The following transcript was generated using automated transcription software for the accessibility and convenience of our audience. While we strive for accuracy, the automated process may introduce errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. This transcript is intended as a helpful companion to the original audio and should not be considered a verbatim record. For the most accurate representation, please refer to the audio recording.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. Being a new school superintendent is a tough job under the best of circumstances. Being a new superintendent, inheriting a huge budget deficit is another matter altogether. Today on the show KLCC, Rebecca Hansen-White provides us with an exclusive interview with its superintendent of Eugene's 4j school district and their conversation about the looming budget crisis with enrollment down. The school district, like many others in the state, is facing a challenge in funding that could make the next couple of years a real exercise in belt tightening. Then in the second part of the show, we'll take a look back at some of the people and voices on Oregon on the record that made 2025 a truly remarkable year. You did a very exhaustive interview with the fairly new superintendent of Eugene's 4j School District.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: Yeah, a lot of school districts in Oregon are really struggling financially, and a couple, including Corvallis and Bethel, have had to actually shut down schools because and this is impacting 4j as well. Oregon's birth rate is quite low and has been for a little bit, which means, you know, less preschoolers and kindergarteners coming in every year, and they get their funding on a per student basis. So that's been impacting their finances, along with rising costs. And then there's less families moving into our district, specifically because we have really high housing costs. So that's kind of got us and our new superintendent and the 4j community into the situation where we're in now, where they've got to figure out how to find $30 million to cut before next school year.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, so we're going to roll this interview that you did with Dr. Mickelson, and you know, hear about all of these challenges that she has to face, that she inherited, as well as what she has to work with now. So, we're going to play that right now.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: This is your first year as superintendent here. It's a rough one to start when you need to find 30 million to cut. How are you making this transition yourself as you're being introduced to the community, while having to do this,
DR. MIRIAM MICKELSON: As I look at our district, and I go very deeply into our budget, I am finding that community members and our staff really, they care about our students, and as long as decisions are student centered, even if they don't agree, there's a level of understanding there, as long as we continue to be student centered, the professionalism, the grace and the care that people have Definitely on display and evident throughout this process. The other thing that I also would like to share, because maybe this has not been broadly shared, is another reason why it's really important to start early. It gives us time to be very intentional with how is next year going to look like. So, the board, they will take their action on Phase Three by February 4. Once that is done, then we put the budget document together for the budget committee to approve in April. But parallel to that, will be the work of the staff and planning very intentionally what next year will look like with reduced staffing. So, we're giving ourselves between February and August to thoughtfully map out the path forward. So, when the students come in in September, they may see that some of their beloved staff members are not there, but for the most part, they should still have the very rigorous and meaningful, wonderful learning experiences that they have as students. So the goal is for them to not feel the pain of the budget reduction, and we have a better chance of doing that when we have the time.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: We saw phase one, which was cuts to technology contracted services, as well as the authorization for layoffs for the administrative positions. What guided those outside the classroom cuts and what made you decide to look at the administration?
DR. MIRIAM MICKELSON: First, we surveyed or we pushed out a thought exchange survey to our community and to. Our staff asking, what are the values and priorities at this community and this district in the context of a budget reduction? And it was very clear the number one theme from that was protect direct services to students. Keeping that in mind, we decided to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom, and I started with my own executive leadership team. We get to phase two and three after the holidays to preview that and let people know what to expect, what is going to be in those phases. So, phase two includes reductions within the maps group, some managers, administrators, professional supervisors, so administrative leadership and any services at the district level that don't directly support or serve students. So, there are some reductions. There any programmatic changes that would be included in phase three. So, anything that's non personnel, non-technology related, non-outside of the district, contract services, types of reduction. So now we're talking staffing within the district, but not building based. That's what phase two is about.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: So, phase three is schools themselves, any reductions to classroom teachers?
DR. MIRIAM MICKELSON: So, more classroom based and more building based. The idea being we're starting; we're looking at everything else that we can within the district before we touch those services that directly support and serve our students and the classroom.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: We've heard from parents at family schools about their concerns. Could you tell me a little bit about Family School, how that fits into the reductions and what the district is thinking about that right now?
DR. MIRIAM MICKELSON: So, Family School, whether that is consolidation or closure of that school, technically speaking, that would have been under phase two, because I consider it a programmatic change. However, I am putting that now under phase three because I need to give myself a little bit of time to fully engage with Family School about consolidation or Co Location, I should say I present Phase Two to the school board on January 7 for the first read and January 14 for the second read. So, between now and then, there's not much time, and I'm not quite ready to make that recommendation, so I am putting that under phase three.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE I know the budget conversations that are happening right now, which are happening a little earlier than normal. They don't include the changes at the federal government, the Department of Education. When will we know the potential federal funding and how might that impact your budgeting process? Right?
DR. MIRIAM MICKELSON: We definitely take that into consideration. Unfortunately, there's really no good way of knowing when we would hear definitively whether title one funding is going to continue. I remember this past summer, we had planned, we had made plans for Title staffing for this school year, and we heard in July that the federal government was going to take that money away, and then they ended up reversing course, which we were very grateful for, because that would have meant eliminating some title one positions if the money was not going to be there. So, I'm not sure exactly when we will know what funding we will have. It's there's quite a bit of uncertainty right now.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Boy, well, obviously a lot of challenges ahead for 4J.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: Absolutely, and I think that because they started early, there's still really an opportunity for the community to be a part of this process.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Well, Rebecca, always appreciate your reporting and appreciate you coming down and providing us with this, this great interview you did with the superintendent. Thanks so much.
REBECCA HANSEN-WHITE: Absolutely.
MICHAEL DUNNE: We're now into our third year doing this show. Our goal has always been to bring you stories and voices about your community from the people making it happen as we look back on 2025, we certainly brought you a lot of variety, a touch of the quirky and even some very touching and emotional stories that originate from our region or national stories that impact it. To finish out today's show, we thought we'd spend a few minutes with these voices. A couple are well known, some are anonymous, some are serious, some are funny, and one is no longer with us. In all, a year of Oregon on the record brings you a couple 100 voices of people making news, making a difference, or just making or saying something interesting. So here we go. First up, we talked at the very beginning of the year with one of Eugene's favorite adopted sons. Friends Tim Matheson, who played otter in the iconic movie animal house that was filmed right here. He was in town to discuss his book about growing up in show business, and he shared with us some anecdotes of filming in Eugene all those years ago. Talk about animal house. You know, obviously, here in Eugene, it's still so legendary, obviously. And, you know, obviously, like you said, I mean, there were a lot of challenges to getting it made. A lot of colleges didn't even want to participate, you know, yeah, no, you know. But what was it like? I don't know if you'd ever been to Eugene before, you know, a small town, and this idea of working with, you know, really kind of a mercurial talent, and John Belushi, and knowing that he had a reputation, and knowing he was back and forth between Eugene and New York, what was it like?
TIM MATHESON: I had been to Eugene one year before, or maybe six months before, I'd auditioned and gotten a commercial for, I think it was blats beer, and they shot it here in Eugene. I don't know why. I forget why, but it didn't matter. I was in Eugene, okay, you know? And I met a local school co Ed and got to be friendly, and stayed an extra week and hung out in Eugene. And I loved it. Then when the movie came up, I said, Wow. And I just said, don't say Willamette, say Willamette, nicely done. And but it was, it was just great. I mean, it was, it was wonderful to be here and to see, you know, that was the only school, the only university, that read the script and allowed us in. And because the I guess, the President was, had been in the UC system in California, and they'd asked him to shoot the graduate on his campus. And he said he read the script, and he said, No, I think this is terrible. And after won the Oscar for Best Picture, I think was it or was nominated, yeah, for 11, sure, sure. He decided he knew nothing about scripts. So, when they asked him if we could shoot it here, he said, Sure, and you can even bring the horse in my office. But it was great. The students were great. Belushi was not a diva. We didn't know what to expect. He was a remarkable team player. Because improv is work. I work off of you, you know, I use you, whatever you give me. I is a setup for me to try and, you know, raise it up and give it back to you. You know, look, there's a wall there, man, and it's hot, come on, there's a ladder over here. Let's go. Let's climb over. So it was, it was one of those situations where I just got to be a part of something that gained all this momentum during production, against the wishes of the studio, that tried to kill us at every turn, sure, and in a very, you know, amazing group of talented people in every department who pulled off the impossible.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Later, we talked with someone much less famous, but who nonetheless created something that did make national headlines, the bend man who plays googly eyes on so many public art statues in Central Oregon, indeed, Jeff Keith captured national attention with his aim to help us all take life less seriously. You're rather famous for your prank, and I kind of wanted to talk about it and talk about all the reasons why. So maybe start with your motivation for doing what you did.
JEFF KEITH: Well, it's not just this hasn't been the first time I've been doing this for, probably, well, ever since I moved to bend, and honestly, I've been pranking and creating smiles pretty much my whole life. But I think it's doing these and it's really easy here on the roundabouts in Bend, so it's a great way for me, just to get there's one thing I love. I love a smile, and I love a laugh. And I found out this is an easy way to do that with folks here and Bend, and this one definitely took off.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, and sort of you know, you said you've done this for a while, the googly eyes, talk about that. I mean, again, I will tell you, like one of my hosts was preparing to read a copy about your prank and they had to do a couple of takes, because when they read the copy, they started laughing. And, you know, was it was very funny, but, but, I mean, you know, what was it about the googly eyes? Obviously, they're funny, but is that it, or was there something more about, you know, kind of doing something irreverent, like the googly eyes on public art?
JEFF KEITH: Well, I think the googly eyes, you know, it's definitely taken a life of its own. So, it's kind of created this own life. And I'm super grateful for the attention that it's getting. It's also opened up some great conversation. And so, for me, really the spotlight of this and getting people excited about, you know, laughing, I guess about it is using humor. And in this sense, its eyes, these googly eyes, to and literally open our eyes to a serious issue. And that. For us is girls that are hidden in dark corners of society and trapped in a nightmare that they need to get out of, and that's sex trafficking here in the United States. And so, there was a kind of a hidden agenda behind this one is that it's opening our eyes to something that a lot of times we don't really want to open our eyes to, and that's some hard things in society.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Of course, like life fun and quirky needs to be balanced out with serious and somber. This past summer, I was invited to record the story of Tom Lehman. Tom is not famous, nor has he ever been, but he was someone that graciously allowed us to tell his story about deciding to end his own life. Tell us about your health condition.
TOM LEYMAN: Okay, my main health condition is COPD, and I'm considered, I'm, I'm gonna die.
MICHAEL DUNNE: When did you make this decision that you wanted to be in control to end your life?
TOM LEYMAN: Quite a while ago. Okay. If it ever came to this, I decided probably I would say 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe that's a difficult question, sure. And another thing is, the reality of it is, you know, you can say, well, like, maybe I said when I was 60, wow, when I turned 70, I'm gonna pull the plug, because I've lived life burning the candle at both ends.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, once, once you had been diagnosed with this condition. And I imagine, you know, talking to a physician, could you tell our audience, sort of, what's the process that you went through to be able to, you know, obtain the necessary medications to end your life?
TOM LEYMAN: The MADE, which is medical, medical assistance in dying, got it made my primary doctor. I told him that I had a desire to end my life, and he connected me with hospice, okay, and they connected me. They connected me with end-of-life choices organ. They connected me in short term with a doctor in Eugene, and it seemed like once I saw the doctor in Eugene, it was like maybe two or three days and I had the prescription and all the information that was necessary to consume it.
MICHAEL DUNNE: One of my favorite things about this show is that I get to talk to really smart people doing research at one of our universities this fall. I actually got to go to sea with OSU scientists to study whales, and while the ride was rough, I got a chance to talk with Dawn Barlow of the college about why whales are so amazing contextualize these animals for us. I mean, we know what whales are. We've seen them. You know, some of us lucky enough to see them in person like today, but also on television or film or something like that. What is it about a whale that first captivated you and it does, it still captivates you today, after 10 years of doing this?
DAWN BARLOW: Sure, I think a couple things captivate me. I think spending time on the water, spending time at sea, has always captivated me, and the mystery of these animals captivates me, and I think captivates a lot of people. They're the in some cases, like with blue whales, the largest animal ever to have lived on earth. And there are so many fundamental things we don't know about them still, and that's a sort of a big mystery to keep chasing and keep chipping away at. And so I think what captivates me about spending time on the water with these with these whales, is is just, well, the time spent at sea and in their presence. That doesn't get old. But also, to going back to one of your earlier points, to think about them as this sort of Sentinel of the ecosystem that they live in, all the things that had to happen for this giant animal to be here right now.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Of particular note, 2025 was the year that the President and Republicans finally ended support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This has sent many stations and shows reeling, and we brought you the story of a national show headquartered in Portland, live wire and their efforts to stay afloat. One of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is people may think of you know your show, and not necessarily understand sort of the minutia about funding, and let's talk about that, because your show live wire has been upended a bit by what's happened to us and other stations with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and rescission. Talk about that. Talk about how it's impacting your show.
LUKE BURBANK: Yeah, you know, you know this, Michael, public radio has never been like, financially, the most sort of flush environment, and that was in like, the good times, sure. But then you take away the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes a significant amount of money into the public radio system, and if you take that out of the system, it doesn't get to the stations, and then the stations have less money to, you know, pay the fees for airing live wire. We call those carriage fees. And the same thing has been happening in the worlds of a lot of like the grant funding that goes on. You know, our show also gets a lot from state and federal grants to keep this whole thing going. And so, you've had, you know, you've had this reduction in a lot of the different funding mechanisms that have kept live wire going over the years. And again, it's always been scrappy, even the best of years. So, we, you know, we looked at the last year, and we saw a reduction of about $150,000 in in the money that was coming in to support live wire, which I don't know, you know, if you're talking about some of the really big shows, maybe that's not a lot. That's a lot for Live Wire. And so, we, in order to sort of try to fix that, we launched this thing this year called The fully charged campaign. And what we're trying to do is make up that $150,000 between now and January 31 of 2026 and we feel like if we're able to do that, we're going to be able to stabilize things for live wire so that going forward, our show is not as subjected to the kind of winds of politics and funding priorities and things like that.
MICHAEL DUNNE: All in all, a pretty unusual and unpredictable year. I can't say it was great, I can't say it was terrible, but I can say that we were so fortunate to have so many great guests and great stories to share with you on Oregon On The Record, that's the show for today. All episodes are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow, we'll bring you some more look backs with our own news staff to talk about the most interesting news stories they covered. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record, thanks for listening.
