Unified Board Discusses Clearwater-Orchard's Future

By Natalie Bruzon
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Surveys from Clearwater and Orchard’s Advisory boards were meant to help start conversation about how the Unified Board would move forward. Instead, there was more silence.

Besides the surveys, the district spent Thursday’s meeting discussing a move from a five-day week to four days, as well as how to retain students who are opting to other districts.

A priority for this month’s meeting was to look at the surveys which were submitted last month. Because one was turned in late, the board voted to delay the discussion until October. 

“We had the 12 questions, and obviously the advisory board responded to each of those 12,” said superintendent Dale Martin. 

The board began looking at the survey question-by-question. After only minutes of attempting to engage the board in a discussion, board members Terri Hergert of Orchard and Marty Kerkman from Clearwater questioned the purpose of reviewing the survey question-by-question. 

“I don’t even know what we’re doing here,” Hergert said. “I don’t know if there’s even a resolution here.”
Kerkman agreed and said, “I feel like this is more for Verdigre - to help them understand what’s going on.”
The board then launched into a discussion about the best way to address the Clearwater-Orchard co-op issue. 

Peggy Liska of Verdigre questioned the Unified Board’s involvement in the issue. 
“Is this our responsibility?” she asked.

Martin said the Unified Board is “absolutely responsible” for making a decision on the matter, as the advisory board asked them to do so when they were not able to come to an agreeable compromise. 

Hergert commented to the board that splitting may not be such a bad thing. Having attended a small school for many years, Hergert said it forced her to be friends with a girl she would not have naturally bonded with. 

The other board members responded that such small classroom sizes do not have the benefits they once did and students may lose out on opportunities they have in bigger schools. 

“How can we stay together?” asked Martin. “In my mind, that’s the main thing.”

The board’s discussion lasted nearly an hour with board members advocating on both sides. Marty Konopasek of Verdigre, whose children travel over 15 miles to get to school, said that traveling to school is simply a way of life in small communities and should not cause concern. Splitting, he said, should cause concern.

Board president Joe Thiele of Clearwater, who listened throughout most of the discussion, said that he has read various stories in The Orchard and Antelope County News which speak of how great Orchard is doing. 

“(The stories) have given me all sorts of warm, fuzzy feelings about Orchard and how they’re doing - and that’s great. And I’ve heard the Erbs at the Corner Hardware have had the best sales they’d had in a long time during the past two years,” Thiele said. “Will moving the high school really make such a difference?”

Toward the end of the discussion, Liska looked to all the board members and also addressed the audience. 
“You can’t (all) be right and get along,” said Liska. “At some point, someone needs to give.”

After further discussion, the board agreed that the feasibility study will be a large contributor to a decision on Clearwater-Orchard’s unity. In the meantime, the board will work on looking at the positives and negatives from the three different options the school has — staying as is, switching the high school to Orchard or no longer having a co-op agreement.

Also during the meeting, three students attending the Close-Up group asked the board for funding. 

Fourteen Clearwater-Orchard students plan to represent the Unified District at Close Up in Washington D.C., and three student representative from that group presented to the board details about the trip before asking members to consider a donation. 

The trip costs $2,150 per student, and students have been fundraising since their freshman year. Students need to have at least $1,600 to go, and one of the student representatives stated that each student has an average of $1,200 raised. The board moved to contribute $100 to each student’s travel expenses. 

Martin presented to the board a request from the Clearwater-Orchard TeamMates chapter to assist with a tax matter.

Jarod Long, treasurer for the Clearwater-Orchard TeamMates chapter, explained the request further.  

“The central office doesn’t want us paying our director from the checking account,” explained Long. “Because of taxes. So what we’re going to ask is the school pay the director, that way taxes are taken out, and then TeamMates pay the school. If we look around that’s what a lot of other schools are doing, so the school will pay the director and then TeamMates will pay the school. So there won’t be a loss of money or anything, just a direct payment.”

The board moved to approve this request. 

Martin brought the NeSA scores to the board, stating that the writing scores will be available on Friday. 

“Overall, I think we got generally good results for the NeSA,” said Martin, stating that various students in all three schools received perfect scores. 

The board then looked at some of their overall objectives, including switching to a four-day week. Martin presented some of the benefits of this, especially when it comes to distance learning. 

Other goals the board has is joint advisory and unified board meetings and discussing restructuring possibilities. 

Hergert brought the board’s attention to a family in the Orchard district who has chosen to send their child to Creighton. 

“I was made aware today when I was talking to someone. There’s a new home being built east of Royal in the Orchard district. And their little one is going to go to Creighton,” said Hergert. “I asked, ‘Well, why is that?’ And they said, ‘Oh because he wants to be involved in FFA.’ So what can we do to educate the public, especially those new ones coming in?”

While Clearwater-Orchard does not have its own FFA program, several of the students are participating in FFA through the Verdigre district.  Hergert suggested adding a goal about educating the public and keeping children in the district.

Among other housekeeping items, the board moved to pay their bills and approved the treasurer’s report.