What does it mean to be a Warrior?
Philomath High School is asking the community to help answer that question — and your input could shape how the school defines its identity for years to come.
Principal Mark Henderson says the effort grew out of a leadership conference he attended with students and the school’s leadership teacher in early December. While there, Henderson connected with SchoolMark, a company whose entire focus is helping schools define and strengthen their identity. The service is being offered to PHS at no cost.
“What we realized is that while we have a strong culture, there isn’t one word or phrase that really encapsulates what it means to be a Warrior,” Henderson said. “If you ask staff, students and parents, my guess is that you would hear a variety of different opinions. We want to come together around one characteristic or theme that accurately reflects what we are.”
To begin that process, PHS has launched a short, anonymous community survey. Henderson wants input from everyone connected to the school — students, parents, staff, alumni and community members alike. The survey will be open for two weeks.
SchoolMark’s founder, John Jenson, has worked with schools across the country throughout his career. Schools that have gone through the process have seen improvements in school spirit, student and staff morale, and community involvement, according to Henderson.
Once the survey closes on March 6, Jenson will analyze the results and look for common themes. From there, a committee made up of students, parents, staff, alumni and at least one community member will meet with him to work through what the data reveals.
Henderson is careful to frame the effort as discovery rather than reinvention.
“We don’t want to just assume about our culture — we want to know,” he said. “It’s about the students, the staff, the parents, the alumni, all their thoughts.”
The survey is just the starting point. Once the committee has worked through the findings, the goal is to identify the shared values that already define Warrior culture and find ways to weave that identity more intentionally into daily school life — from how the school communicates to how students and staff carry themselves.
“It’s not about changing what a Warrior is,” Henderson said. “It’s about making it clear.”
Henderson is looking for a community member for the committee, so reach out to him at the high school if you’re interested. He said the committee will meet around four times with the consultant.
If the timeline holds, new messaging reflecting the school’s defined identity could be in place by the start of next school year.
Community members who want to participate can fill out the survey until March 6 at www.surveymonkey.com/r/PhilomathHighSchool. It’s anonymous and won’t take long — but Henderson believes the results could have a lasting impact on what it means to walk the halls, compete on the field and graduate as a Philomath Warrior.
2. Preschool gets good funding news
The Next Steps Preschool program, which faced an uncertain future heading into this school year, has received the funding needed to hold a spring term session.
Strengthening Rural Families, the organization that operates the preschool at Clemens Primary School, announced that a large anonymous donation — combined with $1,500 raised through its annual fundraising campaign — will allow the program to move forward this spring.
“We are so grateful for the continued community support and to the anonymous donor who supports Strengthening Rural Families,” said the organization’s Lauri Lehman.
Superintendent Susan Halliday welcomed the development.
“I am thrilled about this news,” Halliday said. “The SRF program provides important support to pre-K students and families in our community.”
As Philomath News reported in January, the program had already skipped winter programming this year as funding challenges mounted. Grants have grown increasingly competitive, and the school district has limited what it can provide given that state school fund dollars don’t follow preschool-age children.
Lehman also shared news about a related program — Starker Forests has donated $5,000 to support the Alsea Pups Preschool, another SRF-operated program in the region.
“These donations and support make a profound difference in the outcomes of our very young learners with lifetime lasting effects,” Lehman said.
3. County weighing future of Dial-A-Bus
A proposal that could end Benton County’s 50-year relationship with Dial-A-Bus, the nonprofit that provides transportation for seniors, people with disabilities and disadvantaged children, is moving forward — and a public meeting that includes the topic is coming up on Monday afternoon.
Benton County Public Works Director Gary Stockhoff presented county commissioners in December with three options for Benton Area Transit — continue contracting with an outside provider, self-perform the service with county staff or pursue a hybrid approach. The county commissioners appeared to favor the self-perform option, with a projected implementation timeline targeting a July 1, 2027 launch.
According to an analysis referenced at the meeting, a 10-year cost projection shows the county would have slightly more revenue than expenses under the self-perform model, and that the current volunteer-driver model used by Dial-A-Bus is not considered sustainable long-term. (Read minutes from the Dec. 2 commissioners meeting here — scroll down to Item No. 7 under “Old Business”).
Dial-A-Bus, however, is pushing back. In a social media post, the organization said the proposal is projected to increase costs with no increase in capacity and warned that seniors and people with disabilities could see average ride times increase by one to two hours per round trip — an outcome the nonprofit tied to a previous county experiment with in-house service.
The county said that the self-perform model would require an estimated 17.5 full-time equivalent positions and would take 12 to 16 months to implement.
Commissioner Gabe Shepherd at the Dec. 2 meeting said his top priority was ensuring Benton Area Transit service levels are not reduced.
A Benton County Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 2, from 2-4 p.m. at the county’s Madison Avenue meeting room (500 SW Fifth St., Corvallis). If you’re interested, here is the meeting agenda, which includes information on how to join virtually if you can’t make it in person.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).