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Sunny High of 92 and a low of 59
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Number 36 • 135 years
Homeless camps cleaned, campers scatter
Jeremy C. Ruark / Cottage Grove Sentinel
Tents, other material, and debris scattered across a wide section of the 12th Street camp Aug. 22, the day of transition.
CINDY WEELDREYER JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
The city of Cottage Grove’s strategy to shut down and cleanup the 12th Street and Douglas homeless camps moved forward
last week as planned. The two-site cleanup began and a temporary 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. site was established at the Lulu Dog Park. As of Aug. 29, The Sentinel found only one person camping at the transition camp in the Lulu
Dog Park. It appears that several of the former 12th Street and Douglas camp site residents have filtered out into other areas of the community and beyond. Jeremy C. Ruark / Cottage Grove Sentinel
HOMELESS cont. on page 7
The 12th Street homeless camp site following the initial cleanup.
Nearly all city council seats up for grabs in November 5 election CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
Voters will decide Cottage Grove’s political future in the Nov. 5 general election. The success of the July recall election of three councilors, combined with current terms expiring, creates an unprecedented situation. All but one of the Cottage Grove City Council positions need to be filled. Following the recall, the remaining council members gave no plans to appoint anyone to the three vacant seats, deciding instead to allow voters to elect the ousted councilors’ successors. This decision leaves the Council with three councilors and the mayor to conduct city business in the remaining four months of 2024.
Photo: Metro Creative Connection
Of the three recalled councilors, Ward 1 Councilor Chalice Savage and At-Large Councilor Mike Fleck both had two years left on their terms. At-Large Councilor Alex Dreher was appointed to fill the remainder of former Councilor Kenneth Michael Roberts’ term that expires on Dec. 31. Dreher had planned to seek her own four-year term on the Nov. 5 ballot. The Cottage Grove Mayor’s term is two years. Mayor Candace Solesbee is up for re-election for a second term and is challenged by Ward 3 Councilor Dana Merryday. He has two years remaining on his current term and if his bid for mayor is not successful, he will retain his councilor position. Ward 2 Councilor Jon Stinnett’s
four-year term ends on Dec. 31 and he is not seeking re-election. Tuesday, Aug. 27, was the filing deadline. By the 5 p.m. a total of 13 candidates submitted applications for the general election. All council positions are voluntary and receive no pay for the many hours required to serve the citizens of Cottage Grove. MAYOR Business Owner Candace Solesbee and South Lane School District Teacher Dana Merryday will vie for the top job. Statements each candidate has made in Council meetings and in public statements reveal they both have strong feelings on how the
ELECTION cont. on page 8
Interim superintendent looks ahead to new school year JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
TODAY’S EDITION
Brian McCasline is ready to embrace his first full year as Interim South Lane School District Superintendent. “The district is focused on three goals: Academic achievement, building a cultural of belonging, bringing students to stretch with their future careers and their future education,” he said. “Everything that we are doing, both now and throughout the year, will be focused on those goals,” he said. “We are hyper-focused on especially of increasing academic achievement. That is our focus and that is our primary goal. So that is where our energy is at. That is the message that you will hear from us. It is nothing groundbreaking. It is not Lifestyles — 3 Obituaries — 4 Death Notice — 4
something that is new to our district. We believe that building a professional learning community within our school district is vital to that happening.” STUDENT POPULATION McCasline said the district’s attendance rate increased in the 2023-24 school year. “Which we celebrated,” he said. “But we also want to continue to improve that attendance rate. Attendance rates have gone down across the county in the past three or four years. That’s something that is not foreign to us here in South Lane. But over the past few years each school has been working individually and with their families and students to increase attendance. We know that what we are offering
Opinion — 5 Classifieds — 6 Sports — 8
schools can help students make progress towards being efficient at reading and math, but if they are not at school, we can’t make that progress, so it is of utmost importance that they are here.” According to McCasline, each school is taking steps to increase attendance. “That ranges from having competitions and doing some creative things with their students to help them realize the importance of attendance, to messaging parents of the importance of the need for students to be in the school,” he said. DISTRICT BUDGET The Sentinel asked McCasline what he would like to see done at the state level that would increase state funding to the South Lane School District.
“I think they are already looking at the state school funding formula to make sure that it is equitable for all school districts,” McCasline said. “What is important to us is that we have adequate funding to maintain what we are doing. Costs exceed each year in the increases that we get in state budget, so that isn’t helpful. So, every year we, and every school district in the Oregon, is faced with rollup costs not matching what the state gives us, so we are constantly having to take a look at that and see how to meet the needs of our students. The biggest thing in funding and what is most important to us is making sure that they provide enough increases each year to meet what our increases here are locally.”
Read developing news and story updates @CGSentinel CGSentinel.com
MESSAGE TO COMMUNITY According to McCasline, it is important that the district shows is clear in its focus. “It is also important that we make sure that both staff and families know what we are doing, and they know the progress that we are making,” McCasline said. “That is something that we look to improve over the next couple of years, is making sure that our progress is public. That’s something that hasn’t happened in the past and we want to make that happen. We believe in our staff, and we believe in our kids and we want our kids to be prepared for the future, so we are focused on making sure that students are proficient, that they graduate, that
[ ] “I am here because I believe in the direction that we are heading.” Brian McCasline
they are prepared for the next step after high school, and that they are learning social and emotional skills along the way that will help them do that.”
SUPER cont. on page 3