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Wednesday April 16, 2025 | Volume 150, Issue 16 www.polkio.com

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Now get Michelle Ashley cake with that coffee or beer By DAVID HAYES I-O Editor

Some things have a way of moving quickly in small towns. Last month, Mitch and Cathy Teal approached Michelle Ashley with a proposition to start offering her custom cakes out of their Brew Coffee and Tap House in Independence. And within two weeks, nearly 50 people were on hand April 9 for the ribbon cutting to celebrate the collaboration. “I’m super excited to be integrated here now into the community,” Ashley told the crowd. “... I’ve been 10 ½ years in recovery, so I have my heart in service, giving back to the community as much as I can. Having Mitch and Cathy come to my door and ask me for this community collaboration was just humbling. I knew that I wanted to be more involved in this community.” Ashely started her custom cakes home business in 2015. In 2018 she opened the shop at the 48th Parallel in the Salem-Keizer area. Next, she found her perfect residential home in Independence in 2020. “I like the charm of this town. It’s very Hallmark,” Ashley said. “The house I wanted was here. I knew exactly the design of the house I wanted, and found it here.” Mitch Teal said they’d just purchased a new case to stock with pastries to go with their barista bar. Then with minimal research, they approached Ashley. “She had outstanding social media. Her name kept popping

PHOTOS BY DAVID HAYES

(Top) Michelle Ashley cuts the ribbon April 9 to officially seal the deal to offer her custom cakes and pastries out of Brew Coffee and Tap House in Independence. (Bottom) Customers are met with a display of goodies for sale. up. Then we heard she was from Independence, that was literally the icing on the cake,” Mitch said. Her licensed kitchen will continue to bake and decorate her custom creations, including a dietary line of keto, gluten free and vegan options, with daily deliveries to stock the case at Brew House. Ashley said within an hour, they had hashed out the entire plan. The very next day, she came over to Brew with her Chef Mercedes, built

up and decorated the case. They sold out that night, they sold out the next night, and every night after that has been steady. “I have just been slammed over here filling it. I’ve had to hire more people. I’ve bought a new freezer. I cannot be more excited about this. Mitch and Cathy (Teal) are absolutely the sweetest humans I have ever met,” Ashley said. See CAKE, page A3

Central School District language Dallas City Council learners exceed state expectations member Virden resigns By DAVID HAYES I-O Editor

The Central School District received some good news when staff evaluated the results of its On Track to English Language Proficiency report. District students are exceeding state expectations tracked by the OTELP. Holly Monroy, district Emergent Bilingual Program Director, presented the good news to the school board at their April 7 meeting. First Monroy explained that OTELP indicates the percentage of students who are meeting progress expectations of Oregon’s English Language Proficiency Assessment. “So, just like you wouldn’t imagine totally absorbing a new language at the academic level in an instant, a month or even a year,” Monroy said. “We don’t

expect that out of our students either.” However, she said, staff uses a formula to track how students should be moving along according to their original assessment. Monroy then shared the data across three school years, from 2021-22 through 2023-24. Starting with elementary numbers, Ash Creek grew from 49.3% to 66.7%. Independence Elementary’s number grew from 33.8% to 62.8% and Monmouth Elementary, after a dip by nearly 20 points last year, saw an overall increase of 6.9% over the three years from 71.4% to 78.3%. “So, that’s super exciting the amount of growth of students on track,” she said. While secondary scores were up 4.6% at Talmadge Middle School (20.2% to 24.8%) they dipped at

Central High School, from 17.1% to 16.3%. “The district overall, when we look at all our students that are calculated in this data, we went from 31.6% in 2021-22 to 44.9% in 2023-24,” Monroy summarized. She shared some other highlights from the assessment’s data: • All elementary schools far surpassed the state and district percentages in 2023-2024. • Two schools and the district overall demonstrated a continuous growth trajectory across all three school years • In 2023-2024 CSD had 44.9% on track compared to the state level of 45.5% • IES demonstrated the largest growth moving from 33.8% in 2021-2022 to 62.8% in 2023-2024. See CENTRAL PAGE A2

“Her contributions to Debbie Virden formally the city and announced her resignation from the commitment Dallas City Council effective April to public 3. In a letter to the council Virden service have explained why she was stepping been greatly down. valued by her “While I have thoroughly fellow council enjoyed the research, discussions members, city and public input during my years staff, and the as a city councilor, there are other community,” Debbie Virden matters which need and deserve the city of my full focus right now,” Virden Dallas said in a press release. “The wrote. City of Dallas extends its gratitude Virden has been a member of the for her service and wishes her the City Council since 2022 when she very best in this next chapter.” was appointed to fill the position Details regarding the process for vacated by former City Councilor filling the resulting vacancy will be Paul Trahan. She most recently shared in the coming days. For the was re-elected in the Nov. 5, 2024, most up to date information, go to election with the fourth most votes www.dallasor.gov or follow Dallas of seven candidates vying for five on its Facebook page. open seats on the council. Staff

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