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A6 Wednesday, March 4, 2020 The Dalles Chronicle Obobicorns D21 Remaining spots win Gorge open to lottery Battle of the Books On Feb. 9, 25 teams — five more than last year — and around 120 children participated in the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) Gorge Invitational, hosted by May Street Elementary. Elementary students in grades 3-5 read a selec- tion of assigned titles and participate in “battles” to determine who knows the books the best, said orga- nizer Corinda Elliott. “The program encourag- es children to enjoy reading some amazing books, and the invitational was a lot of fun for everyone,” she said. Teams from Mosier, Dry Hollow, Chenowith, Colonel Wright, May Street, Westside and Parkdale participated in this year’s event. The Obobicorns team from Parkdale Elementary — Hannah Olivia Hamilton, Claire Monroe, Seattle Strayer and Kayla Friberg (with teachers Shannon Monroe and Emily Findeisen) — won the event. Students competed in four rounds to get a point score, and then the top eight teams moved to a final single-elimination event. Many of the students in this year’s invitational were first-time participants, said Tanya Friberg, a member of the Parkdale PTO. Check us out on Facebook The Dalles Chronicle To maintain that neigh- borhood school model, the dual immersion program will accept students from the Chenowith attendance zone first, and if any spots remain Continued from page A1 available, they will be open by lottery to students in the rest of the district. Parents in were Aparicio and board the other elementary school member Dave Jones, who both preferred that the plan zones would have to provide be implemented a year later transportation for their own children. to give it more time to be Chenowith has the most developed and discussed English language learners with the community. of the three D21 elementary The program will have schools in The Dalles. It is 25 students, which is a also the only school with a bit larger than the typical bilingual principal and lead kindergarten classroom, secretary. and it was purposely made 37 percent of Chenowith larger in case students students are classed as “ever withdraw from the pro- gram, Chenowith Principal English Language learners,” compared to 17 percent at Monica “Mo” Darnall said. The district will continue Dry Hollow and 25 percent at Colonel Wright. adding a new grade a year In the kindergarten classes, and it will eventually extend specifically, Chenowith has through 12th grade. Darnall stressed that no- 29 percent of its sudents were classified as “ever English body would lose their jobs Language learners,” com- over the program, but she acknowledged that teach- pared to 15 percent at Dry Hollow and 27 percent at ers may have to move to different grades or different Colonel Wright. Aparicio said about four schools as adjustments are months remained in the made. current school year, and he Students in the program felt that wasn’t enough time will be 50 percent native to prepare for the program. Spanish speakers and Jonathan Fost, the migrant 50 percent non-Spanish speakers. Their lessons will education program director at Columbia Gorge Education be taught 80 percent in Service District, said the Spanish and 20 percent in program was purposely very English until third grade, small, requiring one teacher when it will drop to 60 percent Spanish, 40 percent and one assistant. One teacher, one assistant, English. By fourth grade, it will be evenly split between in one classroom, “that’s easily doable in the amount Spanish and English, and of time” we have, Fost said. starting in sixth grade Darnall said, “We’re through 12th grade, it will become 30 percent Spanish, starting small. We don’t want to overwhelm teachers. We 70 percent English. don’t want to overwhelm Darnall said the com- the school. We want to do it mittee looking at imple- right.” menting the program got Chenowith has three kin- the message loud and clear that having the program at dergarten classrooms. a magnet school that would Fost said 26 current staff draw students district-wide in the district have expressed was not feasible. interest in working for the Colonel Wright program. Elementary is centrally lo- A staff survey showed 80 cated, and it made sense for supported the district starting a dual language program, 24 it to be that magnet school from a transportation point did not. Asked if they supported of view, but Darnall said it at their school, 53 said yes Colonel Wright staff and and 50 said no. parents made it clear how Board member Solea important maintaining their Kabakov said she felt the neighborhood school was board needed to have trust to them. that staff are capable people who will “rock” the new program. She also said the board has told the three top candidates to be the next dis- trict superintendent that the program was in the works. Putting it off a year might send the wrong message, she said. She also worried that funding for the curriculum and staff development might be jeopardized by waiting a year. Board member Dawn Rasmussen said she was torn because she saw the urgen- cy of starting the program and that funding might be contingent on starting in the fall. But she said she hasn’t heard about planning for the second, third and fourth years of the program. She noted Chenowith “will be a completely different school in four years” given required staff changes. She said no staff planning was in place for future years of the program. Superintendent Candy Armstrong said of staffing that there are openings in the district every year and that since the district hopes to create several special assignment positions for teachers next year, there will be even more openings as staff seek to fill those special assignments. Armstrong said it was a reasonable expectation for the dual immersion program to add one new teacher and one new assistant per year. Some parents were upset that a parent meeting set for late January was cancelled. Fost said, “we thought it was more important to speak with our teachers after hearing Colonel Wright’s concerns.” He said they spoke with every teacher group. After talking to teachers is when parents are talked to, he said. “How could we talk to parents when we didn’t know what it was going to be?” Aparicio said he wor- ried the 25 students in the program would only be with those same students for their entire elementary school. Fost said they would have a chance to mingle with other students at lunch and recess, but that they would also form TheDallesChronicle.com strong, even lifelong bonds with each other, as would their parents. Chenowith teacher Mary Tyree told the board be- fore its vote that she was embarrassed that she was being asked questions she shouldn’t have to answer, such as why parents meet- ings were cancelled at the school. “I am embarrassed that I can’t answer them because actual ‘communication’ has been limited and ‘the plan’ is being developed so poorly,” Tyree said. She said classrooms have been the worst in her five years at Chenowith and in fact in her entire 12 years in education. Student behaviors continue to become more alarming, she said. She said the school has been “starved” for support, and when the staff was “hit” with the dual immersion pro- gram they weren’t even told as a group, they were told in separate meetings that pro- duced separate information. Parent Katie Kuehnl said she didn’t support the new program, saying, “We’re going to get rid of extremely valuable teachers.” She asked why the money for dual immersion was not being put in the special education program. She said she got only one flyer about the program, and the parent meeting was cancelled. She asked, “the board doesn’t want to hear from parents about this program?” and got loud applause. Darnall and others said several times that no teacher would be laid off, but they could be moved. Kuehnl said her child at Chenowith was benefitting hugely from a new teacher, who would not be allowed to teach the immersion class because she didn’t know Spanish. The Dalles High School senior Gheraldy Bobadilla talked about the current method of teaching English to Spanish-speaking stu- dents, which is to pull them out of class for instruction. He said that meant he missed out on instruction time, which made it hard to catch up to his classmates. Norma Ruiz spoke in Spanish to the board for some time before she motioned someone in the audience to come translate for her. Ruiz turned to Commerford, the high school Advanced Placement teacher, and said, according to the translator, “I don’t know you, but you’re responsible for my son to go to university.” She added later of Commerford, “God bless her, because my other three children have gone to university.” Ruiz said when her chil- dren were at the high school, she went to the office, but she didn’t get support for her children. “I was able to keep fighting when I wanted to fall.” She recounted how her children heard things at school like “go back to your country.” She said her son would an- swer, “Who picks your fruit, who cuts your wheat?” Ruiz said she wanted her son to have opportuni- ties, including to be sitting where the board members were sitting. She, like sever- al others, said there’s a lack of bi-lingual teachers in the district. Ruiz said dual language programs weren’t just to benefit native Spanish speak- ers, but they helped native English speakers as well because they will have more job opportunities and better pay if they’re bi-lingual. Fost said a nationwide study that covered one million students showed students in dual immersion programs performed signifi- cantly better on state testing than other students. Darnall said the district was required four years ago to do something about how it teaches English language learners, because D21was in the bottom 10 percent of the state on test results for those students. The district got a four-year grant to improve outcomes, and it pulled out students for instruction. But the best method is dual immersion, she said. It also meets standards under the state’s new Student Success Act, which has a heavy focus helping minority students. M O DE L HO M E Ladies Night | Mar 11 | 6:30PM | 2191 Radio Way, The Dalles, OR In partnership with Tum-A-Lum Lumber the fun evening will have music, specialty drink, giveaways, appetizers and DIY project. Meet The Chef | Apr 24 | 6:30PM | 2191 Radio Way, The Dalles, OR Dessert and coffee pairing with The Riv’s Owners Noah and Lauren Blakely. Learn different home coffee brewing methods and what desserts pair nicely from Chef Lauren Blakely. Home Energy Efficiency | May 14 | 6:30PM | 2191 Radio Way, The Dalles, OR Discussing home efficiency with energy experts. Learn more about the Energy Trust of Oregon and some best build practices. To RSVP for each event email marketing@curtishomesllc.com. Space is limited. Emily Curtis (Curtis Homes) and Lauren Blakely (The Riv) The Curtis Homes’ Mini-Series is a local community and education series. In partnership with local businesses we are hosting a Ladies Night, Meet the Chef and Energy Efficiency event in Park Place’s Model Home. The events will focus on 1 of 3 categories; Nutrition, Lifestyle and Energy. These events are free and open to the community!
