Over the past twenty years, Amy has volunteered countless hours working with the teachers, educational assistants, custodians, librarians and food service personnel in the Oregon schools. Her experiences started when our kids were toddlers, assisting Donna Mahr in her dream of building Open Gym, Homeroom and other early childhood programs. It continued when she joined the PTO leadership team.
Organizing, staffing and cleaning up events allowed us to establish meaningful relationships with both staff and administrators. Managing fundraisers, outdoor education projects, and daily volunteer parent safety interventions at the middle school, further revealed the challenges facing our schools. Assisting in classrooms, tutoring, chaperoning field trips, and serving as the health officer for overnight camps, we witnessed the strengths and weaknesses of our teachers and administrators. Finally, Russ has had the unique opportunity to serve as the Oregon Team Physician for 20 years.
You might wonder why this is important! We have seen the employees of our school district working in almost every capacity, and we know the conditions of the facilities and the equipment. We have listened to the staffs’ frustrations, worries and struggles. Over the past several years we have been concerned about the steady decline of staff morale. The staff has requested our assistance in protecting the integrity of our schools. Our sons have also asked, “Can’t you do something to help keep our best teachers and principals?” We have lost three young men who were top notch vice-principals and one extraordinary principal, excellent OHS teachers (two English and one Social Studies), and many other teachers who have retired early or simply left our district. We cannot afford to lose any more outstanding people!
Parents frequently ask us, “Do you recommend moving to Oregon with young children?” We reply that Oregon has been a wonderful place to raise a family: safe streets, friendly people, great community organizations, fantastic locally owned businesses, and a wonderful sense of community. However, we cannot honestly recommend Oregon School District to families asking for guidance—not considering the dysfunctional relationship between the school board and district staff.
In support of the people caring for our children each day--truly putting our KIDS FIRST-- we will cast our votes to support the Oregon Education Association endorsements for School Board: Barb Feeney, Gwen Maitzen and Charlie Uphoff.
Russ and Amy Hermus
City of Fitchburg