A new Tillamook Adventist School building has been dedicated, debt-free, after an arson fire completely destroyed the school facility on April 26, 2000.
Participating in the afternoon ceremony were Scott LeMert, Oregon Conference vice president; Steve McKeone, Tillamook Adventist School (TAS) principal; Dick Molstead, Oregon Conference superintendent of education; Eric Swanson, TAS School Board chairman; Sid Rittenbach, TAS School Board chairman at the time of the fire and member of the TAS Rebuilding Committee; Ralph Neidigh, pastor; Glen Sayler, M.D., chairman of the TAS Rebuilding Committee and incoming TAS Board chairman; Marge Clay, treasurer; Robert Sweezey, president of GenCon Insurance; and Warren E. Minder, long-time educator and intermediary between TAS and GenCon.
Both the TAS Board and the Church Board voted to name the TAS library in Minder’s honor.
Transition
For almost two years, classes met at the Tillamook Adventist Church, which members remodeled to meet the students’ temporary needs.
At the same time, the School Rebuilding Committee worked to create a new campus on the site where the building had burned.
Kindergarten
The Tillamook Church in business meeting voted in February to start an all-day kindergarten, this fall. Parents will be able to enroll their children for full- or half-day sessions.
The afternoon sessions will feature physical activities, designed to develop motor skills.
11th Grade
This May, members voted in a business meeting to offer 11th-grade classes this fall, with a plan to offer 12th-grade classes in fall of 2003.
Projected enrollment figures for this fall show that about one-third will come from Adventist homes, the remainder from non-Adventist Christian families.
Staff members this school year are Sheralyn Brandt, kindergarten; Jennifer Simpson, grades 1 and 2; Wendy Press, grade 3; Matt Weber, grade 4; Jennifer Zook, grades 5 and 6; Nancy McKeone, grades 7 and 8; and Jeremy Simpson, grades 9 and 10 and physical education. Eleventh grade, which this year will use Home Study International study materials, will be taught by various staff members.
Others on staff for the upcoming school year are Steve McKeone, principal; Sandy Sheridan, receptionist; Mildred Olson, librarian; Don Seimsen, music teacher; Robert Wetzel, janitor; and Sonja Bradburn, Home and School leader. •
