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OSBA reminds school
board members they
have no choice but to
follow state mandates
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — An
open letter from the Oregon
School Boards Association
fi rmly telling the 1,400 school
board members across the
state to uphold their oaths
of offi ce and follow all laws,
even those they disagree with,
does not appear to be raising
hackles locally.
At least not among school
board members.
Robin Maille, chair of the
La Grande School Board,
spoke favorably of how the
message in the Sept. 10 letter
was conveyed.
“I liked how
it was worded. It
gets right to the
point. I’m very
supportive of it,”
she said.
The letter —
Maille
signed by OSBA
Executive Director Jim Green,
President Maureen Wolf and
Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, of the
Oregon School Boards Mem-
bers of Color Caucus — tar-
gets school boards across the
state who have directed school
district employees to defy
mask mandates meant to curb
the spread of COVID-19.
Ken Patterson, a member
of the Imbler School Board,
believes that most school
board members
are already com-
mitted to fol-
lowing state man-
dates the letter
references, even if
Patterson they do not agree
with them.
“School boards have been
put in a tough spot. They are
getting mandates from the
state level, which are contrary
to the personal beliefs of some
school board members,” he
said.
Patterson said it would
be irresponsible for a board
to encourage school dis-
trict employees to defy these
See, Letter/Page A5
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Madillyn Burright, 12, hunts for insects in a fi eld near the Grande Ronde River in Imbler on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Students in Imbler’s seventh grade class spent
the day along the river testing water, studying insect behavior and planting willow trees.
Hands-on learning
Imbler students study science in ‘magnificent laboratory’ of nature
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
I
MBLER — Imbler stu-
dents broke out their boots
for a day in the river.
The Grande Ronde Model
Watershed partnered with
Imbler teachers and local sci-
entists for a day of youth
engagement on the Grande
Ronde River on Tuesday,
Sept. 21. Seventh grade stu-
dents from Imbler Middle
School embraced hands-on
learning in subjects such
as habitat restoration, envi-
ronmental conservation and
entomology.
“It’s a community science
project that’s really meant to
procure a lot of community
input to try to make this work,
from educators to agency sci-
entists to the youth,” said
Carrie Caselton Lowe, the
community research program’s
organizer.
The grant-funded project
through the Grande Ronde
Model Watershed is in its pilot
year and looking to continue
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Carrie Caselton Lowe, community research program organizer with the Grande Ronde Model Watershed, instructs a
group of Imbler seventh grade students by the Grande Ronde River on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021.
engaging local school districts.
According to Caselton Lowe,
the project is applying for three
more years of additional pro-
gramming following its fi rst
events this fall.
Making education fun
The fi eld day engaged stu-
dents in various aspects of con-
servation on a local scale. The
day-long learning event took
place just outside of Imbler
along the Grande Ronde River
on property owned by Russ and
Mary West.
See, Science/Page A5
Eastern Oregon to off er marketing degree
By ANDREW CUTLER
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity students interested in a
career in marketing have a
new opportunity.
The school is now
off ering a bachelor’s of mar-
keting degree, a change
from the bachelor’s degree
with a concentration in
marketing the school had
Henninger
previously off ered. The
change is eff ective with the
upcoming 2021-22 school
year.
“Students can put on
their resume, when they’re
applying for a marketing
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Carpenter
job, ‘Hey, I have a degree in
marketing, not just a con-
centration, I got the real
thing,’” said Shari Car-
penter, a professor of busi-
ness at Eastern. “That
makes a big diff erence.”
Carpenter said the school
recognized a need for the
program to adapt with the
changing times to meet the
needs of employers and
students.
“It was always thought of
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BULLISH ON BULLHEADS
as like selling and stuff , but
the strategy part of it and
understanding what moves
people to make a purchase,
understanding a consum-
er’s needs and what moves
that person, that’s the cool
part about it,” she said.
“So that’s why it’s really
become a path up. So they
can be in digital and social,
create content, do Facebook
posts, Instagram, those
types of things for compa-
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Tonight
Friday
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Mainly clear
Mostly sunny
nies, people, products.”
Carpenter added that
the degree will be useful
for students interested in
a career in data analysis,
public relations and SEO
management.
“Promotions, adver-
tising. PR is really huge,
and it’s kind of an entity in
itself and has a lot of oppor-
tunity underneath that little
See, Degree/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 112
3 sections, 34 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com