Nearly two dozen district employees who are retiring at the end of the school year will be the honored guests at a reception on May 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Commons Area at Linus Pauling Middle School. Friends and family of the retirees are invited to attend; an RSVP is requested by e-mail to betty.phillips@corvallis.k12.or.us.

The Corvallis Education Association, Chapter 2 of the Oregon School Employees Association, and the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation are co-sponsoring the event.

Due to revised Oregon statutes with regard to human sexuality education, the Corvallis School District is reviewing its current health curriculum materials to align them with Oregon Department of Education standards. The district also is in the process of adopting a new digital science curriculum for middle and high school levels.

The public is invited to preview and offer comments on the curriculums being recommended for use in the classroom. The materials will be on display from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until June 1 in the board room of the district office.

The healthy sexuality curriculum being considered would be taught in grades K-12 with the focus in grades K-3 being disease prevention and healthy hygiene. The recommended science curriculum would see students at the middle school level and at Crescent Valley High School using iPads to access the “CK-12” Web-based science curriculum.

The Corvallis Budget Committee voted Monday night to approve a proposed budget for 2012-2013 that reduces services by about $3.4 million and taps into about $1.3 million of the district’s Rainy Day reserves fund. The proposed General Fund spending plan totals $51 million, or about $3.4 million less than this year’s budget.

The school board will likely adopt the approved budget during its June 18 board meeting. The May 29 Budget Committee meeting has been cancelled.

The most significant reductions include the elimination of about 20 full-time teaching positions, seven other staff positions, and four employee contract days subject to negotiations with the certified and classified associations.  The number of teachers that must be laid off, however, was reduced with the help of retirements, leaves and resignations.

The Corvallis Camerata orchestra took first place Friday at the 2012 OSAA State Championships held at the LaSells Stewart Center on the Oregon State University campus. The orchestra, directed by George Thomson, is made up of advanced orchestra students from both Crescent Valley and Corvallis high schools.

The contest featured 14 string orchestras from around the state. Each one performed a short program for three judges and sight-read a new piece. According to Thomson, the judges praised the Camerata orchestra for its “beautiful core sound from each section” and for their “fine discipline and confidence.”

Friday’s championship capped a busy two weeks for the district’s high school performing groups. The Crescent Valley Wind Ensemble, directed by Kristine Janes, took second place in the state 5A band competition on May 10, and the week before the Crescent Valley and Corvallis high school choirs, directed by Emily Mercado and Aubrey Peterson, finished neck and neck for second and third place in the state 5A choir competition hosted by George Fox University in Newberg.

The foyer of Linus Pauling Middle School was the scene of a special artists’ reception May 10 as students, school staff and the community gathered to celebrate the installation of a new public art piece by local artist Bill Shumway and to thank the donors that made the installation and an artist-in-residency program possible.

Art collectors Janet and Henry Nielson of Tacoma were honored at the after-school reception for their generous donation of $10,000 to pay for the art installation and for Shumway to participate in an artist-in-residency program at the middle school during the spring.

First Student bus drivers will be handing out registration forms to students currently riding the bus the week of May 14. The forms ask parents to indicate whether their child will be riding the school bus next fall.

By collecting the registration forms now, the Facilities Department can work with First Student over the summer to develop accurate and more efficient bus routes for the 2012-2013 school year. If a family’s transportation needs change over the summer (due to a new address or because they decide a bus ride to school is, or isn’t, necessary after all) parents may contact the Facilities Department at 541-757-5877.

Transportation coordinator Kim Patten explained students are always eligible for and may request transportation services at any time. However, initiating the registration process early makes it much easier to plan for student needs at the beginning of the school year.

The registration forms include English and Spanish translations on the front and back of one page. Students are asked to return the completed form to their bus driver by Friday, May 18. If students do not currently ride a school bus but need to fill out a form for next year, extra forms can be picked up and returned to their school office. Forms also are available on the Transportation page of the district Web site.