School closure: And then there were two

if a school gets closed thank a greenie! they have all but stopped any logging on public lands which used to pay for our schools. a very sad state of affairs when a few small minded people can affect the well being of so many... 

This "news" story doesn't say much. Yes, Rose and Melrose are on the school boards list for possible closure. Yes a school may be closed no matter what we do. There is a much bigger issue we should be addressing. 

The bond levy is meant for Curriculum, Computers/Technology and Building Maintenance. Due to budget constraints the District has deferred funding to these items for five years. Our students are without current curriculum, they have computers/technology that is so old they are unable to take government mandated tests and they are in buildings in need of urgent repairs. These three items are vital to education. The bond levy was intentionally written to address these three items. READ THE BOND LEVY if you want proof. This bond levy would provide funding for curriculum, computers/technology and building maintenance for all schools (K-12). By the way, the bond levy is for $6 million over five years. That's less than $5 per month for the average household ($0.371 per $1000 assessed value).

Whether we close a school or not, these issues are still left unaddressed.

FIRMGROUND has fact links at www.firmgroundforkids.com

They always want to tax the property owner. How about we get rid of child incentives in the tax code and parents can begin paying their fair share for their children's education? I'm tired of seeing parents get more money back from the government than they paid to begin with, then whine about school closures. You made them, you need to help pay for them.

Brenda, I also listed it as government employees, because yes, it is not just teachers. And I don't think it's actually the teachers themselves in most cases who are against PERS reform. But if you pay attention to the lobbying that goes on when everyone starts talking about PERS, the teachers unions are the ones in the foreground saying "we will not tolerate any reforms." I'm not a huge fan of unions, even though I see why they're often necessary, because the union itself often works more for its own interests than that of the people it's supposed to be working for. My point is that if the teachers in the union stand up and tell the union to knock it off, perhaps we'd get somewhere. I really like the points made by Firmground above. With all of this talk about school closures and levies, I've started checking every package we buy for Boxtops and clipping them. I'm going to check out this escrip program because I hadn't heard of it before. I also wonder if more people volunteered in classrooms, I don't know if it could save any money, but it certainly could help the kids.

Not saying I want either school to close but my take on it is this... If they close Melrose the building and grounds will sit unused yet still paid for with taxpayer monies. On the other hand, Rose school is located in a more central area where it could be used for school offices and other things.

Don't close either school. The children need more teachers and more individual attention. Cramming more students in an already overcrowded system will do nothing but harm them. Figure out the financials to build more schools and hire more teachers, not close them and layoff the hard working individuals who teach and take care of your children.

Or www.firmgroundforkids.com Thanks for letting us take up space on your comment section.

Tasha PERS is not just teachers. PERS stands for Public Employee Retirement System. Not really fair to blame all of the PERS issues on teachers.

I will gladly give up two pizza dinners a year to save a school and I don't even have a child enrolled!

We would like to remind people that it is not all about school closure. We've dug into the facts. We urge you all to do the same. Then vote. We are currently working with the district to identify places where money could be saved. We spoke with the tech director and floated the idea of a mobile lab unit that is shared among schools until labs can be replaced and also the idea of leasing computers instead of buying. He was really open to exploring this idea. This alone could save the district $400K in the short term. Better yet, turn the equipment faster so kids don't have to deal with outdated tech to do their work. How cool is THAT! Its a longer term solution that needs help getting started and that is why the FIRMGROUND group decided to ask the public for help with the levy. For the average Roseburg property the levy impacts you $3.71 - $5.60 per month - its the cost of a Rockstar or a Big Mac Meal or a glass of Wine or Beer at your local restaurant. There are other ideas too that DON'T COST PEOPLE ANY EXTRA MONEY! Take Boxtops for Education...if everyone in town turned in 10 (the average home has 8 at any given time) then the schools would instantly have $10000. BAM. Not extra money spent. So go clip a boxtop and drop it to your local school or the district office by staples. Did you know that the District also turns in Printer ink toner cartridges so they can get free printers that they give to the schools? Could local businesses help with that too? There are schools that run gift card programs - let me do the math for you. 2000 people (10% of us locally) buy a gift card and use it for gas and groceries at, say, Fred Meyer (who gives 5% to the school that sells the gift card). Mind you it is money you are ALREADY SPENDING. 2000 people in 1 week generate another $10000. If 2000 people do that all school year A COMMUNITY GENERATES $400,000 AND NOT ONE SINGLE EXTRA PENNY WAS SPENT! HOW COOL IS THAT!? And that is just 10% of people!! IT's this kind of OUT OF THE BOX thinking that FIRMGROUND is working with and toward with the District and School Board...none of us, like you, want to pay anything extra. We agree...no new taxes, however, if we are going to get to that point and put our schools K-12 in a position to do this then we must give a little bit to get there. WE are convinced that with a little give from us (the public) and with the School Board already being open to some out of the box thinking (and more comes in everyday) that we can TOTALLY CHANGE the way we are doing things! We are a very strong community! So to all the folks that do not want to vote yes on the levy and are not willing to give $3.50 - $5.60/month on average to help get us there, we respect that decision. But we ask that you step forward and help be part of the solution so that we can fix this issue. Please clip boxtops, register your safeway card with escrip.com, buy a gift card (just like the ones you would buy at the grocery stores) from a school that sells them (fir grove, rose, melrose...maybe others) and put the money you are spending to work for them so no more Bond Levy's need to be floated! We dont' like it any more than you do, believe us. But we see it as a low cost solution to getting us back on track. If you have ideas or want to know more about how you can give without spending any extra money, email us at firmgroundforkids@gmail.com or like us on Facebook so we can get you pointed to your nearest school.

@BILL MARSHALL on another post I stated that retired people on fixed incomes can't afford more taxes coming out of there income. However, they are a wealth of knowledge. It would be wonderful to see them team up with schools to help educate our children today. They could surely benefit from the wisdom the elderly have. There are however certain retired people that just don't care. They have the money but won't spend it. I am medically retired myself due to cancer. I must make wise choices about how my income is used in order to get the most out of what I have. If only the tax payers had a better say in how our tax dollars are spent. So much waste in gov't. So sorry to have offended and lumped all retired people under the same canopy. Where will the changes take place? Something has to give, but to give up on our future most certainly isn't going to help us down the road. We have far to many uneducated people living off of a system that is being used in ways it was never intended. I could go really political and talk about how we provide medical benefits to people who are illegally in our country. They are criminals benefiting from tax dollars. I honestly believe we need a voucher system for schools..so that the schools that performed the best would be rewarded. But we are years from anything like that. I have a teacher friend that lost her job due to budget cuts in her area of Oregon. She had the lowest tenure. There are other less qualified, less caring teachers that kept there jobs due to tenure. I need to stop as I feel as if I am chasing my tail. I guess as always I don't have the answers but must trust Him to lead me where I should go.

I am going to ask again......why are they starting NEW PROGRAMS for pre kindergarten when we cannot keep schools open.???....i am going to guess that it is federal money allocated for that specific purpose......well just because our federal government has no sense about themselves does not mean we have to follow suit!!! If the money is needed for schools to stay open.....be damnd our confused federal government,and all UN-funded new programs!!!

@ LEE TAPLEY ..as I stated earlier another retired person not wanting to spend a dime to save a quarter down the road. What part of someday these children will be adults with a poor education and the gov't will be subsidizing there living expenses.

Tasha Conner good information. I just don't think the kids should suffer.

Sorry that section of Roseburg. This is why I shouldnt talk in two places at once. Its still a sketchy area.

Its going to be hard no matter what school closes.No one wants to see the school that their child attends close down. Regardless of whtat school closes children will be affected by overcrowding in classrooms according to the numbers Ive seen.

Oh I'm very aware of teachers salary and education because I was planning to be one before I started having kids. I still hope to be down the road. The biggest problem with PERS comes from government employees from 20-30 years ago, so I know that it was bad back then because the problem started a long time ago. I actually looked at a little bit of the Firmground page last night after I saw you posting. I haven't yet looked at or seen what the actual levy measure will say, but so far all I've heard is that it's vague. For me, based on past experience, that means that they are using this opportunity to get more money out of taxpayers without promising to use it for what we expect and want them to. That's what bothers me.

The levy would cost taxpayers an estimated 37 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or $55.50 a year on a $150,000 house.--or more simply a nice dinner at a local restaurant one time during the whole year or one less coffee stand coffee per month. Not much of a sacrifice for a coffee drinker but will mean so much to local children.

So the retired people are the blame for the schools too besides the country being broke. I guess you are entitled to think what you want. We are easy to blame.

WHAT PART OF NO TAXES DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

Tasha have you gone and read from the 2 links I posted. I don't know if you always went to private school. My kids both went to public school for part of there education. Things were bad back then. I see your point. Have you also considered that most teachers have spent more time in college than some other professions and make far less money. A nurse spends the same time in school but makes far more starting out than a teacher. That gap continues to increase as more time goes by. Everyone thinks teachers have free summers, but in reality they are required to continue there education. Finally it's not teachers that have created this problem it's big government. You have read the salaries of these elected officials. Why must the cuts always come from the bottom....lets start whacking from the top for once. It's quite sickening that the salary of an elected official would keep a school open.

The hard thing for a lot of people in making a decision like this is distrust in the schools and government in their handling of our money. For the school district to ask for the taxpayers to pay a levy, but still be unable to guarantee that it will prevent them from closing a school... that doesn't make us trust them any more. When the teachers unions are driving our state broke because of PERS, that makes me question whether the teachers in those unions are more concerned about making as much money as possible than taking care of and teaching our kids. I realize that it would not help our school district with this decision right now, but what we really need is substantial PERS reform. We need upstanding teachers past and present who truly care about the future of our children to stand up and demand that their unions back down, and even support changes to the PERS program so that it will no longer be bleeding our schools dry.

neither school should close i will admit i vote more for rose NOT closing but then my son goes there same with many6 other kids i know. I see first hand what this school does for the children of the rose school community. Its just sad that this has to be a decision this is hard for the children the families and staff of these schools.

Bob the people that allocate our money will say that the road money comes from a different fund...but in reality it all comes from the same place, the taxpayer's wallets!

We can afford to take the curves (for no apparent reason) out of Stewart Parkway, but can't fund our schools.

https://www.facebook.com/firmgroundforkids or http://www.firmgroundforkids.com/ if you don't believe what I am saying...go ahead and read it all for yourself.

Melrose should stay open and Rose would need to close. Easier to disburse the student at Rose than Melrose.

I suggest they put two choices on the ballot...the first one being the one they currently have, the second one being a bigger request that would keep the grade schools all open, make the necessary repairs and upgrades needed with the first measure, and lastly a plan with the additional funds to build a new high school. If we had 2 high schools we could have the 9-12 at the high schools, 5-8 at the jr highs and k-4 at the grade schools. I realize some people won't like this...it's a lot more money but this is going to have to happen sometime in the next 20years. There simply isn't room in these grade schools that were built decades ago to continue to hold the increased number of little bodies that occupy there halls.

The last sentence says it all.

If you read the reasons for the money it's to bring the schools up to code, to provide up to date curriculum materials, to upgrade computers that are more than 10 years old. People need to bite the bullet and quit voting down every request for school money. Just because you don't have kids in school, either you haven't had children yet or you are retired these young people will be taking care of you someday. So for all the retired people that say it has no effect on them if the schools fall to the ground. When you are sick and in the hospital where do you think the people caring for you went to school. I would think you would want the best for them, because someday it will determine your quality of life. For the people that are tired of the drug problem...lets educate our children, give them hope for a better future. Yes Rose school has some children that come from poverty, but they are children, will you deny them a proper education because there parents didn't get one...sure why not...keep this wretched cycle going! Then come back in 15 years and complain more about our welfare system! FYI my kids are grown so this isn't about a student I have in a school. It's about putting our children first! They are the future!!! If you aren't aware there will no longer be music or Physical education in the grade schools! More obese kids...that costs you money in healthcare! You are looking down the barrel of a shotgun and thinking it won't go off someday. This is going to come back to haunt us! It is sickening to see where we place our values...there is a coffee shop on every corner...people don't think twice about a $5 coffee every morning. Ask them to purchase a book for a child and they act like they have just been asked for a blood donation! YES I AM RANTING!!! SOMEONE HAS TO!!

To consider how far the kids that live in Melrose would have to ride the bus, and how long that would make thier day.

hey cody check your map rose isnt in green hahahaa

School closure is a symptom of a larger problem of school funding. If you want to become part of the SOLUTION, check out the FIRMGROUND FOR KIDS Facebook page and www.firmgroundforkids.com

Green*

You guys are right... that section of green is just filled with upstanding citizens.

The federal government should be stepping up to give the children an education but I guess they don't figure they need much of one to go kill people in other countries when they turn 18 yrs old.

That area is not tweakerville. Get your facts straight because you go saying stuff that that you know nothing about.

I would tell them this, if this is about money, they should look at closing the schools that are going to cost the most to maintain, with Green and their needed heating system, and not up to standard reinforced concrete walls, and Melrose with the sewer system needing replaced, at the meeting last night they were more interested in the moving of kids to other schools and the impact it would have, well I don't argue that, but the important thing now is to cut costs they say, well then do what is the least expensive. just one persons opinion

Tweakers?!.....sorry, but they are spread out throughout douglas county! Obviously you dont know a tweaker when you see one.

I loved going to Rose, and i still visit there every once in a while. i love the fact that its not on the main street, where people drive all crazy. And there is nothing wrong with the neighborhood, many of the houses have kids who go to school at Rose.

My nephew goes to rose. It's a great a school. Hope they keep it!

wow... I live in this neighborhood and i am not a tweaker nor have i ever been same with a lot of the people on the street i live on. What a ridiculous judgement.

Keep Melrose open. It's an awesome school. All of my children have went there and still have one there.

The area a school is in can effect the kids. Kids dont need to be in tweaker central.

the area has nothing to do with the sschool cody thats a crappy thing to say. Rose is a wonderful school filled with wonderful staff and children.

I would keep Melrose school open .

So they are asking for more money with no guarantee that they will actually keep these schools open? Seriously. :/

if you have ever been to the area rose school is in the decision is easy

I hope they keep Melrose no matter what happens.