Document text
Central Point schools' McClain bids farewell By VICKI GUARINO CENTRAL POINT -- With gifts of a ceramic apple to board Chairman Dave Gilmour, and wildlife prints by award-winning Crater grad Maranda Schemanski to board members, schools chief Mike McClain said farewell to district officials Thursday. He'll leave office at the end of the month, but attended his last board meeting as superintendent of the 4,500-student Central Point district on Thursday. Although McClain has been planning his departure for more than three years, and technically retired on Dec. 30, he told board members that only now is he feeling the emotional impact of retirement. "It didn't start hitting me until last night," he admitted. McClain leaves after 17 years in the Central Point district and six years as superintendent. Longtime district administrator Candy Manary takes over as superintendent July 1. Among the greatest disappointments of his career are the continuing uncertainties of school funding. Central Point just adopted a $31 million budget for the coming school year without knowing how much money the Legislature will allocate to public schools. State support is the largest portion of a school district's revenue, but the state Legislature hasn't determined funding for the coming two years. School districts, however, must adopt budgets for the coming year by next week. Funding uncertainties arise regularly, McClain said, and pose difficulties to districts planning educational programs. "It bothers me that we can't straighten out our affairs better," McClain said. School funding problems will continue, he predicted, as long as Oregon voters "elect legislators who don't have vision, and can't get beyond petty politics." Of all the Central Point district's needs, McClain said, the greatest is funding to build new schools and enlarge a seriously overcrowded Crater High School. McClain said he sorely regrets that voters twice rejected a $36 million construction bond measure. "It just delays what we must do," he said. "There has to be a bond levy and it has to pass." Beyond the need for new buildings to replace aging Central Point Elementary School and Hanby Middle School, and adding high school classrooms, there are efforts that could markedly improve education in the district if the community could afford the price. Science texts are 10-12 years old and light years out of date. The district has managed to set aside some $75,000 for text purchases, but replacing all science books would cost closer to $250,000. The district also needs more teachers at the elementary schools to bring class size down from 27-28 students to no more than 20 -- a national target for primary grades to improve learning. "That would do more good for us than anything we could do," McClain said. Among the greatest accomplishments of his tenure, McClain said, was the establishment of community health clinics in district schools. The clinics were launched on the theory that the availability of medical care would improve students' health and healthy students would learn better. McClain said the truth of the theory is evident in students' achievement test scores. Both McClain and Gilmour, who presided over his last board meeting Thursday after nine years of service, praised school staff for their dedication to students. "We have incredibly competent people," Gilmour said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA