‘Be Nice or Leave - Thank You’

This week I come to you on an inside page, as I wish to talk brief- ly about Waitsburg and its schools.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Dr. Carol Clarke in her office at Waitsburg el- ementary school to talk with her about a talk she gave at the Commercial Club dinner in Waitsburg last month. Clarke is the superintendent of schools and also serves as principal for the elementary school.

Toward the end of our conversation, we got off onto the subject of cookie dough, and how a group of elementary school kids got scammed by a con artist in Chicago. That story made the front page of last week's Times. Now I'd like to get back to the original purpose of my visit to Dr. Clarke.

When Clarke started her current job in 2004, Waits- burg's school enrollment was about 350 students. It is now closer to 280. She de- scribed some of the changes she sees in the community that have led to that reduc- tion.

"Families can't afford to live in Waitsburg and have one family member commute to Walla Walla," she said. She told me there seems to be more mobility and that families move in and out of town more. "We don't know who our parents are."

Clarke also said that about 15-20% of students at Waits- burg schools live outside the district's boundaries. The majority of those live in the Dayton School District, but many live in the Huntsville area, which is much closer to Waitsburg than Dayton.

Because of declines in enrollment, three-and-a-half certified teaching positions were eliminated at the begin- ning of the current school year. "We held on to those as long as we could," Clarke said. "We had reserves to cover that for awhile." Clarke said that, with no increase in student count on the horizon, the school board had no choice but to make the cuts.

In her Commercial Club address, Clarke described some of the changes the school is seeing because of security and bullying issues.

"Generally we focus on curriculum and student achievement," she told the group. "however, more and more we find a need to focus on student safety."

Clarke said the Waitsburg schools are putting more emphasis on reducing ha- rassment, intimidation and bullying, which she says have become "an every- day challenge within our schools, our community and our world. "We can no longer accept the thinking that 'boys will be boys' or 'it's just teasing' or 'we did it when we were kids and it wasn't that big of a deal.'"

Clarke says one of the steps she and school staff are taking is to conduct a survey of students. "How are the students feeling about bul- lying?" she wants to know. "What is their perception." Clarke said kids often don't take bullying as seriously as they should, but sometimes adults may overreact to an incident. She hopes to have the survey completed this month.

The schools are also increasing their security measures, especially after the recent school shooting in Connecticut. The schools conduct regular lockdown drills, and arrangements have been made to have vis- its from Walla Walla County Sheriff's deputies more fre- quently. Clarke wants to help im- prove the tone of how people relate to each other, not only in the classroom, but also in the community. During her Commercial Club address she read a poem from an unknown author about how children learn. We've printed it on Page 2.

"How we treat one an- other is significant," she said. We must build a culture of kindness, compassion and caring. We must create a culture of civility.

"The reality is that we have to address this issue not just within the schools but also within the community."

On the wall next to Clarke's desk is a sign that reads "Be Nice or Leave. - Thank you."

She allowed me to stay for more than an hour, so I felt good about that.