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--> --> Tragic death spurs desk issue for ASD By Maggie McGehee Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High School officials are scheduled to go before the school board Monday to explain why after four years of urging they have not replaced half the desks in each classroom with two-piece desks. The matter comes before the board at the request of Francee Rothwell. Rothwell's son Charles was overweight as a teen-ager, so much so that he had trouble fitting into the seats at the high school - something that was a source for relentless teasing by his peers. Some classmates called him names, poked at him and even pushed him down the concrete stairs at the school "just to see a fat kid bounce," his mother said. Distraught and at the end of his rope, he turned to AHS campus officials during the 1997-98 school year, asking for help and a comfortable chair. He got neither, according to Francee Rothwell. Soon after Charles Rothwell went home and committed suicide with a gunshot to his mouth. "I was going to file a wrongful death suit," Rothwell said. "But the district said they would replace half the desks in every classroom with two-piece desks if I did not file. Now it's four years later and it's not completed ... In retrospect I should have filed and forced them to do it. It's been a hard road. I just want it done. Now, I've had to get an attorney to get them to do it." Because the high school has yet to replace half the desks at the high school, AHS Principal Julie Reynolds will go before the school board Monday night and explain why. "We're at point where we need to make a report," Reynolds said. "When we started, most of the furniture in buildings were all one piece and fairly new. We've bought a little bit each year with the goal of having half of every classroom equipped with two-piece desks or tables." The matter isn't only about overweight students, Reynolds said. Basketball players and tall students also have difficulty fitting into the one-piece desks, often having to sit for 90 minutes at a time with their legs extended straight out in front of them. While the incident four years ago is tragic, and though AHS officials have yet to equip half the seats in every classroom with the two-piece desks, school officials have made some progress, and Rothwell says it's not Reynolds' fault. "We've spent $31,000, and currently we have 37 rooms that have 10 or more of the two-piece desks or tables in them," Reynolds said. "And we have 22 rooms that have at least five of the two-piece desks in them. We are only purchasing the larger desks, and haven't bought any of the one-piece desks. There isn't any room that doesn't have at least five adjustable desks." "Julie Reynolds has done well with the money they have given her," Rothwell said. "I just don't want this to happen to someone else. This is dragging out so long. What the district wants to do now is to raise money because they don't have the money." However, the district's current budget crisis should not be a factor, according to Rothwell, who has been pushing for the two-piece desks for six years - two years before Charles ended his life. Rothwell plans to attend the board meeting Monday night in the hopes that now she may finally be able to rest knowing that there is a place in the Ashland School District for children of all shapes and sizes. The school board is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Ashland Civic Center's council chambers. At that meeting, officials are also slated to pass a resolution urging legislators convening in a special legislative session early next year to balance the state's budget to not take any money from the state's $5.2 billion K-12 education allotment. District officials hope the legislators will heed the call of school districts around the state and not slash the education budget, though it makes up a large percentage of the state's $10.5 billion budget for the biennium. Other items on the agenda include: · an update by Nancy Coursey of the Oregon School Board Association, who will explain an option the ASD board may choose to consider to have the district board policies reviewed and updated by the OSBA; · a report from school board member Amy Amrhein and Superintendent Juli Di Chiro on the district's drug and alcohol policy review committee; · a report on field trip procedures by Ashland Middle School Principal Dale Rooklyn, Helman Elementary School Principal Barbara Fields and Don Valentini; · an Affirmative Action report by Di Chiro; · approval of the a draft of the 2000-2001 audit; · approval of the proposed 2001-2002 budget calendar for the district. Email your... 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