News-Times Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 16 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
Thriller
Former OH volunteer jailed for sex crime
Zombie dancers of all ages take over OHHS
By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
local churches, dance classes he taught in Coupeville and students who aren’t part of Choir Club. In addition, 20 more Show Choir students will participate in the video. “I could see this amount of people walking around downtown and it would be enough,” McCoy said. One of the younger participants was 8-yearold Troux Gilpin, who’s been doing Michael Jackson moves for the past few years. He enjoys learning dance moves on YouTube and practicing them in his room.
A 65-year-old man who used to volunteer at the Oak Harbor School District was recently sent to prison after being caught in a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office sting operation in which he thought he was meeting an underaged girl for sex. Court documents from the criminal case indicate that Jonathon Kruse admitted that he had sexually abused nine children, 18 adult women, one man and even a few dogs during his lifetime. He was arrested and charged in Island County with sexually abusing a 6- or 7-year-old girl in 1981. There are no allegations that Kruse ever sexually assaulted or acted inappropriately with children at Oak Harbor schools. He volunteered at Hillcrest Elementary, where his former wife was employed. He also told detectives that he volunteered doing construction at the schools and was in contact with young children. Kruse pleaded guilty in Skagit County Superior Court to attempted rape of a child in the second degree.
See Zombie, A4
See Kruse, A4
By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter
Zombie shakes and growls filled the Oak Harbor High School gym Saturday as Whidbey Islanders showed up to join the ranks of the dancing undead. Oak Harbor High School Choir Club students taught more than 50 community members of all ages the moves to “Thriller,” by the late Michael Jackson, in preparation for their own island domination in “Thrill the Island,” a music video that will be filmed Saturday, March 10 from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor. Choir director Darren McCoy supervised the rehearsal but let the students do all the teaching. “I’m trying to make it as much of a studentled thing as possible. It’s all about students learning how to do something like this,” McCoy said. The students will gain experience teaching, dancing, filming and more. “I hope that through projects like this, the school can become more connected to the community,” McCoy said. The choir’s word this year is “synergy” and they’ve been working hard to become more
Living: Crows mark reading program. A9
Rebecca Olson/Whidbey News-Times
Shani King, Troux Gilpin, Michael Garon and Elizabeth Adkins practice to be dancing zombies. connected to the community. Choir students have participated in Whidbey Playhouse productions and the Show Choir is featured in their current production, “Wish Upon a Star.” Choir students will also be involved in the upcoming District Music Festival, in which fifth through 12th grade choirs get together to sing. “I think what I’m most impressed about is the number of students who volunteered to be here on a Saturday,” McCoy said, adding that some of them performed in shows late the night before and Saturday night. At the rehearsal, McCoy said he recognized people he knows from the Whidbey Playhouse,
Kindergarten test sparks controversy in Oak Harbor By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter
Rebecca Olson/Whidbey News-Times
Oak Harbor Elementary School principal Dorothy Day explains how kindergarten teachers adjusted to the new schedule.
Despite concern from parents that the switch to every-other-day, full-day kindergarten removes consistency from learning, the Kindergarten “DIBELS” test results imply otherwise. “Our decision to go with the kindergarten decision this year was a fiscal decision,” said Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon at the Oak Harbor School Board meeting Monday. “We never would have chosen this if it was purely about instruction.” The switch from everyday, halfday kindergarten to every-otherday, full-day kindergarten saved the school district $60,000 by eliminating midday transportation, which isn’t funded by the state. It was
one of many cuts the district faced this year, including reducing middle school days by 30 minutes and eliminating teachers and staff. The DIBELS test is the only standardized measure for kindergarten students and is used by teachers to adjust instruction. “It’s a snapshot. It tells a story,” Gibbon said. Test results show that the students improved — from scores below the benchmark to far above — between the beginning of the school year and the middle. “Our students saw accelerated growth,” Gibbon said. Gibbon said he doesn’t attribute this to the kindergarten schedule change. Instead, he credits the teachers, who worked hard to adjust to the new schedule and
received intensive training through the Department of Defense literacy grant last summer. The grant funds a program to improve the teaching of reading for preschool through fifth grade. Dorothy Day, Oak Harbor Elementary School principal, explained the process kindergarten teachers went through to develop new routines and curriculum to cope with the new schedule. Teachers from other districts already on this schedule collaborated with Oak Harbor teachers to identify the important components of the curriculum and create a curriculum calendar. Throughout the year, teachers have made adjustments, such as moving math to the morning when children are more focused, and they
will meet again in spring to revise further, Day said. Susan Kovar, a literacy coach, said the Department of Defense literacy grant couldn’t have come at a better time. The training teachers received over the summer was vital and helped them develop a good routine that sticks despite students attending school every-other-day, Kovar said. Misty Martin, a kindergarden teacher at Oak Harbor Elementary See test, A7
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