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Crane Union High School

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Coordinates: 43°25′00″N 118°34′29″W / 43.41667°N 118.57472°W / 43.41667; -118.57472
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Crane Union High School
Address
Map
43277 Crane-Venator Ln

Crane
,
(Harney County)
,
Oregon
97732

United States
Coordinates43°25′00″N 118°34′29″W / 43.41667°N 118.57472°W / 43.41667; -118.57472
Information
TypePublic
Opened1918
School districtHarney County Union High School District 1J
PrincipalMatt Halwey[1]
Teaching staff5.50 (FTE)[2]
Grades9-12
Number of students54 (2017–18)[2]
Student to teacher ratio9.82[2]
Color(s)Royal blue, white and black
      [1]
Athletics conferenceOSAA High Desert League 1A-8[1]
MascotMustang[1]
Websitecraneedu.org/high-school
Coordinates from Geographic Names Information System[3]

Crane Union High School is a public high school in Crane, Oregon, United States. It is a boarding school that serves students from a large geographic area.

Its district is known as the Harney County Union High School District 1J,[4] and covers much of Harney County.[5]

In 1976 it was the only American public boarding high school operated by a local school district.[6]

History

[edit]

It opened in 1918. It moved to Crane circa 1920 after initially being in Lawen.[6] The dormitory began operations in 1931.[7]

On January 25, 1967, a fire ruined multiple buildings of the school facility. The school resumed operations circa 1969.[7]

Taylor Perse of Eugene Weekly stated that the community of Crane reoriented itself around the school after the community declined in population.[7] The Associated Press wrote that the school became "Crane's sole reason for being".[8]

Eric Nichols became the principal circa 2018.[7]

Service area

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The official school district attendance area includes, in addition to Crane: Diamond, Double-O Ranch, Drewsey, Fields, Frenchglen,[9] Riley,[10] and Suntex.[9] In 2002 the size of its attendance boundary was 7,700 square miles (20,000 km2), an area that was about the same size as that of Massachusetts.[11]

The school also historically served sections of Malheur County,[12] and portions of Humboldt County, Nevada.[6] Some communities in Nevada had inter-state agreements.[11] Sending school districts pay the costs of tuition.[13] In 1959, the Crane UHSD territory extended into Malheur County; that year there was a proposal to reorganize the school districts in both counties with part of Crane Union's territory to be given to Malheur County.[14] As of 2009 some students in the Juntura area, who are within Juntura School District 12, a K-8 school district, move on to Crane Union for high school.[15]

Crane Union historically served the Denio area, including when the townsite was in Oregon.[16] The area on the Oregon state line across from Denio is, as of 2020, in the official Crane Union boundary.[5] As of 2004 Denio, Nevada parents with high school aged children may send their children to Crane Union instead of sending them to Albert M. Lowry High School in Winnemucca, Nevada.[17]

Background

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Crane Union High School is the only school in Crane Union High School District, which covered the most area in Oregon as of 2006, serving 7,500 square miles (19,000 km2).[18][19] Students from the surrounding ranches attend Crane Union High School from as far away as 150 miles (240 km). Crane is one of the oldest public boarding schools in the country.[20]

Nichols described the culture as "very neighborhood-ish" despite the students coming from a vast rural area.[7]

Jeff LaLande, in an Oregon Historical Society publication made in 2005 and updated in 2014, stated that the school was "comparatively expensive" to operate.[21]

Admissions

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The district automatically enrolls from the Harney County Union High School District 1J boundary in Harney County.[22] The district also takes tuition-paying students from outside the boundary and students which are sent there by cooperative agreement from other school districts paying tuition.[23]

Campus

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It has 80-acre (32 ha) of area.[12] Crane Elementary School is on the same property.[24]

The dormitory, funded by money otherwise used for transportation, is for students over 20 miles (32 km) away. Male students have the first floor and female students have the second.[25] The school started boarding in 1928,[16] and established a brick dormitory, which had two floors, in 1931.[11] In the 1940s a dormitory for female students opened.[6] Its current facility, made of cement and steel, opened due to a 1967 fire that ruined the previous building.[11] As of 2023 each room houses two students; Perse characterized the room sizes as larger or the same as such rooms at the University of Oregon. When the school had a larger student population, students were housed four to each room.[7]

The district also provides housing to employees.[6]

Student body and staff

[edit]

In 1950 it had 63 students, with some of them Basque Oregoners from Denio, Oregon.[16] In 1976 it had 99 students.[6] In February 1998 it had 77 students,[12] and in November of the same year it was up to 88, with 65 of them boarding.[13] In 2002 the school had 97 students.[11] In 2020 its student count was 96, with boarders making up 60 of them.[26]

Eric Cain of Oregon Public Broadcasting stated that the student body is "some of the most rural kids in the state – maybe the country".[27] Many of the students are alumni of one room schoolhouses and had regularly helped their families with ranch work prior to leaving for high school.[13]

As of 1983 it was common for unmarried teachers to teach for one or two years at Crane Union before moving elsewhere in response to the area being isolated.[28]

Academics

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In 2008, 100 percent of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 24 students, 24 graduated and none dropped out.[29][30]

In 1983 the teachers offered extra classes partly because the area had few other activities available, and focusing on teaching was a pastime available.[8]

Transportation

[edit]

As of 2002 the district has no school bus for students. Students may drive themselves to/from school on weekends.[11] This is because, as of 1972, the school officials use the funding from the state, used by other districts for transportation purposes, to fund the dormitory.[31] In 1983 the vice principal, Bill Thew, stated that the cost would be higher if the district had used school buses.[8]

In 1950 the district had a bus to take students to Burns, Oregon so they could access entertainment.[16]

Athletics

[edit]

In 1998 about 90% of the students participated in athletics.[12]

As of 2023 several students partake in rodeos outside of school functions. The school previously had rodeo as an official sport. Fears of legal problems meant that rodeo was withdrawn as an official sport.[7] In 1983, the school had a mechanical bull in its possession.[8]

Feeder patterns

[edit]

The high school, in its official attendance zone, takes students from the following K-8 school districts:[9]

  • Diamond School District 7
  • Double O School District 28
  • Drewsey School District 13
  • Frenchglen School District 16
  • Harney County School District 4 (Crane Elementary School)
  • Pine Creek School District 5
  • South Harney County School District 33 (Fields School)
  • Suntex School District 10

As of 2004 Denio School of the Humboldt County School District would also be a feeder school as Denio, Nevada students had Crane Union as one option for high school.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "OSAA - Error".
  2. ^ a b c "Crane Union High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  3. ^ "Crane Union High School". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. May 22, 1986. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  4. ^ https://policy.osba.org/harney1jcrane/index.asp - Also seen in the 1998-1999 Oregon School Directory, page 29 (PDF 17/55)
  5. ^ a b "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Harney County, OR" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2022-07-15. - Text list
  6. ^ a b c d e f Flanigan, James (1976-03-01). "At Crane, they board 'em". The Capital Journal. Salem, Oregon. p. 12. - Clipping from Newspapers.com. There was an abbreviated version published: Flanigan, James (1976-03-18). "Crane Union High students live on campus at Burns". The World. Coos Bay, Oregon. United Press International. p. 14. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Perse, Taylor (2023-08-17). "School on the Range". Eugene Weekly. Eugene, Oregon. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  8. ^ a b c d "Justice is unique in nation's last public boarding school". Reno Gazette-Journal. Reno, Nevada. Associated Press. 1983-05-11. p. 2F – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c "CUHS Rural Feeder School Districts". Crane Union High School. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  10. ^ "Education". Harney County Economic Development. Retrieved 2022-07-15. Suntex Elementary School 68178 Silver Creek Road Riley, OR 97758 - This shows Suntex Elementary, one of the feeder schools of Crane Union, is also the area school of Riley, OR.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Hagemeier, Heidi (2002-10-20). "Public boarding school is one of few". Statesman Journal. Salem, Oregon. Associated Press. p. 3C. - Clipping at Newspapers.com - Also at: "Untitled". The Bulletin. 2002-10-06. Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2022-07-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - The mathematical calculations support the claim that the district's size is around that of Massachusetts.
  12. ^ a b c d "Head 'em up, Move 'em out, Board 'em". Farm Journal. February 1998. Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2022-07-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - The claim about the size of the district being larger than three states combined is contradicted by mathematical calculations of the state's areas.
  13. ^ a b c Frazier, Joseph B. (1998-11-22). "In Eastern Oregon, 'Going' to School Means Living There". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 2022-07-15.. The claim about the district's size being the same as three states does not match the mathematical calculation which shows the sum of the states being larger than that of the size of the school district's territory stated in other articles.
  14. ^ "Crane School Area Proposal Wins Approval". The Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. 1959-09-24. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "The Oasis lives between Vale and Burns". East Oregonian. 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2024-03-29. - The article's full text may not load on some archived versions.
  16. ^ a b c d "They 'Live In' at Crane". Sunday Journal Magazine. 1950-11-12. Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2022-07-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. ^ a b Roccapriore, Carla (2004-12-12). "Tiny-town students visit biggest little city". Reno Gazette-Journal. pp. 1C, 2C. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. "a public boarding school in Crane, Ore." automatically refers to Crane Union HS, as it is the only boarding school in Crane.
  18. ^ "Governor addresses Crane Union HS commencement ceremony". Oregon.gov. May 26, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  19. ^ As of 2008, the Klamath County School District is the largest.
  20. ^ McDonald, Rachael (March 22, 2005). "Life at Oregon's Rural Boarding School". Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  21. ^ LaLande, Jeff (2005). "Challenges Ahead". High Desert History: Southeastern Oregon. Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved 2024-03-11. - Updated in 2014.
  22. ^ "Admission of Resident Students" (PDF). Crane Union High School. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  23. ^ "Admission of Nonresident Students" (PDF). Crane Union High School. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  24. ^ Bradley, Carol (1994-03-13). "'Local' students seem to be gone for good". The Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. p. 8C – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Crane Dorm". Crane Union High School. 2006-10-10. Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2022-07-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. ^ Hall, Aliya (2020-03-27). "Rural boarding schools combat distance, create connection". The Other Oregon. EO Media Group LLC. - Non-AMP link
  27. ^ Cain, Eric (2013-08-25). "About Crane Union High School". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2022-07-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  28. ^ Seagrave, Jane (1983-03-30). "School has homey touch". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Corvallis, Oregon. Associated Press. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "State releases high school graduation rates". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  30. ^ "Oregon dropout rates for 2008". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  31. ^ "80 Students Live At Crane School". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Corvallis, Oregon. Associated Press. 1972-10-04. p. 9. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
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