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Financially troubled school gets reprieve.


Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

VENETA - Willamette Leadership Academy Board Chairman David Wright David Wright may refer to:
  • David Wright (baseball), (born 1982) American Major League Baseball player for the New York Mets
  • David McKee Wright (1869-1928) Irish born Australian poet and journalist
  • David Wright (artist), (1912-1967) British artist and illustrator
 walked into Tuesday night's board meeting expecting to vote to close the school on Jan. 27, barring any financial miracles between now and then.

But after more than two hours of impassioned, occasionally angry, testimony from parents, students and staff members - punctuated by closed-door deliberations by the board midway through - the school earned yet another reprieve reprieve (rĭprēv`): in law, see pardon. .

"We're not prepared to make a decision tonight," Wright said after the board tabled discussion until Jan. 23 and adjourned.

The indecision Indecision
Buridan’s

ass unable to decide between two haystacks, he would starve to death. [Fr. Philos.: Brewer Dictionary, 154]

Cooke, Ebenezer

his irresolution usually leads to catatonia. [Am. Lit.
 left parents scratching their heads but clinging to hope that the school, with their help, can afford to stay open through the end of the year.

It was the third time since November that the board has been on the brink of closing the struggling charter school, which is nearly $45,000 in debt and losing at least $5,000 monthly, due mainly to lower-than-expected enrollment.

But this time, finances - while still plenty worrisome - showed a positive trend.

"We're seeing improvement in enrollment, public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most  and minor improvements to finances," Bill Lay, the school's founder and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , told the board, though he acknowledged that there's far to go to get back into the black.

As of this week, enrollment stands at 75 - higher than in November, but shy of the 150 predicted for the fall. It would take at least 20 more students to stop the hemorrhage hemorrhage (hĕm`ərĭj), escape of blood from the circulation (arteries, veins, capillaries) to the internal or external tissues. The term is usually applied to a loss of blood that is copious enough to threaten health or life.  of funds, Lay said, and that still leaves a whopping debt - including three months' rent that the Fern Ridge School District agreed to defer - to pay off.

"A brief summary, to go over it: we need $45,000 tonight, basically," Wright told the crowd of at least 40 at the outset.

In dialogue between board members, school officials and audience members, several parents pledged their own money to keep the school open. Becky Harwood of Junction City Junction City, city (1990 pop. 20,604), seat of Geary co., NE Kans., at the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers; inc. 1859. The rail, trade, and processing center of an agricultural and dairy area, it grew as the supply point for nearby Fort Riley, , whose son, Patrick, is an eighth-grader, walked up and handed Lay a check for $100. She said she's seen a "transformation" in Patrick since enrolling him last spring, that he is thriving thanks to the school's caring teachers, structure and emphasis on leadership, teamwork and physical activity.

"I think you're going to have faith that we can pull it out," she told the board.

But Harwood wanted more than another temporary stay. She and other parents wanted an ironclad ironclad, mid-19th-century wooden warship protected from gunfire by iron armor. The success of the ironclad when first employed by the French in the Crimean War sparked a naval armor and armaments race between France and Great Britain.  guarantee that the school will stay open for the remainder of the year, and they didn't get one.

"We have hope - we're not hearing it (from you)," parent Terri Parris told the board.

Steven Arbuckle, an administrator and teacher at the school, gave high praise to his colleagues and said the benefits students gain from the academy will outlast out·last  
tr.v. out·last·ed, out·last·ing, out·lasts
To last longer than.


outlast
Verb

to last longer than

Verb 1.
 any financial crisis.

"Defeat's not in my dictionary," he said, his voice booming. "I'll do everything I can to keep it open, to teach your children."

After rousing rous·ing  
adj.
1. Inducing enthusiasm or excitement; stirring: a rousing sermon.

2. Lively; vigorous: a rousing march tune.

3.
 applause, Wright called for a break, disappearing into a back room with fellow board members and school officials for a discussion he said he only later learned was a violation of Oregon Public Meetings Law. They emerged 15 minutes later, ready to vote to extend the deadline for a closure vote to Jan. 27. When parents said only a commitment to keeping it open could save the school, the board agreed to table further discussion and took no vote.

The academy, which moved to Veneta from Eugene in 2003, has "risen from the ashes" before, Lay noted. Formerly known as the Pioneer Youth Corps Military Academy, the school was previously a private alternative program, which accepted students - most of them at-risk - by referral through contracts with districts. It successfully sought charter school status in 1999, which allows it to accept students without a district referral. In 2003, the Eugene School Board turned down its bid for charter renewal, citing concerns over fiscal management and curriculum.

Briefly without a home, PYCO approached Fern Ridge and found it willing to sponsor the school and lease the old Central Elementary School Central Elementary School could refer to either of the following schools:
  • Central Elementary School, Lake Bluff, Illinois, a public school near Chicago, Illinois or
 building. While that relationship has been smooth, the school has struggled to make ends meet for the past two years.
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Title Annotation:Schools; Officials of Willamette Leadership Academy delay a vote to close for two weeks
Publication:The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:Jan 11, 2006
Words:689
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