Archive for Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Mike Lawrence: Leveling the playing field
Economic disparities between three school districts vast
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Phippsburg resident Kathleen Foos, the mother of 17-year-old Sam Hedemark, told me Monday that Sam went to a party Saturday night in the Routt National Forest near Chapman Reservoir on "the spur of the moment."
"He just hopped in somebody's car at the last minute and ended up there," she said.
In other words, he had nowhere better to go.
Sam died with Christopher King Fuller of Yampa, 19, when an oil tank at the party site exploded after vapors caught fire and ignited 160 barrels of oil. Both teens had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit - for adults of legal age. Both teens had marijuana in their system, according to the Rio Blanco County coroner.
Both teens could have been anywhere else.
What if they had more options? What if rural communities in Routt County had more resources, and more funding, for youth programs and services?
Would it have mattered?
I can't help but think it would have. There is no clearer example of the vast economic disparities in Routt County than the vast disparities in its three school districts.
At a meeting in May, for example, the Steamboat Springs Education Fund Board granted more than $3.1 million in 2007-08 funding requests, primarily for Steamboat schools. The Fund Board didn't need to turn down a thing. In Steamboat these days, allocating revenues from a citywide half-cent sales tax is like handing out snowballs in a blizzard - there's plenty to go around.
Imagine if more of those dollars and programs went to South Routt, Hayden or Clark.
Fund Board items approved for next year include $20,000 for the new Steamboat Springs Youth Orchestra, $215,000 for an expansion of Gifted and Talented programs and $15,000 for a consultant to examine the needs of local youth theater programs.
The Fund Board's largest allocation for 2007-08 is $800,000 - the equivalent of 16 full-time teachers - to support small class sizes and allow teachers to give focused, individualized attention to students.
Sam Hedemark and Chris Fuller both dropped out of Soroco High School. Sam was a sophomore this year. Chris could have graduated with the class of 2004-05.
This is not at all a knock on the South Routt School District or its staff and teachers - I know many of them, live with one of them and respect all of them. I am well aware of how hard they work. And kids in Steamboat drop out despite an abundance of scholastic resources.
But South Routt schools can only do so much with the very limited resources they have.
Covering local education for this newspaper, I have on several occasions walked into a South Routt School Board meeting the same day an article about Fund Board allocations ran in the Steamboat Today.
"Must be nice," I remember longtime South Routt board member Linda Long saying once, with a rueful smile.
The board then talked about where to scrape up a few thousand dollars to repair broken furnaces, so students would be warm enough in South Routt classrooms.
Furnaces.
In May 2006, the Fund Board unanimously approved $250,000 for an artificial turf field at Steamboat Springs High School. Community members raised an equal amount in weeks, for a project that went through faster than a coal train through downtown.
In Steamboat, the money is there. In much of the rest of Routt County, it is not.
Ask South Routt Superin-tendent Kelly Reed or Hayden Superintendent Mike Luppes what they could do with $250,000. Or with $3.1 million.
Could they keep teenagers like Sam Hedemark and Chris Fuller from making tragic mistakes? Who knows.
Some Fund Board dollars do already go to South Routt and Hayden. And there are more immediate solutions to wayward teens, both in the home and the community.
But I hope that when the Fund Board sales tax goes up for renewal, maybe in 2008, the proposal is for increased countywide funding. I know how I would vote.
- To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4203
or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com
Comments
bigdog (anonymous) says...
That's the answer mike, a bigger nanny government to save us from ourselves.
In your own article you point out the fact that both boys were drop outs. Do you really think that if the high school had a few more programs (checkers club, advance flag football) that they would have been hanging out at "school" instead of hanging with friends smoking weed?
Give us all a break.
June 27, 2007 at 5:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jlkar (anonymous) says...
I think Mike brings up a good point as far as the "other" schools lacking the funds for things like furnances, but unfortunately, it probably looks at a larger picture than school funds. What could we do as members of those communities to improve the funding besides voting for countywide dispersal? Any new ideas- and I am serious- not joking like bigdog and his totally ridiculous comments.
As a graduate of SSHS long ago, kids party in the woods and they smoke weed in the woods too. This was a tragedy and could have easily happened to a Steamboat football star who also excels in the trumpet. The two are unrelated, Mike. Summer= drinking in the woods at age 17. Sorry. those are the facts, no matter what school you attend, and making residents of those particular towns feel bad about not being rich enough to keep their kids occupied is certainly not the way to point the finger when dealing with an ACCIDENT.
June 27, 2007 at 1:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JazzSlave (anonymous) says...
I've said it before, & here it comes again: Steamboat is one of the recreational meccas of the universe.
Anyone unable to find something to do here has made an exceptional effort bury their head in the sand.
Fishing poles are cheap; so are hiking boots; so are inner tubes; so is a membership at the Rec Center, to cite only 4 of endless examples. Any of those items can be procured for less money than was invested in the alcohol & grass at the party the other night.
Anyone who has lived in this absolutely spectacular environment for more than a few minutes should have no trouble finding some rewarding way to spend their free time. If they can't, shame on them.
I couldn't disagree with you more strongly, Mike, and I will never support allocating any of my taxes to insulate the deliberately indolent from their own laziness.
June 27, 2007 at 1:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JazzSlave (anonymous) says...
I'm a little saddened by multiple comments in this thread asserting that 'there's nothing to do if you're not 21.'
In other words, it's just not feasible to have a good time if you're not loaded. If I've misinterpreted those remarks, I'll be quite happy to be corrected.
June 28, 2007 at 10:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
corduroy (anonymous) says...
its hard to find things to do at NIGHT however, especially for those under 21
Steamboat is a huge drinking town, that's what most of the people I see are doing at night. You can't really fish or bike ride in the dark, so where and what are the teens here supposed to be doing? Sitting at home doing homework? Maybe a few of them, but especially in the summer.
A Small youth center with activities would really benefit Steamboat, we'd also want to put one in South Routt, since you can't expect them all to have driver's licenses. I see lots of programs in town for kids (under 12 or so) but nothing for teens. Why is this? When do we stop helping them along to becoming great adults?
Its so sad that it takes another tragedy for people to really think about it.
On a side note, I think that kids shouldn't be allowed to drop out anymore. They are only limiting themselves for the future and I think its plain sad. More and more I hear kids say "I hate school, its so stupid and I'm failing" Why are our kids not getting a decent education anymore? Why aren't they interested in knowledge? Where did we go wrong?
June 27, 2007 at 2:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
learn4life (anonymous) says...
Mike thanks for your words. I am a teacher at Soroco High School and I knew one of these boys in class when he was a true Freshman (not when he was re-classified). I see your point and what I think needs to be most noted is that Steamboat retailers have a $.01 (one penny) tax on goods that goes to the public schools in Steamboat. This was a tax approved a year prior to me moving to the area. Although residents of South Routt County (SoRoCo) do majority of there shopping in Steamboat, our district receives $0.00 from this tax. Our tax paying citizens support your kids programs and education in Steamboat, but none of that money goes to South Routt. Prior to leaving, Steve Jones made a very strong attempt to get a share of this money but to no avail. I guess it's the American way the rich continue to get richer.
For those of you looking to place blame I truly believe that no program, school sponsored or community sponsored would have stopped this tragedy. The one young man I knew was having a difficult time in life. He was a likeable kid but a lot more than just that night had gone wrong in his life. For those educators that worked with him and knewnhim if you are feeling any regret please try to remember ALL that we tried to do for that family, but in the end the decisions about life-paths are not our own.
June 27, 2007 at 3:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JQPUBLIC (anonymous) says...
Why does everyone think that the solution to every social problem is to throw more money at it? If children aren't taught self respect, respect for others, and responsibility by the time they reach their teenage years, throwing more "things" at them isn't going to help. Kids need guidance, one on one mentoring and discipline (this is where parents come in).... not more places the parents can send them to amuse themselves.
June 27, 2007 at 5:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zzzz (anonymous) says...
How ridiculous to suggest that the tragedy could have been prevented if the fund board allocated money to neighboring districts. This is truly a stretch.
June 27, 2007 at 7:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
123now (anonymous) says...
To JazzSlave's comment, not all of us live in Steamboat and not everyone wants to drive there to find something to do. Nothing against Steamboat in anyway but I was raised in Oak Creek all my life and when I was in school we didn't go to Steamboat to find things to do. Steamboat isn't the answer to everything. Are you a local or someone that moved in?
You are right, Steamboat does offer some great things, but when you are from a small community as myself and these two boys were Steamboat isn't the answer to a lot of us.
Like it was posted before, you can't do some of those great things at night and if your aren't 21 then that doesn't leave you much to choose from.
June 27, 2007 at 11:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JQPUBLIC (anonymous) says...
123now... "you can't do some of those great things at night and if your aren't 21".... are the kids so anxious to begin DRINKING legally that sitting in a bar is doing great things?....isn't much of a goal is it? I can't feel sorry for the kids ... get a job. I tried for two years to find a teenager to keep my grass mowed, small yard, I paid $25 and it took the kid 45 minutes... he never came back and the job must have been beneath most of our teens because no one else had time (funny, they found something to do then). I managed to make it through my teen years without a "center", or booze. Just once I would like to see the kids actually entertain themselves like my generation had to do instead of whining that drugs and booze is all they have because SOCIETY won't entertain them in their own backyard. PARENTS... quit using this as an excuse for absentee and drunken parenting, all you are teaching your kids is that it is always someone else's fault. Take them camping, fishing, hiking, cycling, hunting, rafting, play baseball, soccer, join 4h, there is so much to do if you don't want to go to stmbt for movies, swimming, miniature golf, etc., and all of these things would be much more enjoyable sober... and if you think giving them more things to entertain them is the answer, look at all the city kids that are always in trouble because there is "nothing else to do". Kids are taught (by parents) what is important in life... PARENTS, check YOUR lifestyle before you ask society to provide for your kids.
June 28, 2007 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
elphaba (anonymous) says...
Hash-Garrett - Your hateful comment will hurt long after you have moved onto harming something and someone else. Maybe you have always been perfect - but I doubt it.
June 28, 2007 at 1:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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