ST. HELENS, The St. Helens School Board took up a $275,000 property purchase for its student home-renovation program, a locked-in 4.75 percent rate on a pension bond, a new video surveillance policy and the swearing-in of a student board member at its Oct. 21 meeting, according to the meeting packet and the 46-minute video posted by the district. Minutes and vote tallies were not yet posted Thursday.
A House for Students to Rebuild
Resolution 2026-27-009, on the consent agenda, authorizes Superintendent Koreen Barreras-Brown to buy a residential property for up to $275,000 by June 30, 2027, for what the resolution calls the district’s Renovation and Remodeling Program. The house must be within 10 miles of St. Helens High School by paved road, zoned residential, on public water and sewer, free of liens, setback problems and unpermitted additions, and “meet all student safety, curricular, and logistical criteria for the program.” The money comes from a special revenue fund, and the resolution amends an earlier one, 2026-27-003, that set the program up. The packet does not say what happens to the house once students finish it.
The Pension Bond
At its Oct. 7 work session, the board voted 5-0 to set the “true interest cost” on a pension obligation bond at 4.75 percent, after a presentation from district business official William Lewis and Lauren MacMillan of Piper Sandler & Co., the district’s bond underwriter, according to the Oct. 7 minutes approved Wednesday. A pension obligation bond is a loan a district takes to pay down its unfunded liability to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, betting that PERS investment returns will beat the bond’s interest rate. The minutes do not state the bond amount.
Also on the Agenda
- Student representative: the board chair was scheduled to swear in a St. Helens High School junior or senior as the 2026-27 student board representative, a non-voting seat created under Board Policy BCBA. The district received one application as of Sept. 23, according to those minutes.
- Video surveillance: first reading of Policy ECAC, which would set rules for cameras on district property, and Policy GCPC/GDPC on staff retirement.
- Curriculum delay: on Oct. 7 the board voted 5-0 to postpone adopting new health and social sciences curricula; the minutes give no reason.
- Grants: a reinstated and amended Early Indicator and Intervention System grant from the state, $19,196 over two years, and an amendment to the district’s early literacy grant.
- Audit: Lewis told the board Sept. 23 the annual audit would be ready Nov. 9.
By the Numbers
The September enrollment report in the packet puts the district at 2,608 students, with average daily attendance of 2,271.7, or about 10.4 percent of student-days missed. St. Helens Virtual Academy enrolled 221, most of them in grades 10 through 12, with absence rates of 37 percent in 11th grade and 51 percent in 12th. The high school, which absorbed Plymouth High this year, listed 693 students.
The board’s next regular meeting is Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. at the district office, 474 N. 16th St.