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SCHOOL DISTRICT |
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Unification is simply forming one district from many. This reduces the number of school boards, top administrators, and eventually some personnel. It facilitates articulation and enables shared services for a group of schools thereby sharing costs. Like “No Child Left Behind” it sounds like a sound principal. Forks of Salmon Elementary has been involved in discussions with schools in Scott Valley for about two years. These discussions did not really get off the ground. Then, in early spring 2004, Etna Union High School District and each Scott Valley feeder school board signed a Petition to Study Unification. The Forks of Salmon School Board began looking into the pros and cons of the unification question. A representative of our Board attended meetings at Scott Valley Jr. High and High School. The retiring Etna High School Superintendent was invited to a Forks of Salmon Board of Trustees meeting for discussion. The Forks School Board hosted Siskiyou County Office of Education officials Barbara Dillmann, Superintendent, Joe Guerra, Associate Superintendent, and Lynn Wilen, interim Superintendent of Etna High. Prior to voting on the Petition our board wished to weigh as many facts as were available. Our local Board supported the unification of the schools in Scott Valley due to their proximity and historic associations, however, on March 17, 2004, the Forks of Salmon Elementary School District Board of Trustees unanimously voted against the Petition to Seek Unification of Etna High School and its Feeder Schools and so advised the Superintendent of Schools. Catch 22 – California Ed Code doesn’t allow that vote to count. As we are in the Etna Union High School District, we remain a part of the whole. The Public Hearing process was the next step.
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