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June 11, 2022
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WEEKEND EDITION
School board
moves closer
on budget
Proposed budget up $2.58M but
calls for three teaching, six staff
positions to be cut
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A proposed 2022-23
La Grande School District budget that
would cut nine positions but not call for any
layoff s is a step closer to being adopted.
The district’s budget committee voted on
Wednesday, June 8, to recommend that the
La Grande School Board adopt a 2022-23
general fund budget of $29.65 million. The
proposal calls for three teaching and six
staff positions to be cut because of falling
enrollment.
Adoption of the budget
would not result in any lay-
off s since reductions would
be made through attrition,
according to La Grande
School District Superinten-
dent George Mendoza. The
Mendoza
positions that would be cut are
either currently not fi lled, will be vacated
due to retirement and the like, or the
employee will be moved to another position
within the district.
Cutting the three teaching positions
would save almost $299,000 and trimming
the six classifi ed positions would save more
than $236,000. Classifi ed positions include
cooks, custodians and maintenance staff .
In addition to the nine position cuts, the
proposed budget calls for an assistant prin-
cipal position to be reduced to a dean of
students position, saving nearly $13,800.
The $29.65
million general
LA GRANDE
fund budget being
TEACHERS TO
considered is up
RECEIVE SALARY
$2.58 million
INCREASES
from the present
budget. Much
The La Grande School
of the increase
District’s teachers are set
to receive pay increases
refl ects a higher
each of the next two
than anticipated
school years. Page A2
boost in what
the state will be
paying school dis-
tricts per student in 2022-23. Mendoza said
it had been anticipated the state would be
paying school districts $8,700 per student but
instead districts will be receiving $9,400 per
student.
The superintendent said that a big reason
for the increase is that enrollment in Ore-
gon’s schools has dropped about 30,000
over the past year but the amount of money
allotted by the state for school districts in
2022-23 has not changed, meaning the state
has more money available per student.
Mendoza said the school district has
a signifi cant amount of COVID-19 relief
funds for the next two school years, but the
district is restricted in what it can spend the
relief funds on. After two years, the school
district will have little if any COVID-19
Dick Mason/The Observer
Bridgett Naylor of the Girls Night Out and Friends Sewing Group on Friday, June 3, 2022, examines some of the quilts that will be transported to
England for Ukrainian refugees. Most of quilts were completed by the Girls Night Out group.
A loving gesture
Local quilting group
reaching out to Ukaranian
refugees with quilts to help
ease pain and loss
By DICK MASON
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — A
group of talented and
generous Union County
women are reaching out to
Ukrainian refugees in England
Dick Mason/The Observer
— one stitch at a time.
All the quilts completed by Girls Night Out include a heart-shaped patch with Ukraine’s colors.
This quilt was photographed on Friday, June 3, 2022.
The women are members of the
Girls Night Out and Friends Sewing
Group. The group’s members have
been hard at work over the past two
months preparing 27 quilts for ship-
ment to England where they will
be donated to Ukrainian refugees,
many of whom f led their country
with little more than the clothes
they were wearing. The quilts are
meant to provide physical comfort
for the Ukrainians and serve as a
heartfelt gesture.
“We want to let
them know that a
lot of people are
thinking of them,”
said Bridgett Naylor,
a Girls Night Out
member.
Naylor and the other
approximately one
dozen members of the
sewing and quilting club have
taken donated quilts that were
partially completed
and given them the
finishing work they
needed. For example,
some of the quilts
had only one layer of
fabric so a second back
layer was sewn on.
Each quilt has been
customized for Ukrainian
See, Giving/Page A8
See, Schools/Page A8
Hospital set to start $72.6M expansion project
Expansion will add
updated surgical
services building
MORE INFORMATION
A facilities expansion project
page at grh.org. has been
set up for people who need
additional information.
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A
major construction project
that will boost its sur-
gical facilities is set to
get underway at Grande
Ronde Hospital.
The $72.6 mil-
lion project will add a
98,000-square-foot sur-
gical services building
at the hospital campus.
The main function of the
multi-story building will
be to house new operating
rooms.
“It will allow us to
bring all surgical services
together,” said Mardi
Ford, the director of com-
See, Hospital/Page A8
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
munications and mar-
keting at Grande Ronde
Hospital.
Ford said patient
check-in, pre-operation,
operating, waiting and
post-operation recovery
rooms, plus space that
supports surgical services,
will be in one structure.
Ford said the hospi-
tal’s operating rooms were
built in the 1960s and are
in need of replacement
even though they have
been upgraded since then.
Horoscope ....B2
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sports ............A7
Sudoku ..........B5
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
Grande Ronde Hospital is planning a major facilities expansion,
adding a 98,000-square-foot surgical services building to the
hospital’s La Grande campus.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
52 LOW
60/41
A shower or two
Cool with rain
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Issue 70
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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