Crane Union High School

Last updated
Crane Union High School
Crane oregon high school building.jpg
Address
Crane Union High School
43277 Crane-Venator Ln

Crane
,
(Harney County)
,
Oregon
97732

United States
Coordinates 43°25′00″N118°34′29″W / 43.41667°N 118.57472°W / 43.41667; -118.57472
Information
Type Public
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 conference OSAA High Desert League 1A-8 [1]
MascotMustang [1]
Website craneedu.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.

Contents

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harney County, Oregon</span> County in Oregon, United States

Harney County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,495, making it the sixth-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Burns. Established in 1889, the county is named in honor of William S. Harney, a military officer of the period, who was involved in the Pig War and popular in the Pacific Northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humboldt County, Nevada</span> County in Nevada, United States

Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 17,285. It is a largely rural county that is sparsely populated with the only major city being Winnemucca which has a population of 8,431. Humboldt County comprises the Winnemucca, NV Micropolitan Statistical Area and serves as an important crossroads in the national transportation network. Interstate 80 travels through the southeastern corner of the county, meeting US 95 in Winnemucca that serves as a primary freight corridor between Northern Nevada and Boise, Idaho and the Interstate 84 freight corridor that links much of the Pacific Northwest. The original transcontinental railway, constructed by the Central Pacific Railroad, reached Humboldt County on Sept. 16, 1868. The Western Pacific Railroad would reach Humboldt County by November 1909, providing two mainline rail links to California and the Eastern United States. Both railroads have since been acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad, who continues to serve the region today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riley, Oregon</span> Unincorporated town in Oregon, United States

Riley is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States, located at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 395 and U.S. Highway 20, milepost 104, about 28 miles (45 km) west of Burns, the seat of Harney County. The elevation of Riley is 4,226 feet (1,288 m). The town presently consists entirely of two service establishments with attached apartments: a post office, and a general store with gas pump and garage service. It exists to serve the rural farming and ranching community that surrounds it, and highway travelers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frenchglen, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Frenchglen is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. It is 60 miles (97 km) south of Burns on Oregon Route 205 and its population is approximately 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drewsey, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Drewsey is an unincorporated community in Harney County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Drewsey is along the main stem of the Malheur River, about 45 miles (72 km) east of Burns, off U.S. Route 20. It has the ZIP Code of 97904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malheur National Wildlife Refuge</span> Protected area in eastern Oregon, USA

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located roughly 30 miles (48 km) south of the city of Burns in Oregon's Harney Basin. Administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge area is roughly T-shaped with the southernmost base at Frenchglen, the northeast section at Malheur Lake and the northwest section at Harney Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denio, Nevada</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Nevada, United States

Denio is a census-designated place (CDP) in Humboldt County, Nevada, along the Oregon state line in the United States. The Denio post office was originally north of the state line in Harney County, Oregon, but the residents moved the building into Nevada in the mid-20th century. The population of the CDP, which is entirely in Nevada, was 47 at the 2010 census; additional development considered to be Denio extends into Oregon. The CDP includes a post office, a community center, a library, and the Diamond Inn Bar, the center of the town's social life. Recreational activities in the Denio area include bird watching, photography, off-road vehicle use, fishing, recreational black opal mining, rockhounding, hunting, visiting the hot springs, and camping on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Route 205</span> Highway in Oregon

Oregon Route 205 (OR 205) is a state highway in Harney County, Oregon, running from Roaring Springs Ranch to OR 78 near Burns. OR 205 is known as the Frenchglen Highway No. 440 . It is 73.35 miles (118.05 km) long and runs north–south, connecting the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to Burns. The highway has also been designated the High Desert Discovery Scenic Byway by the Bureau of Land Management. Part of OR 205 also is used in the Steens Mountain Back Country Byway, a loop road around Steens Mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crane, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Crane is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States, northeast of Malheur Lake on Oregon Route 78. Its population was 116 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fields, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Fields is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States, located 112 miles (180 km) south of Burns. It is the center of commerce for local ranches and the largest community between Denio, Nevada, 22 miles (35 km) to the south, and Frenchglen, Oregon, 52.4 miles (84.3 km) to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Diamond is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. Diamond is west of Oregon Route 205 and south of Malheur Lake, 52 miles (84 km) south-southeast of Burns by highway. Its post office is assigned ZIP code 97722.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawen, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Lawen is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. It has a post office with a ZIP code 97720. Lawen lies along Oregon Route 78 just south of its interchanges with Oregon Route 205, U.S. Route 20, and U.S. Route 395 in Burns, the county seat. Lawen is just north of the East Fork Silvies River and Malheur Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humboldt County School District</span> School district in Nevada, United States

The Humboldt County School District is a public school district serving K−12 education in Humboldt County, Nevada, in the northwestern part of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Indian Education</span> United States government agency

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), headquartered in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C., and formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. It is responsible for the line direction and management of all BIE education functions, including the formation of policies and procedures, the supervision of all program activities, and the approval of the expenditure of funds appropriated for BIE education functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double-O Ranch Historic District</span> Historic district in Oregon, United States

The Double-O Ranch Historic District is located west of Harney Lake in Harney County in southeastern Oregon, United States. At one time, the Double-O Ranch covered over 17,000 acres (69 km2). The ranch was owned by Bill Hanley, a well-known cattle baron and Bull Moose progressive. In 1941, the United States Government purchased most of the Double O Ranch property and added it to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The two remaining Double-O Ranch buildings are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Suntex is the name of an unincorporated community in Harney County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was established with the placement of a post office in the valley of Silver Creek west of Burns and north of U.S. Route 20.

McDermitt Combined School or McDermitt Combined Schools is a K-12 school in McDermitt, on the boundary of Nevada and Oregon, in the United States. The school is a part of Humboldt County School District of Nevada.

Four Rivers Community School is a K-12 charter school in Ontario, Oregon.

Vale School District 84 is a school district headquartered in Vale, Oregon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "OSAA - Error".
  2. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Harney County, OR" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved 2022-07-15. - Text list
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Perse, Taylor (2023-08-17). "School on the Range". Eugene Weekly . Eugene, Oregon . Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 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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