Resolution

This past Friday, we received a letter in the mail from Superintendent Dawn Tarzian. This is what it read:

November 20, 2007

Dear Ron and Denise,

Thank you for you patience in waiting for this response regarding your complaint about the kindergarten enrichment program at the Corvallis School District. It appears that the one unresolved issue involved the right of children of "low-income families" to attend without tuition any supplemental kindergarten program offered beyond half time. We contacted the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to seek guidance. As you have heard from Representative Gelser, ODE will not share the attorney opinion regarding this matter.

In light of this news, we contacted the district's attorney once again to seek guidance. As a result, beginning this school year, the kindergarten enrichment program will be free to low-income families who registered for this option.

Your inquiries raised issues that needed clarification and I am glad to tell you that we have worked with principals to clarify how the kindergarten program will work. Transportation will be provided for families who live beyond one mile from their neighborhood school. The basic kindergarten program will be explained as the main program that provides the academic and social structure for kindergarten students. The supplemental program extending the time at school for kindergarten students will be referred to as enrichment, rather than all-day kindergarten. I use the term "enrichment" because it is not an academic program that offers any teaching beyond the regular kindergarten program. And now, rather than providing limited or partial scholarships, low-income families can send their students to attend the enrichment portion without tuition.

If you still feel that your complaint is unsatisfied, please contact Julie Catala to arrange an appeal hearing with the school board.

Sincerely,

Dawn Tarzian
Superintendent


We are a bit confused by the statement regarding ODE refusing to share the attorney opinion, mostly because have heard no such thing from Representative Gelser. Nonetheless, we are pleased with this resolution. We hope that the principals have been properly instructed, and are anxious to attend the kindergarten meetings in the coming months.

We passed the news on to Representative Gelser and Jennifer Moody.

Reply to Rep. Gelser

Today I replied to Representative Gelser

Sara,

We sincerely appreciate your quick response to this issue. We were beginning to feel that we had exhausted our resources. Thank you for helping to address our concerns.

Hopefully this will soon be resolved.

Ron and Denise Bjarnason

Rep. Sara Gelser

Almost immediately after sending my emails to Representative Sara Gelser and Senator Frank Morse, I recieved two email replies from Julie Catala (I've only included one).

Hi Ron, thanks for copying me on this.

Julie


Within hours, Representative Sara Gelser had sent me two emails.  The first was a reply directed to Denise and myself.

Dear Ron and Denise,

Thank you for your letter. I have just sent a letter to Barbara Cruickshank and to Morgan Allen (the legislative liason for the Oregon Department of Education) requesting information about when the final opinion might be available. I copied you on the email, so hopefully you will be included in the response. However, I will be sure to let you know what I learn.

Thank you for writing. Please don't hesitate to contact my office again if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Sara

Representative Sara Gelser
House District 16 (Philomath, Corvallis)
Capitol Line: (503) 986-1416
rep.saragelser@state.or.us
http://www.leg.state.or.us/gelser


The second was an email to Barbara Cruickshank and Morgan Allen at the ODE that Rep. Gelser had copied us on.

Dear Barbara and Morgan,

Today I received a letter from a constituent requesting more information about the statutory authority of school districts to charge tuition to low income families for full day kindergarten. It is my understanding that the family has worked directly with the Corvallis School District (509J), and that ultimately a request was made to ODE in June for advice on this matter. The family agreed to postpone a previously scheduled appeal hearing in order to allow the district to receive this guidance.

I am told that in August, the Department received an initial letter from the Department of Justice. However, it is my understanding that at that time the Department was awaiting a review of this opinion before releasing the DOJs guidance to Corvallis 509J and the family.

Can you please advise me of the expected date of receipt of the final opinion from the Department of Justice? I understand that the family has been working with the district on this issue since last January, and are eager for a resolution. I understand that it sometimes takes a period of time to receive an opinion back from the Department of Justice. However, because the issue has been sitting with ODE and DOJ for five months, I am hopeful that a resolution may be found soon.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help get this information released to my constituent and my local school district more quickly.

Thank you in advance for your help. I have attached Mr. Bjarnason's correspondence below for your reference.

Sincerely,
Sara

Representative Sara Gelser
House District 16 (Philomath, Corvallis)
Capitol Line: (503) 986-1416
rep.saragelser@state.or.us
http://www.leg.state.or.us/gelser


This morning I recieved a copy of the reply from Barbara Cruickshank to Rep. Gelser.

Dear Rep. Gelser,

I am uncertain as to the status of the kindergarten tuition issue with Corvallis School District. Perhaps Morgan Allen can give you a timeframe for an opinion from the Department of Justice. I have included Cindy Hunt in my response in case she can shed some light on this outstanding issue.

Barb Cruickshank
Oregon Dept of Education
(503) xxx-xxxx
(503) xxx-xxxx Fax
----@state.or.us

Writing our State Representative and Senator

Today I sent the following email to Representative Sara Gelser, our state Representative.  I sent an identical email to Senator Frank Morse, our state Senator.

Representative Gelser,
In January of this year, my wife and I began a dialogue with the Corvallis School District (509J) about policies regarding full and half day kindergarten. Throughout this dialogue, the district representatives referenced various statutes of Oregon law in defense of their current practices. In March of this year, we questioned the district regarding compliance with ORS 339.147(1)(a,b), which prohibits required tuition for courses not part of a regular school program (with the exception of traffic safety) for low-income families. As full day kindergarten exceeds the regular school program, District 509J appears to violate this statute by offering full waivers for kindergarten tuition to only a select few low-income families (based on a lottery draw), and charging tuition to the remaining low-income families.

After talking directly with Superintendent Dawn Tarzian, we requested a School Board hearing on May 8, which was scheduled to take place on June 11 to address this and other issues. On June 7, we received a letter from the offices of District 509J indicating that they realized they had never fully addressed our concerns regarding ORS 339.147, and requested a postponement of the hearing while the issue was referred to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).

Upon receiving their request, ODE immediately referred the case to Office of the Attorney General, where it has apparently remained since June of this year. In August, Barbara Cruickshank, with the ODE, responded to the district. She made reference to a preliminary decision made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that needed to be reviewed. The district offices were very kind in forwarding that message to us. We responded to Ms. Cruickshank, requesting that we be included in any messages she had for the district regarding this issue. She responded that she would. Since then, we have heard nothing more from either the ODE or the DOJ.

We feel the DOJ has had ample time to formally address our concerns, and are concerned that any final decision regarding the issue has been purposefully delayed.

We appeal to you, as our state representative, to help us fully address this issue. We request that you follow up with the DOJ regarding this issue. Most schools in District 509J hold their kindergarten readiness meetings in February. It is during these meetings that each school presents parents of incoming kindergarten students with the options for the coming year. We hope this can be resolved before those meetings take place so that parents can receive accurate information regarding their kindergarten options.

A full account of our communications regarding this issue can be found at: http://corvalliskindergarten.blogspot.com/

ORS 339.147(1)(a,b) is copied to the end of this message for your reference.

This message has been copied to Julie Catala, Russ Sweet and Jennifer Moody, our primary contacts at the offices of District 509J, the Oregon Department of Education and the Corvallis Gazette/Times, respectively. We have no direct contacts with the Department of Justice. Senator Frank Morse has recieved an identical message.

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
(address omitted for blog post)
Corvallis, OR 97333
(email omitted for blog post) 


339.147 When tuition authorized; waiver of tuition and fees. (1)(a) Notwithstanding ORS 339.141, no district school board or public charter school as defined in ORS 338.005 shall require tuition for courses not part of the regular school program, except for traffic safety education, from a pupil who is a member of a low-income family in an amount in excess of what the low-income family may receive as money specifically to be used for payment of such tuition.
(b) As used in this subsection, "low-income family" means a family whose children qualify for free or reduced price school meals under a federal program, including but not limited to the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, and all their subsequent amendments.
(from http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html)

Barbara Cruickshank's response

This was Barbara's response (back on September 5)

Hi Ronald and Denise,
I would be happy to include you in any correspondence that I email to Corvallis SD regarding the kindergarten tuition issue. I will do my best to remember to include you in any updates. I have placed your email address in my contact information for Kathy Rodeman. Hopefully that will trigger my memory when ODE has any new kindergarten tuition information.

I apologize for the length of time it takes for these things to process. There has not been anything new that I can recall since the August 14, 2007 letter you attached.

Barb Cruickshank
Oregon Dept of Education
(503) xxx-xxxx
(503) xxx-xxxx Fax
barbara.cruickshank@state.or.us

Request to the Oregon Department of Education

As we have not heard anything on the kindergarten issue in a few weeks, I sent this email to Barbara Cruickshank at the Oregon Department of Education:

Barb,

We were recently forwarded an email that you had sent to Kathy Rodeman at the Corvallis School District.

My wife and I have been discussing kindergarten issues with Corvallis School District 509J since January of this year. The inquiries made to the ODE and DOJ are a direct result of these discussions.

While we appreciate the district including us in on your emails, we would appreciate it if you could copy us in on any decisions or directives issued by the Oregon Department of Justice.

If you have received or sent any such notices in the past two weeks (since August 14), we are not aware of them, and would request that those be forwarded us.

Sincerely,
Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
xxxx@gmail.com

Preliminary Response from ODE and DOJ

Today I received this email from Julie Catala:


Mr. and Mrs. Bjarnason,

Superintendent Tarzian asked that I forward you the recent email below from the Oregon Department of Education.

Jolene Shute
Temporary Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Corvallis School District 509J

______________________________________________________________

From: CRUICKSHANK Barbara [mailto:Barbara.Cruickshank@state.or.us]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 12:53 PM
To: RODEMAN, KATHY
Cc: Catala, Julie; Tarzian, Dawn
Subject: Second Half of Day Kindergarten - Corvallis SD

Hi Kathy,
I haven't forgotten about the second half of day kindergarten tuition or Corvallis SD. I know you are anxious to get an answer. Unfortunately, the final advice from the Department of Justice is taking some time. ODE has received a draft from the Department of Justice, but ODE has not received their official letter stating their final advice. ODE is unable to release that information until it receives the final advice letter from DOJ and ODE has an opportunity to review it with Susan Castillo, Sue Macglashan and others. No one is able to give me a timeline at this time. I'm sorry. I wish I had something for you.

Barb Cruickshank
Oregon Dept of Education
(503) 947-5916
(503) 378-5156 Fax
barbara.cruickshank@state.or.us

Jennifer Moody's Article

The Sunday Edition of the Gazette-Times and Albany Democrat-Herald picked up Jennifer Moody's kindergarten story.

Here are the links in the Corvallis Gazette-Times and in the Albany Democrat-Herald (the article is the same):

Response to Superintendent Tarzian

The following email was sent today to the District Offices in response to the letter received yesterday from Superintendent Dawn Tarzian:


Superintendent Tarzian,

Thank you for your letter regarding the School Board hearing scheduled for June 11, 2007. We have already notified the School District offices that we agree to the postponement of the hearing. We acknowledge that the ruling by the Attorney General will likely supersede any decision by the board.

We also acknowledge that the issue regarding the "right of children of 'low-income families' to attend without tuition any kindergarten program offered beyond half time" (quoted from your letter) has not been addressed by either you or your staff at any point in this process. It is for this very reason that we have continued to escalate our appeals.

As early as March 7th, in an email to Kathy Rodeman, we indicated that this was a major issue. This was one of three concerns that we discussed with you face to face on March 19th. In each case, we cited the exact statute in Oregon Law that appears to be violated. Throughout this entire process, we have been assured that the District attorneys were certain that District 509J was within the laws in their application of the kindergarten program.

In that light, it was with great frustration that we received yesterday's letter. We have been given the impression that District attorneys have been familiar with these issues for no less than three full months. We are very disappointed that they have come to this realization only four days prior to a scheduled hearing, as any earlier notification would have possibly given us the opportunity to keep our appointed hearing date.

We are confident in our interpretation of the law regarding this issue, and anxiously await the ruling from the Attorney General's Office.

We apologize to the members of the Corvallis School Board for postponing Monday's scheduled hearing, and acknowledge the valuable time they spend serving our community. We regret any inconveniences this may have caused, but unfortunately do not feel that the District offices have given us any other viable choices at this time.

We appeal to the Attorney General that this issue be addressed in a timely manner, so that any necessary changes to District policy may be implemented in time for the coming school year.


Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR





The preceding letter to Dawn Tarzian, Superintendent of Corvallis School District 509J is intended to be sent to the following persons:

Superintendent Dawn Tarzian
All members (present an incoming) of the Corvallis School Board
The Oregon Department of Education
The Office of the Attorney General of the State of Oregon

This email has also been copied to Russ Sweet at the Oregon Department of Education, Jennifer Moody with the Albany Democrat-Herald and reproduced at http://corvalliskindergarten.blogspot.com.

Emails from Jennifer Moody

Jennifer Moody, a reporter for a newspaper serving our neighboring cities of Albany and Lebanon, is writing a piece on some kindergarten issues they are having in Linn County, and wanted to reference the discussions we are having here in Corvallis.

Yesterday morning, we received this email from her:

Hi, Bjarnason family, this is Jennifer Moody from the Democrat-Herald. ... . I'm finally working on my own kindergarten story. Can you update me on your situation since this e-mail, and help me summarize the issues you and other Corvallis families face?

Many thanks,
Jennifer

I responded with the following:

Wonderful!!

It looks like the only thing you are missing is that we are going to have
the school board hearing this coming Monday, June 11th at 9am at the
District Offices. The district is required to hold a hearing within 20
days of receiving the complaint. Denise and I waived this requirement
because we couldn't find a good date (for our family as well as the school
board) to have it within the 20 days.

I've been good about keeping the blog updated
( http://corvalliskindergarten.blogspot.com/). Almost all of the
communications (emails and letters) can be found there if you want to see
exactly what's been said.

Not included in the blog is a series of emails between myself and Julie
Catala in which I inquired regarding the format of the meeting. In that
email, she indicated that this was being considered a personal complaint
against Superintendent Tarzian. This is dissapointing [sic] in two regards:

1. Because it's classified as a personal complaint, the hearing is closed
to the public (Julie indicated that there would limited access to the
press as well. How limited? I don't know.) I would prefer the hearing
be open to the public.

2. Superintendent Tarzian is the only person we have met with that we felt
has taken us seriously and not just tried to push us on to someone else.
We were treated very professionally, and have only good things to report
about our meeting with her. We are disappointed that this will be
considered a complaint against her, when our real complaint is against the
standing District 509J policy.

Other than that, we're preparing for the hearing on Monday, and anxious to
hear what the board has to say.

We appreciate your work.

Ronald Bjarnason

To which she responded (still yesterday):

Can I reach one or both of you by phone today or in the next day or two? The blog is wonderful for reference, but I'd love to just have a quick recap, or short summary, of your situation in your own words for the moving-forward part. Thanks so much!
Jennifer Moody
Democrat-Herald

I just called her on her cell phone. We talked for a while, and it looks like the article is going to be running this Sunday.

Hearing Postponed

This morning we received a message on our answering machine and an email in my inbox from Julie Catala at the District 509J offices.

The message on the machine said the email was coming, had a sense of urgency, and requested that I call her as soon as a could. The email contained a .pdf copy of a letter from Superintendent Tarzian (which went in the mail this morning). The original can be found here. Following is a transcription of the actual document:

June 6, 2007

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
(address omitted on blog post)
Corvallis, OR 97333

Dear Ron and Denise:

While my staff and I worked with the district's attorney to prepare for the upcoming appeal hearing with the School Board, we realized that one of the issues you raised had not yet been addressed. That issue involved the right of children of "low-income families" to attend without tuition any kindergarten program offered beyond half time. We contacted the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to seek guidance. ODE staff realized they were unsure how to interpret the laws and requested a legal opinion from the State Attorney General's Office.

I am committed to ensuring that we have examined and commented on every aspect of your complaint, which is what the School Board expects. I am, therefore, requesting that your appeal hearing scheduled for June 11, 2007 be postponed until after the Attorney General's Office has rendered an opinion. Even though it might take a couple of months, we will remain in contact with the staff there and will be in contact with you after receiving the opinion.

Sincerely,

Dawn Tarzian
Superintendent

DT:jc

I called Julie, and indicated that we realize that the point of having a hearing is so that a vote can be held, and that it's pointless to hold a vote while we are waiting for the Attorney General's Office to issue a ruling. Because of this, we agree to the postponement of the hearing.

I also was very clear to Julie that we are frustrated that we are getting this letter at this point in the process. We feel we have been very clear in explaining each of our issues, and it is because this particular issue has not been addressed that we have continued to escalate the issue. It is not fair that we receive this letter only 4 days prior to the actual hearing date.

I indicated to Julie that I would be preparing a response to this letter, and that I would like the response to be sent to the following people:

Superintendent Dawn Tarzian
All School Board members (sitting and incoming)
the Oregon Department of Education
the Attorney General's Office

I indicated that I'll be preparing my response today and will get it to her tomorrow.

Kindergarten Article

Here is an interesting article on the New York Times (free registration required) on parents holding their kindergarten children back a year.

It's not directly relevant to the Corvallis School District issue, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.

Final Date for the School Board Hearing

Julie Catala emailed me back this morning with a final date for the hearing. Here is her email:

Hi Ron and Denise, I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to let you know that the final date for the school board appeal hearing is:

Monday, June 11, 9:00-11:00 a.m., here in the District Office Board Room, 1555 SW 35th Street.

I’m not certain that the entire 2 hours will be needed, but I wanted to make sure you were able to plan for child care coverage just in case it ran long.

Please respond to this email to let me know that you have received this message. I’ll also send a formal letter via US Mail, and will send preparatory materials as the hearing date draws nearer.

Thanks very much.

Julie
Julie Catala
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Corvallis School District 509J

This was my reply:

Julie,

That looks like it will work well for us. Thank you for setting this up for us.

Ronald Bjarnason

Reply from Julie Catala

Thank you very much, Ron.

J.

Julie Catala
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Corvallis School District 509J

Setting up the School Board Hearing

Julie Catala from the 509J District offices called last week (on May 9th). I've been really busy at school, so I have not yet talked to her. She called again this morning and talked to Denise. Together they realized that it will be a lot easier to set up a meeting during the daytime rather than at night, and that I will have more time after another deadline I have coming up on June 8th. So, Julie sent me an email requesting that I waive the 20 day response time required by district policy. This is a copy of her email and my reply:

Hello Ron, Denise and I just chatted again about dates, as a follow-up to our May 9th phone conversation about the same topic. As she and I brainstormed evening dates that would work for you, Denise realized that if we waited until after the June 8 deadline for a paper you’re working on, you would be available for a daytime hearing, and she would be better able to secure the services of a babysitter so she could attend the hearing with you.

To that end, she’s asked that I work to find a time between June 11 and June 19 for a hearing during the day (between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.) However, that will push the board’s required response beyond the 20-day deadline (per Board Policy KL). Denise felt that you would be amenable to waiving the timeline; if you are, please reply to this email with your answer, so that I may have a record for my file.

I’ll be in touch as soon as I’m able to connect with the board and determine what date will work best for the hearing.

Many thanks, Ron.

Julie

Julie Catala
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Corvallis School District 509J

My reply:

Julie,

I will waive the required 20 day deadline.

Thank you for working with us on this, Julie. I appreciate it.

Ron Bjarnason

Requesting a Hearing

This was my response to Ms. Rieck:

Ms. Rieck,

Thank you for the clarification. Please ask Ms. Catala to schedule a hearing regarding this issue. I look forward to meeting with you and the other members of the school board in person.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

And so it is. When I hear from the district, I suppose I'll try to drum up support, so that we can have a well attended and represented meeting.

Response from Kari Rieck, District 509J School Board Chair

The responses I provided are my responses, as the board chair and reflect
the policy/procedures of the district. I am unable to speak on behalf of
the board regarding changes to our policy and procedures.

I really appreciate you asking for this clarification. In order for the
board to hear your concerns and to make a decision, as a board, a hearing
will need to be scheduled. At the hearing, you will have the opportunity to
address the board with your concerns and your requests. The district will
also have the opportunity to address the concerns you presented. The board
will then vote on the matter. This is the next step to appeal the decision
by the superintendent.

If you would like me to ask Julie Catala to schedule a hearing, please let
me know.

I am sorry that I had misinterpreted your e-mail and did not clarify the
next steps in an appeal. Please let me know if I can be of further
assistance.

Sincerely,

Kari Rieck
Chair, Corvallis School Board

My Reply to Kari Rieck

This was my reply to Ms. Rieck:

Ms. Reick,

I sincerely appreciate your response, especially the obvious time you took to acquaint yourself with the entire history of this issue.


Regarding issue 1: For the time being, I acknowledge that I disagree with the interpretation that the district has chosen.


Regarding issue 2: I am aware of the state's woefully underfunded education program. I can readily accept your claim that there simply are not funds for each low-income child to attend full-time kindergarten.

However, I refuse to accept an argument that the district cannot obey the law because it is short on funds.

Obviously every child has the option to attend half-time kindergarten at no charge. ORS 339.147 is limited in scope to "courses not part of the regular school program", and thus applies exclusively to the tuition-based kindergarten programs. Each child from a low income family in the 509J district should have an equal chance to attend full-time kindergarten as children from upper income families (by lottery or other method). If a child from a low income family is accepted to a full-time kindergarten program, ORS 339.147 states that "no district school board or public charter school ... shall require tuition" from these families for these extra courses.

If a child is accepted to a full-time kindergarten program, and that child qualifies for free or reduced lunch, you simply cannot charge them anything at all, regardless of the budgetary constraints of the district. This is how ORS 339.147 reads, and this is not being communicated to the families served by District 509J, nor is it being practiced by the district.


If your response is the official position held by the School Board of District 509J, I will submit an appeal to the Oregon Department of Education one week from today, on Tuesday May 17th. Should you indicate that this is not the official position held by the board, I shall withhold my appeal the required 20 working days as I await an official statement. Should I not recieve an official statement by June 5th, I will submit my appeal at that time.


Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

Response from School Board

I had three emails in my inbox this morning regarding the Kindergarten issue.

From Kari Reick (current Chair of 509J School Board):

Mr. Bjarnason:

Thank you for taking the time to inform the board of your concerns. We appreciate that you first talked with the principal and superintendent. Your willingness to bring issues forward has assisted the district in providing clearer communication this year regarding transportation for kindergarten students.

I have included my responses to each of your concerns in blue within your original e-mail. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Kari Rieck
Chair, Corvallis School Board

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Bjarnason [mailto:rbjarnason@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:40 PM
To: schoolboard@corvallis.k12.or.us; md3045@yahoo.com; turmanfinancial@comcast.net; schustea@peak.org; lisa_corrigan@comcast.net; rieckk@comcast.net; kari.rieckk@comcast.net; btenpas@comcast.net
Cc: russ.sweet@state.or.us; rob.priewe@lee.net; Jennifer.Moody@lee.net
Subject: Kindergarten Fees


Members of the Board,

My name is Ronald Bjarnason. My daughter is in first grade at Adams
School. My oldest son will attend kindergarten this coming year.

For the past few months I have been engaged in a dialogue with various
administrators of the Corvallis 509J School District, discussing the issue
of kindergarten fees.



There are two issues that I feel have not yet been resolved.

1. While fees and tuition are prohibited for regular school classes (by
OAR 581-022-0803 and ORS 339.155), ORS 339.155(1)(a) and ORS 339.141(2)
provide that fees may be applied to "classes or courses of study ... which
are not a part of the regular school program" (quoted from ORS 339.141(2)).

Currently, children enrolled in 5-day full-day kindergarten programs are
assessed a fee. No distinction is made between the regular school program
and the extra class time. It seems clear in the literature printed by the
district that the fee is for the entire program.

I request that the district make a clear distinction in the daily school
schedule between the regular school program and the extra programs. This
distinction is already clear for the 3-day full-day programs (allowing
students to attend 2.5 days of the program at no charge), but not for the
5-day full-day program. Making such a distinction would facilitate open
and free enrollment of all kindergarten age children in the district to
all regular school kindergarten programs without any requirement (implied
or otherwise) to also attend extra programs that may be offered by each
school.

The literature provided to parents and available on the district website states that: “The State of Oregon provides funding for a free, half-time kindergarten program, which is available at all Corvallis Schools. In addition, we also provide two fee-based options: a full day, everyday program that adds 5 extra half days of kindergarten each week and a full-day, three-day program which adds 1 extra half day of kindergarten per week. These fee-based options, available in many of our schools, provide more time to extend the current kindergarten program for children whose parents feel they are ready for an all-day experience.”

The information is designed to provide the distinction of what is free education and what is fee based. Your request, as I understand it, is to clarify the actual structure of the day. The structure of an extended kindergarten program looks different than a half day program due to the fact that the teacher has the opportunity to provide additional instruction. The 3 and 5-day programs are not designed as a “second” part of the child’s day, but instead a structure that may be similar to other grades. For example, a lesson would be provided over an extended time period and not split between the “free” part of day and the “fee based” part of the day. Included in the packet for kindergarten parents is a letter that simply states that we also provide two fee-based options. There is no reference that would require or encourage parents to opt for a fee-based program.


2. ORS 339.155(1)(a) is very clear that the previously discussed fees are
subject to ORS 339.147, which states that no fees may be levied against
low-income families (defined in ORS 339.147(1)(b) as those who qualify for
free or reduced price lunch). Currently District 509J offers tuition
waivers to a pre-determined number of students based on a random lottery.
Some students who qualify under 339.147(1)(a,b) are currently paying
tuition for "courses not part of the regular school program".

I request that a new 509J policy be adopted allowing children of
low-income families open and free enrollment to all kindergarten programs,
including those classified as extra programs. I request that this new
policy be included in all kindergarten literature published by the
district where such fees are discussed, and that this policy be
communicated to those low-income families that are currently paying such
fees.

ORS339.147 When tuition authorized; waiver of tuition and fees:

Notwithstanding ORS 339.141, no district school board or public charter school as defined in ORS 338.005 shall require tuition for courses not part of the regular school program, except for traffic safety education, from a pupil who is a member of a low-income family in an amount in excess of what the low-income family may receive as money specifically to be used for payment of such tuition.
(b) As used in this subsection, “low-income family” means a family whose children qualify for free or reduced price school meals under a federal program, including but not limited to the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, and all their subsequent amendments.

The district does not require tuition or fees for low-income families. The admission for an extended kindergarten program is based on the number of openings available. If the number of students exceeds the spaces, a lottery system is used. In addition, the district makes available a specified number of full and partial scholarships. If the request for scholarships is greater than those available, a lottery system is used. A family who applied for and did not receive a scholarship has the choice to place their child in the 1/2 day “free” program or pay the fee. Because the extended programs are options and the funding for the teacher, materials, supplies and other costs are not covered using state funded dollars, the district is unable to provide an unlimited number of scholarships.

You may be interested in Senate Bill 213, which is before the State Legislature. This bill would allow full-day kindergartens to be state funded. The bill does not require districts to offer full-day kindergartens, but if they do, they will receive a full student allocation for full-day kindergartners, which will allow for free full-day kindergarten. Currently districts only receive 1/2 a student funding for any kindergartner, regardless of their 1/2 day or full day status.




For your reference, the Oregon statutes referenced above can be found at
the following websites:
ORS 339.141, ORS 339.147 and ORS 339.155:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html
OAR 581-022-0803:
http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/rules/OARS_500/OAR_581/581_022.html


I have personally met with Patty Pearson (Principal of Adams School),
Kathy Rodeman (Director of Business Services) and Superintendent Dawn
Tarzian regarding this issue. I do not feel that this issue has been
resolved. By sending this email, I am formally appealing this issue to
the School Board of Corvallis School District 509J.

I have also sent this email to the following persons that have filed as
candidates (and provided emails on their public filings) in the coming
election for seats on the school board:

Marilyn Dilles - md3045@yahoo.com
John M. Turman - turmanfinancial@comcast.net
Anne M. Schuster - schustea@peak.org
Lisa Corrigan - lisa_corrigan@comcast.net
Kari Rieck - rieckk@comcast.net AND kari.rieckk@comcast.net (provided in
mailing)
William Scott Ten Pas - btenpas@comcast.net

Joshua A. Kvidt did not provide an email address in his filing, and has
not been included on this message.

As with all of my communications regarding this matter, I have copied this
email to Russ Sweet at the Oregon Department of Education.

I have also sent this email to Rob Priewe and Jennifer Moody at the
Corvallis Gazette Times and Lebanon Express.

I continue to blog my efforts at http://corvalliskindergarten.blogspot.com

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

From Lisa Corrigan:

Mr. Bjarnason,

I have no additional information regarding Kindergarten fee structures. Kari has covered it with a well–researched and thorough reply. I have also heard that full-day Kindergarten funding is a topic coming up at state level, and may possibly change (to full funding) in the future.

Best Regards,

Lisa Corrigan
Seat 6 Candidate

From Marilyn Dilles:

Hello! Our last forum (for May 15 election) is
Thurs-
day, May 10, at 7:00 p.m. at Westminster House, Monroe
St., near west OSU campus. If you're interested in
hearing what various opinions are, this would be a
good time to ask your q.
Keep in mind that, for the lst 10 years, this 509J
school district has closed schools, eliminating
teachers, and, with the latest closure of Inavale
School in June, 2006, caused Lincoln, Adams, and of
course Franklin with its wait-list, to become crowded
to over-crowded.
In my opinion, Oregon has been chronically under-
funded in WHAT SHOULD BE THE STATE'S #ONE PRIORITY--
funding for the public education of its citizens from
K through 20. Health, including mental and emotional
health, police, transportation, etc. etc. etc. all
have
conflicting agendas and want/demand their share of the
pot.
Some Caifornians visiting here mentioned that Ca.
has a statewide mandate to have no more that 20
children per Kindergarten class. I am certainly FOR
this, which means hiring moe teachers but gives them
breathing space to address individual child's
progress. The Chalkboard Project out of Portland has
had three bills in the House education Committee; one
speaks of funding K OR lst grade with a maximum of
15 to 17 children per class. Doing this statewide is
millions of dollars. Best practices, yes; affordable,
at this time, highly unlikely.
I hope that you can come to the NAACP forum at
Westminster House on Thursday. We do know that, what
with a local tax over-ride for public schools here,
and a promise of more funding from the State, 509J
should be better off than these "down" years. The
operative word is SHOULD!
Best, Marilyn Dilles

Appeal to School Board

I finally made a formal appeal to the School Board of the Corvallis 509J School District.

Following is the text of the email:


Members of the Board,


My name is Ronald Bjarnason. My daughter is in first grade at Adams School. My oldest son will attend kindergarten this coming year.

For the past few months I have been engaged in a dialogue with various administrators of the Corvallis 509J School District, discussing the issue of kindergarten fees.



There are two issues that I feel have not yet been resolved.

1. While fees and tuition are prohibited for regular school classes (by OAR 581-022-0803 and ORS 339.155), ORS 339.155(1)(a) and ORS 339.141(2) provide that fees may be applied to "classes or courses of study ... which are not a part of the regular school program" (quoted from ORS 339.141(2)).

Currently, children enrolled in 5-day full-day kindergarten programs are assessed a fee. No distinction is made between the regular school program and the extra class time. It seems clear in the literature printed by the district that the fee is for the entire program.

I request that the district make a clear distinction in the daily school schedule between the regular school program and the extra programs. This distinction is already clear for the 3-day full-day programs (allowing students to attend 2.5 days of the program at no charge), but not for the 5-day full-day program. Making such a distinction would facilitate open and free enrollment of all kindergarten age children in the district to all regular school kindergarten programs without any requirement (implied or otherwise) to also attend extra programs that may be offered by each school.


2. ORS 339.155(1)(a) is very clear that the previously discussed fees are subject to ORS 339.147, which states that no fees may be levied against low-income families (defined in ORS 339.147(1)(b) as those who qualify for free or reduced price lunch). Currently District 509J offers tuition waivers to a pre-determined number of students based on a random lottery. Some students who qualify under 339.147(1)(a,b) are currently paying tuition for "courses not part of the regular school program".

I request that a new 509J policy be adopted allowing children of low-income families open and free enrollment to all kindergarten programs, including those classified as extra programs. I request that this new policy be included in all kindergarten literature published by the district where such fees are discussed, and that this policy be communicated to those low-income families that are currently paying such fees.


For your reference, the Oregon statutes referenced above can be found at the following websites:
ORS 339.141, ORS 339.147 and ORS 339.155: http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html
OAR 581-022-0803: http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/rules/OARS_500/OAR_581/581_022.html


I have personally met with Patty Pearson (Principal of Adams School), Kathy Rodeman (Director of Business Services) and Superintendent Dawn Tarzian regarding this issue. I do not feel that this issue has been resolved. By sending this email, I am formally appealing this issue to the School Board of Corvallis School District 509J.

I have also sent this email to the following persons that have filed as candidates (and provided emails on their public filings) in the coming election for seats on the school board:

Marilyn Dilles - md3045@yahoo.com
John M. Turman - turmanfinancial@comcast.net
Anne M. Schuster - schustea@peak.org
Lisa Corrigan - lisa_corrigan@comcast.net
Kari Rieck - rieckk@comcast.net AND kari.rieckk@comcast.net (provided in mailing)
William Scott Ten Pas - btenpas@comcast.net

Joshua A. Kvidt did not provide an email address in his filing, and has not been included on this message.

As with all of my communications regarding this matter, I have copied this email to Russ Sweet at the Oregon Department of Education.

I have also sent this email to Rob Priewe and Jennifer Moody at the Corvallis Gazette Times and Lebanon Express.

I continue to blog my efforts at http://corvalliskindergarten.blogspot.com

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

Response from Superintendent Tarzian

Much to our surprise, the written response from Superintendent Tarzian came in today's mail.

This is a scan of the response:





Here is a text version of the body of the message (I've copied it by hand, so let me know if there are errors):

Dear Ron and Denise:

This letter is a response to the formal complaint that we discussed when we met in my office on March 19, 2007. At our meeting, you provided me with a written memorandum entitled "Points of Concern." I will respond to each of your three points in the letter.

After reviewing our practices regarding transportation provided to half-time kindergarten students, I feel that we have not done an adequate job as a school district of providing parents with information about the availability of district transportation for kindergarten to and from school each day. To rectify this I have directed staff to include in a mailing to all 2007-2008 kindergarten parents written information on district provided transportation to and from school on each day kindergarten is in session. The letter to the parents will include the statement,

"Please notify your assigned school if you will need transportation services provided by the district. Transportation will be provided if the student is attending their neighborhood school and live more than one mile from the school. Please note: Student transfers outside of the neighborhood school boundary do not receive district transportation services, according to board policy and administrative rules."

On the second issue, the Corvallis School District provides a free half-time kindergarten program to all children and the option for parents to pay tuition to provide their child with a five day a week full-day or three day a week full-day program. ORS 327-006(1) includes the statement: "The aggregate days membership of kindergarten pupil shall be calculated on the basis of a half-day program." This language provides districts with the flexibility to group the half-time kindergarten time to provide for creativity in working with our students. It also allows school districts to work with their community of parents to structure the school day to meet local needs. This is the case for our 2.5 day program. as you and I discussed when we met, there are several parents who more recently have been requesting five day a week half-time program access. Mrs. Pearson and I spoke yesterday and she informed me that the requests that she has from parents currently are about equal regarding requests for a five day a week half-time program and for a 2.5 day a week program. With the note above that the school district will communicate more aggressively with next year's kindergarten parents regarding the provision of the district transportation to and from school, Adams Elementary and other elementary school in the district may seen an increase in interest for the five day a week half-time program.

On the third issue, the Corvallis School District, like many other districts in the state, provides the only mandatory program under law to all students and that is a half-time program. ORS 339.115 requires the district school board to admit free of charge in the schools of the district all persons between the ages of 5 and 19 who reside within the school district. ORS 339.155 prohibits certain fees as condition to admission. a district school board shall not require payment of fees as a condition of admission to those pupils entitled under the law to free admission. By reason of the ORS 327.006(1), the free admission is one-half of the regular school week. Therefore, admission may be charged for courses not part of the regular school program, according to ORS 339.155(1)(a). The hours beyond our aggregate half-time membership for kindergarten students are not a part of the regular school program. Tuition is paid by parents who wish to extend this time beyond the half-time hours. Scholarship money is collected to help support the families who have limited financial resources to have increased access to this additional program time.

In reviewing your requests for resolution, I feel that the district can to a better job of communicating with kindergarten parents about transportation and free admission for all kindergarten children to our half-time programs. The district will be revising our written information and kindergarten parent orientations to accomplish this goal. I was pleased to hear your report that you feel Adams Elementary School provided better information this year to parents regarding kindergarten options.

I would like to acknowledge your concerns and express appreciation for bringing them to the district. I know that it can be frustrating addressing a large system and our conversation has helped me to assess where we need to improve our communications. I have confidence that Principal Pearson and the leadership of our elementary schools are taking a hard look at the structure of our instructional time for our kindergarten students, taking into consideration the developmental needs and differences of our young children.

Sincerely,

Dawn Tarzian
Superintendent

C: Kathy Rodeman
Patty Pearson


We could not be happier with the resolution of the bussing issue. We feel that this is an ideal resolution.

We are disappointed in the district's interpretation of the tuition issue, especially in light of ORS 139.147. I continue to note that they haven't really dealt with the issue. I have claimed that they CAN charge tuition in certain cases, but NEVER to low-income families. Their response seems to be that they assert their right to charge tuition.

Yes! I agree, you can, but you still haven't addressed the implications of ORS 139.147 which prohibits charging low-income families.

We plan on appealing this ruling to the School Board of District 509J.

Preliminary response from District

This morning, Julie Cartala left a phone message indicating that Superintendent Tarzian had mailed us a response (by US Postal Service).

We expect to receive it either tomorrow or Saturday.

Nothing after 24 hours

WARNING: Portions of this blog are laced with my personal intuition and interpretation of innuendo, and NOT based on cold hard facts.

Well, 24 hours has come and gone, and we haven't heard anything from the office of Superintendent Tarzian. I assume we'll hear about all 3 issues by Friday.

I think it's interesting that I haven't received ANY feedback from anyone regarding item #3 from my list of concerns that I presented to Superintendent Tarzian. After I pointed out the law to Kathy Rodeman, her only comment seemed to be "I'm sorry that we weren't able to resolve your concerns.", and an assurance from the district attorneys that they were correct in their application of enrichment time (item #2 from my list).

When we talked to Superintendent Tarzian, I explained each of my concerns with her, and then we talked about issues #1 and #2. Her only question regarding item #3 was to clarify that I was referring to the lottery for the limited number of tuition waivers, and not the lottery for the limited number of spots in 5-day full-day programs. Other than that, there was no mention of the issue.

Possible interpretation:

Issue #1 is a communication issue. We agree on the interpretation of the law, and the application.

Issue #2 is an interpretation issue. I'm confident in my interpretation, and they are confident in theirs. Application will be determined once a third party determines the correct interpretation.

Issue #3 is an application issue. I'm guessing that our interpretation of the law is the same, but they recognize that the proper application of this law is going to cost them a lot of money. Consequently, I'm guessing that they are scrambling to try and figure out what their options are, and don't want to comment on the issue until they do.

Meeting with Superintendent Tarzian

Today, Denise and I met with Superintendent Dawn Tarzian. I came prepared with two pages of prepared material. The first outlined our concerns and the second contained copies of the Oregon statutes that are in question.

This was what was on the first paper:

Points of Concern:
1. District 509J has failed to train their principals on bussing regulations.

At the 2007 Kindergarten Night at Adams School, Principal Pearson instructed the attending parents that there would be NO bussing provided for half-day kindergarten. When presented with information given to me by Kathy Rodeman (that bussing must be provided upon request), Principal Pearson responded that she had never been informed of such a policy.

2. District 509J charges tuition for 5-day full-day kindergarten programs. This appears to be a violation of OAR 581-022-0803(1) and ORS 339.141(3)(a).

If there is no clear distinction between the "classes or courses of study ... which are not a part of the regular school program" (as authorized ORS 339.141(2)), and the regular school program, then it must be assumed that the entire daily schedule fails into the regular school program. This distinction in the daily schedule is clear for the 3-day full-day program (allowing students to attend 2.5 days of the program). In speaking with kindergarten teachers, no such distinction appears to be made for the 5-day full-day program.

3. District 509J authorizes tuition waivers to a pre-determined number of students based on a random lottery. This appears to be a violation of ORS 339.147(1)(a,b)

Some students who qualify under 339.147(1)(a,b) are currently paying tuition for "courses not part of the regular school program".

Requests for Resolution

1. All 509J elementary principals be instructed regarding bussing policies. At a minimum, all parents of students in half-day programs should be informed that busses are available upon request.

2. If the district should choose to classify a portion of the 5-day full-day program as "classes or courses of study ... which are not a part of the regular school program", then it should allow open and free enrollment in that portion of the program that is classified as the "regular school program".

3. Allow open and free enrollment for ALL kindergarten programs for students who qualify under 139.147(1)(a,b). This policy should be explained clearly at the Kindergarten Night for each elementary school in District 509J.

I won't post the other page on the blog, because all I did was copy state laws from the appropriate websites. These were the quoted laws:

OAR 581-022-0803
(from http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/rules/
OARS_500/OAR_581/581_022.html)

ORS 339.141 and ORS 339.147
(from http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html)

We were in Superintendent Tarzian's office for about a half hour. We had a very good talk. We felt like she was very interested in our concerns. We felt like she even agreed with us on most of the issues. As opposed to the meeting we had with Kathy Rodeman, we felt like Superintendent Tarzian wants to get this resolved and has to power to do so.

These were my notes on the things that Superintendent Tarzian promised us would happen
- Work with school to communicate the availability of the free programs. This should be the first option presented to the parents.
- Investigate the transportation problem.
- Create a full menu of choices for parents who have children with differing needs and developmental interests.

Superintendent Tarzian said that it was her understanding that the district needed to provide bussing at the end of each regular school program, and that she would get back to me on this issue within 24 hours.

She said she would try to get back to me on the other two issues by the end of the week.

Appointement with Superintendent

Julie Cartala called again this morning. She wanted to get us an appointment with Superintendent Tarzian early next week because district policy requires her to answer each appeal within 10 days of receiving the request (as noted in the documents Julie forwarded).

Denise and I are scheduled to meet with Ms. Tarzian Monday, March 19th at 2pm.

First Contact From the Office of the Superintendent

My wife spoke to Jennifer Moody yesterday. Jennifer said she was disappointed that her counterpart was not following up on this story. I emailed her the address of this blog yesterday afternoon.

This morning at approximately 8:20 am, I was contacted by phone by Julie Catala at the Office of the Superintendent. She seemed uninformed regarding this particular complaint, so we spoke briefly regarding the steps that have already been taken.

She wanted to make sure that I was following correct district procedure in resolving my complaint. I assured her that I had already spoken with the school principal, filed a formal written complaint with District 509J, exchanged emails and phone messages with Jim Hogeboom and met personally with Kathy Rodeman. I gave her my email address, and she sent me the following email:

Hello Ron, I appreciate the time you took to talk with me just now. Here are the policy and administrative regulation that outline the process we are undertaking to address the concerns you have.

I understand from our conversation that you have already completed the complaint forms and are interested in appealing Kathy Rodeman’s decision to Superintendent Dawn Tarzian; please verify that for me by replying to this email. Then I’ll be in touch to find some time for you and your wife to meet with Superintendent Tarzian.

If you need to call me directly, my number is xxx-xxxx. I have voicemail, so even if you need to call after hours, you may leave a message for me.

Thank you again; I look forward to hearing from you and assisting you further.

Julie

Julie Catala
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Corvallis School District 509J

These were the attachments:
(1)

CORVALLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 509J
Code: KL
Adopted: 4/12/99

PUBLIC COMPLAINTS

Complaints are handled and resolved as close to their origin as possible.

Although no community member will be denied the right to petition the Board for redress of a grievance, complaints will be referred through the proper administrative channels for solution before investigation or action by the Board. Exceptions are complaints that concern Board actions or Board operations.

The Board advises the public that the proper channeling of complaints involving instruction, discipline or learning materials is as follows:

1. Teacher;
2. Building principal;
3. Superintendent;
4. Board.

While speakers may during public meetings offer objective criticism of school operations and programs, the Board will not hear personal complaints concerning district personnel nor against any person connected with the school system. To do so could expose the Board to a charge of being party to slander and would prejudice any necessity to act as the final review of administrative recommendations regarding the matter. The Board chairman will direct the patron to the appropriate means for Board consideration and disposition of legitimate complaints involving individuals.

The superintendent shall develop regulations designed to encourage the timely resolution of public complaints while providing a system of review which will allow both the complainant and the district an opportunity to be heard.

END OF POLICY


Legal References:
ORS 192.610—192.690
ORS 332.107
OAR 581-022-1940

Anderson v. Central Point School District No. 6, 554 F. Supp. 600 (D. Oregon 1982); aff'd in part, 746 F.2d 505 (9th Cir. 1984).
Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138 (1983).

Cross Reference:
Policy BDDH - Public Participation

(continued)


PAGE 2-NUMPAGES 1



PAGE 1-NUMPAGES 1

(2)


CORVALLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 509J
Code: KL-AR
Adopted: 4/12/99
Revised/Readopted: 8/14/06
PUBLIC COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

The following procedure will be used for all complaints:

1. A student or parent with a complaint shall generally first present it orally and informally to his/her teacher or the appropriate school employee;

2. If the complaint is not resolved, the complainant may formally present the complaint in writing (including all supporting statements and evidence) within 10 working days of the informal conference to the principal. The principal shall evaluate the evidence and render a decision within 10 working days after receiving the appeal;

3. If the complainant deems it desirable to carry the complaint beyond the decision reached by the principal, he/she may, within 10 working days, file the complaint with the superintendent or his/her designee. The superintendent or his/her designee shall evaluate the evidence and render a decision within ten working days after receiving the appeal;

4. If the complainant deems it desirable to carry the complaint beyond the decision reached by the superintendent or his/her designee, he/she may within 10 working days request a review by the Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting. A final determination shall be made within 20 working days from receipt of the appeal by the Board;

5. Persons may, after exhausting local complaint procedures, appeal in writing to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Time

The number of days given at each level shall be regarded as a maximum and every effort will be made to expedite the process. However, the time limits stated may be extended by mutual agreement of the complainant and the administration.

Withdrawal

A complaint may be withdrawn by the complainant at any level without prejudice, reprisal or record.

Meetings and Decisions

At each of the levels the complainant shall be given the opportunity to be present and to be heard. All decisions at each level shall be in writing and include supporting rationale with the exception of the initial informal contact. Copies of all decisions and recommendations shall be furnished promptly to all parties of interest.
SUGGESTION, COMPLAINT OR COMMENDATION REGARDING AN
EMPLOYEE, PROGRAM, OR PRACTICE

The district is interested in suggestions, complaints, and commendations involving employees or programs. When such is registered, we are interested in investigating the incident to see if there has been a misunderstanding or if some corrective action should be taken to improve the district. Commendations are of value to the district because they improve morale and encourage district employees to take pride in their work and do more than is ordinarily expected of them.

As both complaints and commendations are of value to the district, we welcome comments and request you fill in the information requested below.



Name of Employee/Program Date of Suggestion, Complaint, or Commendation

Nature of Suggestion, Complaint, or Commendation:





Source of your information:



Justification of your feelings:





Remedy sought:





Signed Date Address Telephone


I have read but do not necessarily agree:



Employee Date Immediate Supervisor Date
PUBLIC COMPLAINT PROCEDURE—KL-AR
(continued)


PAGE 2-NUMPAGES 2



PAGE 1-NUMPAGES 2


I responded with this email:


Julie,

Thank you for the documents regarding district procedure. I have read them both and would like to appeal Kathy Rodeman's decision to the Superintendent.

My contact at the Oregon Department of Education is Mr. Russ Sweet. This is his contact information:

Russ Sweet
Education Specialist, Oregon Reading First
Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97310
Desk: (503) xxx-xxxx
Fax: (503) xxx-xxxx
russ.sweet@state.or.us

I have been keeping him informed of all communications that I have made regarding this matter. I have sent a copy of this email to Mr. Sweet. I have also attached the two documents you sent me this morning so that he may have a copy.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

This was the first time it has been suggested to me that this would go to the School Board. In retrospect, I should have assumed it would go to them eventually.

Corvallis Kindergarten Fees

My name is Ronald Bjarnason.

I have been aware of the kindergarten options and policies in our local school district (Oregon 509J) since spring/summer of 2005 when we began registration for our oldest child. During the 2005/2006 school year, she had a fabulous teacher and a wonderful experience attending a traditional 5-day half-day program at Adams School. We were told that bussing is not provided for half-day programs, and the parents of the half-day kindergarten students would be required to pick them up after their school day ended (around 11 am), which we did. Demand for the 5-day half-day program was high, and our child's class had 27 students.

The district advertises three different kindergarten programs.

- 5-day half-day with no fee
- 3-day full day ($68/month)
- 5-day full day ($290/month)

There are other options, however. Some schools do not offer a 5-day half-day program and in order to provide a free program, allow those children unable to pay the fee to attend 2 and a half days of the 3-day program (leaving at lunch on the third day). We have also recently discovered that there are some children attending 3 days in a 5-day program (again because of their inability to pay a fee). The district also offers a limited number of scholarships to those families who qualify under certain financial criteria.

As our friends began to register their children for the 2006/2007 school year at Adams School, they were informed that there would no longer be a 5-day half-day program. They were told there were only two options, both of which required a monthly fee. If they asked about programs that did not require a fee, they were informed of the "2 and a half day" program. Only after specific request were they informed that a 5-day half-day program would be filled if there were enough requests. The principal at Adams School, Patty Pearson said she was surprised that there were only 6 requests for the 5-day half-day program, and far too few to fill a classroom. As a result, only the 3-day full day and 5-day full-day options are offered at Adams this school year (2006/2007).

Our second child is entering kindergarten this coming year (2007/2008) and after talking to our friends and neighbors, we were a bit shocked when we heard how things were being handled. The registration policies at Adams School were limiting our choices and withholding information regarding the availability of the free programs required by District 509J and the State of Oregon.

Over Christmas 2006, we received some sound advice that we needed to contact the Oregon Department of Education. We talked to a few other friends that have been affected by these policies, and were referred to a local reporter, Jennifer Moody with the Corvallis Gazette-Times and Lebanon Express.

On January 10, 2007, I sent the following letter to various contacts at the Oregon Department of Education and my wife (Denise) sent a copy to Jennifer Moody:

(some names have been removed for this post)


To Whom it May Concern,

We are writing to register a complaint to the Oregon Department of
Education regarding the current policy at Adams Elementary School
regarding free Kindergarten.

Up until last year, there were three attendance plans for kindergarten:

5-day half-day, 3-day full-day, and 5-day full-day. Of the three, the
only option that did not require a monthly fee was the 5-day half-day
option.

As of this year, 5-day half-day kindergarten is no longer offered at
Adams. As a result, every student attending kindergarten at Adams is
assessed a monthly fee.

Our friend and neighbor, XXXXX, has a daughter attending kindergarten
at Adams this year. XXXXX questioned the principal, Patty Pearson,
regarding the fee. She was told that free kindergarten was no longer
offered. XXXXX asked if there were options for students from families
who could not afford the monthly fee, and was told she could apply for a
scholarship, which would waive a portion, but not all of the fee. She
was reluctantly told that, alternatively, she could enlist in the 3-day
full-day option and personally remove her child from class at the lunch
hour one day a week, wherein her child would miss the remainder of the
school day. Under this option alone would the school not assess a
monthly fee. When XXXXX asked if her child would be able to make up
the missed instruction, she was told that her child could not.

She asked if other parents were complaining about the policy, and was
told that others had asked questions, but she seemed to be the only one
making a fuss.

We have also been told that there is a District Policy that no students
skip kindergarten.

Under the current system, Adams Elementary School is unwilling to
provide equal education for students from families who cannot afford to
pay the monthly fees. Furthermore, they are not allowing students to
skip this grade, even if they have shown a proficiency to move to the
next level.

CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES WHO CANNOT AFFORD THE MONTHLY
FEE ARE BEING DENIED AN EQUAL EDUCATION.

Our son is preparing to attend kindergarten at Adams School and we hope
this matter can be resolved at the earliest date possible.

Thank you,

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
Corvallis, Oregon


This email has been sent to the following individuals within the Oregon
Department of Education:

Winston Cornwall: School Community Partnerships - Civil Rights
Specialist Mary Bunn: Elementary/Secondary Transitions - Ed. Specialist,
Nontrdtnl Careers/OCR Mary Ann Smith: Elementary/Secondary Transitions -
Ed. Specialist, Middle School, Reading First Robert Larson: Federal
Liaison - Federal Liaison Gene Evans: Communications - Director of
Communications Helen Maguire: Support to Districts - Director

This email has also been sent to Jennifer Moody, an Education Reporter
with the Gazette-Times and Lebanon Express


I received the following response from Winston Cornwall at the ODE that same day:


Mr. Bjarnason,

Thanks for your message. I believe your complaint to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) may be considered a Division 22 (Standards) issue, but my colleagues who handle these matters are away from our office until next week.

As with nearly all complaints to ODE, Oregon Administrative Rules require you to file a formal complaint with the local school district first . If your complaint is indeed a Division 22 concern, you would have to exhaust local district complaint procedures or sixty (60) calendar days before you could make an appeal to ODE.

If you have not filed a formal complaint with the Corvallis School District, I strongly encourage you to do so. Complaint procedures are available from Adams Elementary, any Corvallis school or the District office. These procedures are also published in the Corvallis school District Parent and/or Student Handbook(s). Some districts also include these policies on their websites.

If you have filed a complaint with the Corvallis School District, please send me a copy of your initial complaint and any additional correspondence you have sent to or received from the district. I will serve as your ODE contact until my colleagues return and they advise me on the exact process for responding to your concerns. Please direct all future communication to me in the interim.

Feel free to contact me via e-mail or the below listed address and telephone. I look forward to your response.

Winston

Winston Cornwall
Education Program Specialist
Civil Rights/Equal Educational Opportunity
Oregon Department of Education
Office of Educational innovation & Improvement
255 Capital Street NE
Salem, OR 97310

I also received the following two emails from Jennifer Moody:

Hi, Denise. I called Theresa Hogue at the Corvallis Gazette-Times
yesterday about what you told me and she said she was very interested in
following up, it would just be a question whether it will be her or
someone else in her newsroom. I will cc this to her. You should be
hearing from someone at the GT very soon, and if you don't - say, by the
end of next week - call me here at the Democrat-Herald. I'm at xxx-xxxx.

I checked with our Albany school district today and the assistant
superintendent (who used to work in Corvallis) looked totally blank and
said, "How do they do that?" Lebanon, which has two all-day
kindergartens that it pays for out of its general fund, had a similar
reaction.

I'd recommend sending this letter in written form to the state folks,
too, and follow up with a phone call to make sure they got it. Ask Gene
Evans what the complaint procedure is, maybe.

Keep in touch. We're interested.
Jennifer Moody
Democrat-Herald



Just heard back from Theresa. Sounds like your contact is the managing
editor over there, Rob Priewe, rob.priewe@lee.net.

--Jennifer Moody

Following the contact provided by Ms. Moody, we forwarded the original complaint to Rob Priewe (who we have never heard from).

As we have a son preparing for kindergarten, my wife called the front desk at Adams school regarding registration for the coming year. After that phone call, I sent the following email to Mr. Cornwall:


Mr. Cornwall,

Thank you for your response.

Today we have taken a few steps that I wanted to make you aware of.

My wife called Adams School regarding the kindergarten options for the 2007-2008 school year. She was told there is a 5-day all-day option ($290/month) and a 3-day all-day option ($68/month). She was told that there are currently 3 students who avoid the fee by leaving early on the third day of their 3-day all-day enrollment. She asked if there was an option for students to attend 5-day half-day, and was told there would not be. She was also told that if enough parents requested the 5-day half-day option, then perhaps they would include that option.

My wife has been contacted over the phone by a reporter from the Gazette-Times.

I am going to pick up a complaint form from the district offices this afternoon.

I looked up Section 22 on the web. I think the clause that we would be most interested in would be the following (copied from the web page):


581-022-0803
Kindergarten Programs
(1) By July 1, 1989, the district school board of every common school district shall provide kindergarten facilities and programs free of charge to all kindergarten-age children residing in the district.

Feel free to respond if you feel it it appropriate, although I will not expect a reply. This email (as well as future emails) will serve as proper documentation should the need arise.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR



Mr. Cornwall responded that day (January 12th) with this email:

Mr. Bjarnason,

Thanks for your response.

Russ Sweet, one of our Ed. Specialist will now become your official ODE
contact should you require one. Mr. Sweet's contact information is:

Russ Sweet
Education Specialist, Oregon Reading First
Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97310
Desk: (503) 947-xxxx
Fax: (503) 378-xxxx
russ.sweet@state.or.us

Winston


Per request by Mr. Corwall, we filed a formal complaint at the district. A few days later, we came home to find a message on our answering machine from Jim Hogeboom, the Assistant Superintendent of District 509J. He informed me that I first needed to attempt to resolve the issue with Ms. Pearson at Adams School before speaking with the district, that he had contacted her and she would be calling me soon.

After talking to Ms. Pearson about the issues involved, she agreed that it was a difficult situation. She denied any knowledge of anyone withholding information and insisted that a 5-day half-day program was always part of the plan for the 2006/2007 school year, and was pulled only after there were a lack of requests.

Unsatisfied with my conversation with Principal Pearson, I sent the following email to Mr. Hogeboom (and cc'd Russ Sweet) on January 18th:

Mr. Hogeboom,

Thank you for you phone call yesterday. I spoke with principal Pearson on the phone today and would like to continue to pursue this topic at the district level.

I maintain that it is unfair to have different levels of kindergarten instruction based on the amount of money that one pays in monthly fees. Furthermore, charging kindergarten-age children in the district for kindergarten facilities and programs is a violation of Clause 1 of Section 581-022-0803 of the Oregon Administrative Rules.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

The next day (January 19) I received the following two emails from Kathy Rodeman at the district offices:

Dear Mr. Bjarnason,

As the Director of Business Services for Corvallis, I’m responsible for the fees associated with the all-day kindergarten program. I have time to meet with you next week on Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon after 3:00 p.m. If either of those dates work for you, please let me know a convenient time to meet.

Kathy Rodeman



Dear Mr. Sweet,

The Corvallis School District has offered a tuition-based all-day kindergarten program for almost a decade. In direct response to Mr. Bjarnason’s complaint, this program is above and beyond the half-day free kindergarten program that is offered to all age-appropriate students.
The state school fund pays districts only half of a regular weighting for kindergarten. To extend this program to full-day we charge enough to pay for the direct costs involved. These costs are a half-time teacher, some supplies, handling applications and collecting fees. Additionally, we structure the fees to build in some scholarships for students on the free or reduced lunch program. Our kindergarten fees are reviewed publicly by the school board and approved prior to registration. Applications are accepted and a lottery is run to determine the enrollment in programs with more applicants than seats.
We began this program in response to interest from parents for a longer kindergarten school day. This is considered an optional, enrichment opportunity beyond the regular school day for kindergarten students. Each school continues to offer a half-day option for those not interested or unable to attend the full-day program. When we began this program, we conferred with staff at Oregon Department of Education and our attorneys to make sure we were structuring it legally.
Please explain to Mr. Bjarnason that we have acted in complete compliance with state laws.

Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services
Corvallis School District

I replied to Kathy's invitation with the following email:

Ms. Rodeman,

My wife and I would like to meet with you Friday at 4pm. We assume your office is located in the District offices on 35th in Corvallis. If this is not the case, please let us know where you would rather meet.

We appreciate your willingness to continue to discuss the issue.

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason

We had a pleasant meeting with Ms. Rodeman. Ms. Rodeman took notes, but neither Denise nor myself did (which we regret). As we have no documentation from that meeting, I won't attempt to recreate an exact account. We spoke about the fee issue, about the differences between a 5-day half-day program and a 3-day full day program, especially in the context of young children unaccustomed to attending a full day program. We spoke about the bussing issue. Ms. Rodeman assured us that bussing must be provided for all official school programs to all students who live in the school boundaries and more than 1 mile away from the school. This was obviously news to us. We assured her that this was not the information we were receiving from Adams School, and that the principals needed to be instructed on this.

We were adamant that providing misinformation regarding fees and bus availability would affect registration numbers. Families that are not aware of their options will typically resort to the schedule that best fits their situation. For disadvantaged families, this means enrolling in whatever free option may be available to them.

That same day, I received the following email from Russ Sweet:

Dear Ron,

I apologize for not responding sooner. I have been out of the office
with a family medical situation since last week.

As the kindergarten is described to me, it appears that no laws have
been broken. Since the half-day is available to all students free of
charge, then the district is in compliance with the law. I am still
trying to find information about how the day is structured. The law is
pretty vague about what is required of a kindergarten program.
However, if the district meets the basic components of a kindergarten
program as they are described in the law during the "free" part of the
day, then the district is in compliance. If, however, some of the basic
components are only offered during the "fee-based" part, then the
district might be non-compliant.

In any case, please continue to avail yourself to the district complaint
procedure on this matter. The Department cannot intervene until that
process has been exhausted. Please keep me informed. I will be happy
to answer any questions I can on this matter.

Sincerely,

Russ Sweet
Education Specialist, Oregon Reading First
Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97310
Desk: (503) 947-xxxx
Fax: (503) 378-xxxx
russ.sweet@state.or.us

On February 2, Kathy responded:

Dear Ron and Denise,

I enjoyed meeting with you and have attached a letter summarizing my response to your complaint. If you have any questions or feel that I didn’t capture your concerns accurately, please email me.
Thanks,
Kathy

These were the contents of the attachments:

February 1, 2007

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
xxxx xx xxxxxxxxxxx
Corvallis, OR 97333

Re: Complaint regarding Adams Elementary Kindergarten Program

Dear Mr. and Mrs, Bjarnason,

In response to your complaint regarding the kindergarten program at Adams, we met and reviewed your issues. I heard the following points:
It’s not fair to require payment for any kindergarten programs. Scholarships don’t make up for it unless every person who needs a scholarship receives one.
You feel the decision to require the free kindergarten students at Adams to attend the 3 day program and leave ½ day on Thursday is discriminating against people who are less affluent.
You are concerned whether there are the same number of instructional hours in the 2 ½ day program as there are in 5-1/2 days. (I asked you to email me your calculations regarding this.)
You feel that the language the schools/principals use regarding the kindergarten program adds to the confusion of parents. If kindergarten programs are free, then we should call the tuition-based programs enrichment or enhancement.
Transportation for free kindergarten programs should be available.

Regarding your complaint that Corvallis School District has violated Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-0803, I disagree with your interpretation. The State School Fund statute deals with this issue. ORS 327.006(1) includes the statement: “The aggregate days membership of kindergarten pupils shall be calculated on the basis of a half-day program.” The only mandatory kindergarten program for districts, under the law, is a half-day program. ORS 339.115 prohibits certain fees as condition to admission. A district school board shall not require payment of fees as a condition of admission to those pupils entitled under the law to free admission. By reason of the ORS 327.006(1), the free admission is equivalent to a half-time program.. Therefore, admission may be charged for courses not part of the regular school program, according to ORS 339.155(1)(a).

When I spoke to the Adams principal, she assured me that the kindergarten teachers are very aware of the need to provide instruction on new topics during the free kindergarten program time. In the fee-based part of the day, they may practice some of the new learning, but no new materials are presented.

I agree that our language regarding the optional, tuition-based programs could be improved. I’ve asked our Assistant Superintendent and the elementary principals to call the all-day, three-day options “enrichment” or “enhancement” to address the concern you raised. I have also requested that when describing the kindergarten experience that all kids receive, that they do it in a way that parents who are not able to afford the tuition-based programs feel welcomed and that they are providing their students a valuable experience.

Also, we’re required to provide transportation mid-day if the elementary aged student lives more than one mile away from school and attends their neighborhood school. We will provide kindergarten transportation under the same eligibility, if the parents need it.

I appreciate your time to explain your concerns and attempt to resolve this complaint. I have forwarded a copy of this response to Russ Sweet at Oregon Department of Education.

Sincerely,


Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services

Denise and I were disappointed at some of the intonations of this account, but we agreed that it was mostly accurate. Some of the issues that we felt were omitted from Kathy's notes are mentioned our response (see below).

Somewhere in this time, Ms. Moody referred us to another reporter who told us that this appeared to be only a miscommunication between the district, the school, and the parents, and that it would not make an interesting story.

Up to this point, we had been receiving encouragement from all of our friends who were in similar situations. We encouraged them to file their own complaints. They encouraged us to not give up, but to push this as far as possible, because they all agreed the district policy was unfair.

I emailed every kindergarten teacher in the district that I could requesting their daily schedules (as requested by Ms. Rodeman). It was a form letter. This is what it said:

Ms. XXXXX,

My name is Ronald Bjarnason. I have a son who is preparing to enter kindergarten, and am trying to figure out some things regarding the school schedule.

I'm interested in comparing the allocated instruction time for the various kindergarten plans (5-day full-day, 3-day full-day, and 5-day half-day). I don't need a schedule of when the kids are where, just a breakdown of where their day is spent.

# of minutes in instruction
# of minutes at recess
# of minutes in lunch time (for full-day programs)
# of minutes at other activities (if any)

If you could provide me with whatever information you have, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Ronald Bjarnason

I didn't get too many responses. Those I received encouraged me to attend their school's Kindergarten Night. There were only cosmetic differences between the schedules, but all seemed to indicate that there was no significant discrepancy between a 2.5 day program and a 5-day half-day program when it came to scheduled classroom time.

During this time, I attended the Kindergarten night provided by Adams School. Not much had changed, although they were very up front with the information regarding the 5-day half-day program. I was disappointed to hear Principal Pearson inform us that bussing would not be provided for the half-day programs.

Somewhat discouraged, and very busy, I put this issue on the back burner for a few weeks.

After discussing our options with my wife, I decided to pursue this course to the end. In this time, we had discussed the issue with various parents and friends, and the unanimity of their responses compelled me to continue. Everyone we talked to agreed that the district policies were unfair and needed to be addressed.

I was not dissuaded by Ms. Rodeman's response that their attorneys assured them they were correctly interpreting the issue. After all, that's what their paid to say.

I decided to follow the paper trail of Oregon State Law conveniently left in Ms. Rodeman's response. I read the referenced sections, and determined that this could likely be interpreted both ways. It seemed pretty clear that the district was within their rights to charge for the extra class time (as it was not a part of the regular curriculum).

The ongoing dispute revolved around whether or not non-paying children could attend the state-funded portion of a fee-based program without obligation to pay for (or attend) the extra class time. As there is currently no distinction in the daily kindergarten schedules of the 5-day full-day programs, this option is not available to students.

I maintain that "Separate but equal is NOT EQUAL". Children who cannot afford tuition should have access to the very same classrooms and the very same teachers as those children who can afford the tuition.

On March 7, I received a short email from Russ Sweet asking if I had received a written response from the district. I assured him that I had, and that I was preparing a response. In my investigation of the State Laws (located at http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html ), I came across ORS 339.147. In my response that same day, I quoted a portion of that section. This was my response:

Kathy,

Thank you for your response.

Per your request, I have attached a minute-by-minute breakdown of
activities for full and half days. I emailed a number of 509J
Kindergarten Teachers, and reviewed their websites. Individual breakdowns
had cosmetic differences. This is the most precise breakdown of those
that I reviewed.

I attended the Kindergarten night at Adams School in February. I was very
disappointed to hear Principal Pearson instruct the parents that the
school will NOT provide bussing for children attending half-day
programs. In discussing this issue with her, she insisted that she has
never been informed of any policy requiring the school to provide said
bussing. Denise and I clearly understood that the principals would be
instructed regarding this policy prior to their individual Kindergarten
nights.

I retain my opinion that no student should be required to pay for a
district mandated kindergarten program. If the district chooses to
classify a full-day program as a "kindergarten program", it should be
offered free of charge. If the district chooses to divide a full-day
program into a (state-funded) half-day kindergarten program combined with
(tuition-based) supplemental instruction time, then the district should
clearly divide the daily schedule to reflect this separation. Open and
free enrollment into that portion classified as the "kindergarten program"
should be allowed, without any requirement (implicit or otherwise) to pay
for the tuition-based enrichment time.

After our meeting with you, Denise and I left with the impression that
this distinction between enrichment and state-funded portions of a program
would apply to all 5 day full-day programs as well as the 3-day programs.
Given the language of your response, this issue has clearly not been
addressed by the district.

In response to your argument that "admission may be charged for courses
not part of the regular school program, according to ORS 339.155(1)(a)",
which provides the District with the option of charging tuition for
classes not part of the regular school program (in this case a full-day
kindergarten), I refer you to ORS 339.147 (1)(a,b) which reads:


(a) Notwithstanding ORS 339.141, no district school board or public
charter school as defined in ORS 338.005 shall require tuition for courses
not part of the regular school program, except for traffic safety
education, from a pupil who is a member of a low-income family in an
amount in excess of what the low-income family may receive as money
specifically to be used for payment of such tuition.

(b) As used in this subsection, "low-income family" means a family
whose children qualify for free or reduced price school meals under a
federal program, including but not limited to the National School Lunch
Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, and all their subsequent
amendments.


These clauses would appear to contradict the 509J lottery scholarship
policy. Under the current 509J policy, those families that qualify under
ORS 339.147(1)(a,b) must enter a random lottery, wherein only a
pre-determined number of those families recieve a full tuition waiver.

Corvallis 509J appears to be in direct violation of ORS 339.147(1)(a,b).
If so, I should expect the district to immediately cease this practice and
refund all families that qualify under 339.147(1)(a,b) any funds that have
been paid to the district in this 2006-2007 school year.

We do not feel that these issues have been resolved at the district level,
and are prepared to request that these issues be addressed by the Oregon
Department of Education. Barring a request by the district that we meet
personally with Superintendent Tarzian, we will formally make that request
on March 14th. Should the district request such a meeting and
Superintendent Tarzian be unable to meet prior to March 21st, we will
formally make the request on March 21st.

I have copied this email to Russ Sweet.

Ron and Denise Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

Last night, I heard back from Kathy. This is what she wrote:

Dear Mr. Bjarnason,

I'm sorry that we weren't able to resolve your concerns.

After reading your response below, I contacted our attorney who assures
me that we are correct in our application of a tuition based enrichment
program.

I also spoke with Ms. Pearson to clarify that we must provide
transportation to and from the free-kindergarten program if the child
lives at least one mile from the school. This may not mean door to door
delivery, but will follow our normal bus routes.

Your reply and request for a meeting with our superintendent have been
forwarded to Dawn Tarzian. She or her assistant will contact you
directly.

Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services

Once again, I'm not discouraged by the district's insistence that they are applying the law correctly. Their lawyers get paid to tell them as much. I've read the laws, and they seem to pretty clearly fall on my side of some of these issues (especially ORS 139.147).

I am waiting to hear from Superintendent Tarzian. If I haven't heard anything by tomorrow morning, I'll email Russ Sweet once again. At this point, it appears that the district is standing by their position. I expected as much. I don't anticipate that a meeting with Superintendent Tarzian will change anything, but I figured I'd exhaust my resources at this level before escalating the issue to the Oregon Department of Education.

Our intention is to accurately represent all involved parties. If there are errors in this blog, you are encouraged to comment.