It’s time we hire someone who make sure our kids are ready to go into the real world. We are a agricultural community and we have no FFA program. There are so many things that need to be fixed I don’t have enough time to list them all. School Board do your job on your next hire for our kids.

Drew1951

The world moves on. Today, education must address science and technology to assure our ability to compete in a rapidly changing and interconnected world. In the near future, students inability to code will be akin to being unable to read today. Our high school offers nearly twenty career pathways to meet the needs of a variety of student interest. The recent bond provided new gymnasiums, new soccer field, new weight room, a wrestling room, new turf at the stadium and baseball field. In conclusion, our district celebrates one of the highest graduation rates in the state.

Jim

Drew1951 I want to see you eat or build a house on science and technology. We need to get students back in the trades and our district is doing a piss poor job of setting that up. We can have all the sports complexes in the world and with no backing from the superintendent and school board it doesn’t mean squat. The world changes every day and just because you score high on a national tests and have high graduation rates doesn’t equate much to how well you perform in the real world. A lot of kids are not prepared to function in society and our National and local education systems have not helped these students one bit.

tagup

Jim, you make a very good point about trade jobs.Some of the first cuts are always shop, welding, mechanic, Hort etc. Trade jobs pay well and the need is acute. That said, I think business also needs to pitch in and set up funding options to keep these programs around because they benefit the most from the training......in my experience High School has always been geared to move kids into college, which is ok.....but not all kids need or want that option.....one of the issues has been a diminished number of students seeking the trade classes and I think that has some impact on decision making. I’m familiar with Hort in particular and there has been less and less interest even at the college level. Hard to justify the costs when the kids themselves aren’t motivated to buy in.

Drew1951

Again, McMinnville School District offers nearly 20 pathway programs to serve the needs of a wide variety of interests. The Culinary Arts program is outstanding. Those kids work their butts off. The dishes they prepare rival those of the finest restaurants. By the way, science and technology can build a house. It is possible, and has been done, that a house was built using a 3D printer. (Not in McMinnville, perhaps, but maybe in the future?)

Jim

Drew1951 how much did a 3D printed house cost? My guess is it’s way cheaper to build a house the traditional way. That takes knowledgeable tradesmen. We have some great pathway programs but most don’t fill today’s job markets. We need framers,truck drivers, farmers, diesel mechanics, auto mechanics, ranchers and the list goes on. Our district is not filling those needs. By the way I have eaten the culinary classes food and it is good.

Jwhite

Since this is 2020 looks like you have another story to print in 2 years.

Drew1951

I cannot believe I am continuing this exchange. I am certain that, at this time, a 3D printed house would be more expensive than stick built. BUT, as time goes on and technology increases, that may change. Consider this: RCA’s first color TV cost $1,000 in 1955. That would be about $9,500 today. So...as time went on and technology increased, the cost came drastically down. I do agree with you that we need to ramp up our training for a multitude of trades. But, let us not forget that we also need to train future doctors, scientists and teachers etal. I hold out hope that one of our young prodigies will find a cure for cancer.

Christmas has Talons

Jim, I couldn't agree with you more very little of each dollar gets to the classroom because of bloated administration and administration's bloated sense of self and what they need over what the kids need.

Molliemck

Talons, what percentage of each dollar goes toward the needs of kids and what percentage goes toward the needs of the administration?

Jim

Molliemck I can’t give you a percentage on what goes to administration. What I can tell you that they have absurd number of high paid administrators with several doing the age old double dipping including the superintendent. With less highly paid administrators they could afford more teachers to lessen the class size for students.

Molliemck

Jim, I’d like to know where you get your information about highly paid administrators and how their salaries could be better spent. I do not work for the school district, but it seems to me that they work really hard to get good results for kids. A school district can’t be made up of teachers alone. It takes a lot of work to keep everything running smoothly, keep programs up to date, and make sure teachers have the support they need to keep teaching as well as possible. I’m not sure what you mean by “double dipping,” but it sounds like quite an accusation. I’d like to know the facts.

Jim

Molliemck double dipping means you are drawing your retirement from PERS
and still working at your government job in this instance education. There is nothing illegal about it I just don’t think it’s right when somebody retires and draws there salary and retirement from a taxpayer funded entity. My opinion only. If you don’t think they have to many administrators take a look at he district office roster and the entire district to see how over staffed those positions are. They are higher paying jobs normally and the money saved from cutting the fat so to speak could hire more qualified teachers to help students. It is becoming the norm in education everywhere today and I’m just voicing my opinion that I don’t like it.

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