Brittany Green, a 2010 senior at NHS and at the Alternative School, died after being struck by an SUV while crossing Lancaster Drive in front of Chemeketa Community College yesterday afternoon. A car (driven by an alleged drunk driver) sped through the crosswalk Brittany was using and struck her and two other people.

Brittany was taken by Life Flight to Emanuel Hospital. Despite the doctors' best efforts, she passed away late Thursday evening. Brittany's mom told Blue School Principal Dan Malone that Brittany finished her diploma requirements this summer at CCC and was ready to go into the Air Force. She had just finished registering for her classes for the coming term when the accident occurred.

“Brittany was a special student who had overcome great adversity to accomplish her goals,” said NOCAP Principal Bill Rogers. “Our entire staff was impressed by her hard work and determination to graduate. We consider it a privilege to have been able to work with her and will miss her dearly.

A memorial service for Brittany will be held

The Scholastic Aptitude Test scores for 2009-10 arrived this week. Newberg High School students outperformed their Oregon and National peer groups in reading and mathematics but scored below the state and national means in writing.

Reading
Newberg – 531
Oregon – 523
Nation – 501

Math
Newberg – 535
Oregon – 524
Nation – 516

Writing
Newberg – 492
Oregon – 499
Nation – 492

The September edition of The Club Herald features first day of school photos, summer happenings in Newberg and student stories about "What I did on my summer vacation."

The Club Herald is an independent newspaper serving young readers. Each month from September through May, 4,000 copies are delivered to second through eighth grade classroom in Newberg Public Schools. The Club Herald is an important partner in promoting reading and writing.

Read the September edition of the Club Herald

State Superintendent of Public Education, Susan Castillio, issued the following statement regarding the August Revenue Forecast:

"Today our state received more bad budget news. Oregon’s most recent budget forecast shows a $377.5 million budget shortfall for our state. The Governor, Senate President and Speaker have announced that additional cuts to K-12 will not be necessary and have pledged to maintain funding at the June level of $5.756 billion for K-12 education. To maintain this level, they propose using the $118 million federal Education Jobs assistance and approximately $34 million of the state reserve funds. As soon as we are able, my staff will provide school districts and education service districts with updated estimates.

“While this is welcome news, it is a short-term fix for a long-term funding problem for K-12. I look forward to working with state leadership to address this persistent K-12 funding challenge.

“I want to commend our school districts for all the hard choices they are making for their students this biennium. They have had to leave staff positions unfilled, ask their teachers to take pay cuts, slash professional development, turn their thermostats down, cut their sports programs, and make many other challenging decisions to minimize cuts to our classrooms and provide as much instructional time for our students as possible. Our districts are to be commended for their dedication, perseverance, and sacrifices.