A4   Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The Dalles Chronicle
TheDallesChronicle.com
of new methods, and has
worked well with the county
extension agent in trying new
things,” said Farquharson.
“They have taken a lot of risks
along the way.
“You do what you need to
do to survive and you do it just
because it is the right thing to
do,” she told the recipients.
“You have the passion to carry
on the vision of your granpar-
ents and parents while instill-
ing their values in the children
so that they can continue.”
Man of the Year
The school board last
January gave the go-ahead
for program planning to
begin, with an expected start
date of fall 2020.
At that meeting a year ago,
then-board member Bethani
Frantz-Studebaker lauded
the proposal, saying dual
language immersion “is not
a new idea. It’s been highly
effective, highly researched
and highly implemented,
globally.”
Dual language programs
benefit both native and
non-native speakers, and by
the upper years of elementary
school, students enrolled in
such programs academically
outperform students not
enrolled in them, according to
a four-year federal study done
in Portland Public Schools.
In a staff survey taken last
year, one staff member wrote,
“I have worked in many
districts where we had dual
language programs. I have wit-
nessed second language learn-
ers making greater academic
progress as well as English only
students becoming fluent in a
second language.”
Chenowith Elementary
Principal Monica “Mo”
Darnall, who started a dual
immersion program in
Hillsboro, and has also taught
in them, said the committee
would grow once the school
site was announced.
Board member David
Jones was critical of that tim-
ing, saying, “You’re going to
decide on the site before you
talk to the community.”
Colonel Wright teach-
ers in December told the
board they felt Chenowith
Elementary, with its much
higher population of English
Language Learners, made
more sense as home for the
program.
Colonel Wright is the
smallest of the three elemen-
taries, with two kindergarten
classes compared to four at
the other two schools.
Since the program requires
Spanish-speaking teachers,
those teachers who don’t
know Spanish would be
moved to other classrooms
or buildings as the program
progressed up the grades.
No teacher would lose
their job, but they could
be relocated, said District
Human Resources Director
Brian Schimel.
Superintendent Candy
Armstrong said the reality,
especially for Colonel Wright,
was that a program with two
classrooms at each grade lev-
el would mean it involved all
of Colonel Wright’s classes,
since they only have two at
each grade level.
“That is the entire school
changing, and that’s huge
and does bring a lot of anx-
iety for” teachers at Colonel
Wright who want to finish
their career there, but don’t
qualify to teach dual lan-
guage, she said.
The district can’t do the
program without someone
having to move schools, she
said.
Fost has helped start four
other dual language pro-
grams, and he said even in
districts that already have
one dual language program
at one campus, people still
resist the idea of starting it at
another campus.
Darnall said dual immer-
sion programs always meet
resistance, because change
is scary.
Board member Rebecca
Thistlethwaite said the focus
should be on students, and
the program would help
students, both the native
Spanish speakers and the
students who would learn
Spanish. While some board
members suggested waiting
a year, she said the same ob-
jections would still be there a
year later.
Fost agreed, saying other
programs that waited a year
after encountering resistance
still had resistance the follow-
ing year.
Darnall said she’s been in
the situation of starting a new
program, and “it starts just
like this. Just scared, white
knuckle.”
Kabakov said, “I don’t hear
fear, I hear exclusion.”
Board member Dawn
Rasmussen, who supports
the program but feels the ef-
fort is being rushed and isn’t
inclusive, did some quick
polling at the meeting and
learned that of the 14 teach-
ers present, just two were
happy with the process.
One teacher said, “It’s not
that I’m in support or not in
support. I don’t have enough
information.”
Rasmussen wanted to “put
the brakes” on the plan and
revise the timeline. She said
the teachers who would be in
charge of executing the plan
felt they needed more time.
Thistlethwaite argued the
program was starting small.
“It’s not changing an entire
school, it’s one grade.”
Darnall said Hood River
tried to implement a program
in an entire elementary at
once, but had to stop because
it proved too divisive, with
animosities developing
between teachers in the
program and those not in the
program.
A survey last spring of staff
heard from just 55 teachers.
At the last school board
meeting, some teachers from
Colonel Wright said their
responses would’ve been
different if they’d known their
school would be the site.
Board Vice Chair Jose
Aparicio said staff survey-
ing should continue, even
if questions have to be
revamped, since they had
become out of date, accord-
ing to Fost.
Fost said he’s already
heard from teachers outside
the district interested in jobs
in the program, and teachers
within the district have also
expressed interest.
Asked if the process could
be pushed back a year,
Darnall said starting in the fall
was the best timing to begin it.
There are grant monies
to begin it, and the state’s
Student Success Act, passed
last year, will also put about
$2 million a year into the
district and is aimed at clos-
ing the “achievement gap”
between minority students
and other students.
would be taught 90 percent
in Spanish initially, and by
grade, would be equal-
Program location ly fourth
in English and Spanish.
The proposal is to start it
undecided
next fall, at a school yet to be
Continued from page A1 determined (although Colonel
Wright teachers heard a rumor
last fall that the program could
Each elementary is a
go at their school).
community school, Vaught
District Superintendent
said, and adding a dual
Candy Armstrong said the
immersion program to one
location of the program had
of them would represent “a
fundamental shift in the way not been decided yet. The
current timeline calls for that
we onboard kids into our
decision to come by Feb. 27.
education system.”
Vaught said he didn’t think
A year ago the school
the dual language program
board authorized staff to
was a bad idea. He said it
prepare for establishing a
could be a “gold star” for the
dual language immersion
community if implemented
program, which would start
thoughtfully with an under-
at one school at the kin-
dergarten level and then
standing of community needs.
expand one grade level
He said staff and commu-
each year as the students
nity engagement was needed
progressed through school.
to get buy-in and support.
Students would be chosen
Instead, the dual language
by lottery for the program,
committee “has sown seeds
which would have 50 percent of discord, distrust and disre-
native Spanish speakers
spect with those most deeply
and 50 percent non-native
affected by this change.”
Spanish speakers. The classes
He said “the fruits of this
labor will most certainly yield
disenfranchised staff and
underserved students.”
He encouraged the school
board to slow the process
down, publicly present the
problems that need to be
addressed and the solutions
for them, and to do so in a
way that fosters commu-
nity engagement and full
transparency.
Deocelen Munoz, an
English Language Learner
(ELL) assistant at Colonel
Wright, said at a recent state
conference for dual language
programs she got to see
non-native Spanish speak-
ing students read, speak
and have a conversation in
Spanish. “It was amazing,”
she said. “I do feel that the
kids of D21 will benefit from
such a great program.”
She talked to a principal
with a program at her school,
and she said getting it started
was a lot of work, including
informing parents about how
the program would benefit
students, and staff meetings
to help teachers have an
easier transition.
Munoz said when Trost
Elementary in Canby first
implemented dual language
it didn’t work, and they tried
again the next year and it was
a success.
A teacher from Gresham
told her the same thing: they
also didn’t have success the
first time they started the
program, and they had to get
the community involved to
have a successful start.
Munoz said she talked to
people from three different
schools who implemented
dual language immersion
programs, and all three had
commonalities: “They talked
to the community, they had
staff meetings, they went
door to door to speak to both
parents, both Spanish and
non-Spanish, they under-
stood and acknowledged the
teachers’ feelings.”
She said all the dual lan-
guage teachers she saw were
native Spanish speakers with
years of teaching experience.
She said that only after the
committees at those schools
had talked to the community
and teaching staff did they go
to their school boards with
implementation plans.
She asked if the D21
committee had talked to the
community in depth about
the pros and cons of having
the program. “Have they ex-
plained to all three elemen-
tary schools how much this
program will impact all the
elementary school commu-
nities? Do they have qualified
teachers and assistants with
experience lined up? Not
just for this year, but for the
following years?”
“We need to have an open
communication for this to
work,” Munoz said. “If we
rush, and we don’t stop and
think and plan as a team, this
will not work.”
She said it didn’t matter
where the program was
housed, what mattered was
“are we ready to start, to have
a successful DLI program in
our district?”
Chenowith Elementary
teacher Mary Tyree told the
board, “While I see the point
of a DLI program I can tell
you we are not ready and you
can’t afford it! We also get a
new superintendent in seven
months who may feel getting
a balanced budget would be
the priority.”
She said before thinking of
housing the dual language
program at Chenowith, “Can
we get a PTA (Parent Teacher
Association) please! We
have chronic absenteeism,
high trauma, high poverty
and we have already been in
turmoil for three years going
on four.”
Teachers at Colonel Wright
spoke to the school board last
month, saying Chenowith
made the most sense to house
the dual language program
because the school has by
far the most native Spanish
speakers. It has more than 50
percent native Spanish speak-
ers, more than twice the rate
of the other two elementaries,
a teacher said earlier.
AWARDS
collectors, 27 MCFR volun-
teers, 25 Dallesport Fire vol-
unteers, 5 MCFR administra-
Chamber plans
tive staff and members of The
strong future
Dalles Lions Club, Salvation
Army and St. Vincent De Paul
Continued from page A1 turn out for the event.
engineering and mathemat-
ics.) Field was part of a team
that worked to research,
design, build, program and
test a specialized gaming
controller for a Columbia
High School teen with
Cerebral Palsy, and now has
an internship with the STEM
Hub in the Gorge. “I can’t
wait to see what he creates
next,” Farquharson said.
Educator of the Year
Longtime The Dalles
teacher Coutney Kiser was
named as Outstanding
Educator of the Year.
Farquharson read a number
of quotes from students in
introducing Kiser. “I want this
teacher to hear the impact
they had on our community
and many familes,” she said.
“He was one of the corner
stones of my childhood, when
First Responder
I look back,” wrote one. “For a
of the Year
lot of us, he’s been one of our
favorite teachers and coaches,
Project ELFF received
as his compassion is incom-
the First Responder of the
Year award, represented by
parable,” wrote another.
Eric Pyles, Bob Palmer, Tim
“You will always hold a spe-
McGlothlin, Captain Ray
cial part in my whole family’s
Morris and Dave Lutgens.
heart, from me to all three of
Project ELFF began in 1986
my children, my nieces and
as a two-day food drive in
other families and youth you
The Dalles organized by Mid- have stood behind and sup-
Columbia Fire and Rescue
ported,” wrote another.
command, and has since
“He was my inspiration to
expanded to Dallesport and
become a teacher. He makes
Murdock. Prior to the actual learning fun and is engaged
event, assigned volunteers go with each and every student.
to local businesses seeking
He is a terrific man and he de-
cash donations. During the
serves to much. He is loved by
drive itself, fire apparatus hit so many,” wrote yet another.
the streets in area neighbor-
Agriculture
hoods with lights ablaze and
Achievement Award
sirens sounding. Volunteers
canvass door-to-door col-
The Outstanding Ag
lecting nonperishable foods
Achievement award was
given to the wheat and
for the local food banks.
Assisted living facilities in the cattle farms under the family
operation of John and Pat
area help transport volun-
Clausen, Carlton and Pam
teers from area to area, and
Meadow Outdoor Advertising Clausen and Gary and Susan
provides sorting and storage Brown.
“This family-run opera-
space for the donated items.
The program collects an
tion has combined six family
average of 16 to 17,000 food
operations to be independent
items, with as many as 23,000 of each other and yet working
collected in a single drive.
together. This operation has
A total of 152 volunteer
always been an early adapter
LANGUAGE
Spanish speaking
teachers required
Continued from page A1
from each elementary, and
Jonathan Fost, director of the
Migrant Education Program
at the Columbia Gorge
Education Service District.
Teachers from Colonel
Wright said in December
they tried to get on the com-
mittee, but couldn’t.
Fost said everybody who
expressed interest was invit-
ed to a meeting last August,
but it had to be canceled, and
when there was a reboot of
the committee the money an-
ticipated for a larger commit-
tee wasn’t available.
The idea for a dual immer-
sion program was recom-
mended by ELL teachers
after the school district
learned four year ago it was
one of the 15 lowest-per-
forming districts in the state
in terms of outcomes for
English Language Learners,
and it was required to change
its instruction method.
Currently, ELL students are
pulled out of classes for extra
instruction.
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Named Outstanding Man
of the Year was Jim Wilcox, a
local Realtor. “He always puts
his clients first and makes sure
they are taken care of no mat-
ter what,” said Farquharson.
“He has been recognzied by
both is region and the state
for his work, leadership and
service to others. He has a
vision for what our communi-
ty could become.”
Wilcox has traveled to
Salem and Washington DC to
advocate for local concerns,
Woman of the Year
issues and ideas, and has
worked with the Columbia
Barbara Pizzola, owner of
A’s Sewing Shop in The Dalles, Gorge Regional Airport for
over 27 years. He is active
was named Outstanding
in the Sister City program,
Woman of the Year.
coached baseball for 24 years
Pizzola’s family started a
and was a referee in wrestling
business in The Dalles over
for 30.
40 years ago, and provided
“He has done it all, from
an essential service to the
making doughnuts to singing Courtney Kiser, right, gives Katie Ortega, the 2019 Outstanding
people of the region.
Teacher of the Year recipient, a hug as he receives this year’s award
“Running a small business in a barbershop quartet, all
at the Distinguished Citizens Awards Banquet Jan. 16.
takes dedication, hard work, in the name of The Dalles,”
endless hours, and the ability she said.
opportunity over 48 hours
to please your customers
Catering; and 27 businesses
Business of the Year contributed to the auction.
to connect with tons of local
with good service,” said
partners, push The Dalles
Farquharson. “She never
There is a lot to look for-
Spooky’s Pizza was named
into a new light, and help
turned down an opportunity the 2020 Outstanding
ward to from the Chamber
everyone experience the
to help.”
in the coming year, said
Business of the Year.
city in a brand new way,”
Pizzola also worked as a
Spooky’s Pizza was estab-
Farquharson, who invited
he said. He plans to “K.I.T.”
volunteer for many events
lished at the west end of The Chamber staff to share their
and organizations, and as
Dalles in 1966, and is current- vision for the upcoming year: (Keep Improving Tourism) in
the coming year, streamline
a CASA volunteer helping
Katie McClintock joined
ly owned and operated by the
processes, build networks,
foster children in the court
the Chamber staff as events
Stanek Family.
and help take The Dalles to
system. Her work with the
“After 50 years, the original coordinator in November.
Fort Dalles Rodeo’s Tough
The banquet was her first big the next level, he said.
recipes continue to satisfy
Lisa Rundell, office and
Enough to Wear Pink helped customers with their unique event. “In 2020 my goal is
visitor services manager for
provide funding for two digi- flavors. This family’s passion to build up our events even
more, from our small events the chamber, said her work,
tal Mammography Machines is to ensure that the restau-
which includes meeting a lot
such as Coffee Connections
at the local hospital.
rant, and its recipes, grow
of great visitors to the area,
This year, Pizzola closed
with its community and cus- and Business After Hours
“is a job I truly enjoy.” She
to big ones like the Cherry
her shop but will remain ac- tomers,” said Farquharson.
Festival, and work more with said she hopes to “continue
tive in the community. “You “As a family they thrive on
making the chamber a great
our community partners in
will find her working in town, their ability to provide the
place for visitors and local
community and beyond with the process,” she said.
being an awesome granma,
Jim Mejias, who works with business to find direction and
high quality ingredients, su-
and a loving and supportive
mom—all the while still roll- perior customer service and tourism and media relations any help we can provide.”
Jessie Lamp, who will be
fo the chamber, said he is
ing up her sleeves and getting consistency,” she said.
working as communications
proudest of the commercial
Title sponsor was The
things done for the commu-
coordinator with the cham-
shoot with Sam Pyke of Hill
Stratton Agency. Nineteen
nity,” Farquharson said.
Shadow Pictures this past
tables were sponsored;
ber, will be joining the team
year. “It was an amazing
Catering was by Cherry City
at the end of the month.
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