OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
Judge OKs class-action Oregon schools prepare for the 2022-23 school year
individual choices. While
This often means she
cafeteria workers, schools
lawsuit alleging Oregon
masking will be up to the
has to step away from her
are also seeing a shortage
of psychological services to
individual, schools can take other roles
foster care dysfunction
SALEM — The start
address the mental health
action where they see fi t.
as a teacher,
By ROLONDO HERNANDEZ
Oregon Public Broadcasting
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Plaintiff s
say Oregon’s child welfare
system is in disarray and
must better protect youth
under state care.
Plaintiff s alleging wide-
spread dysfunction within
Oregon’s foster care system
can now sue on behalf of all
children within that system, a
judge ruled last week.
With that decision by
U.S. District Court Judge
Ann Aiken, a three-year-old
lawsuit against the state
can potentially achieve a
greater impact on a system
that plaintiff s say struggles
to place children in ade-
quate facilities, doesn’t set
kids up to live alone once
they age out of the system
and frequently traumatizes
thousands of youth in state
custody.
Aiken’s ruling, over the
objection of state attorneys,
means that the suit can pro-
ceed as a class action. Rather
than merely seeking reme-
dies for 10 current or former
foster children named in the
initial fi ling, the suit now
represents a general class
including every child who is
or eventually will be, in state
care.
Aiken also certifi ed three
“subclasses” of that group:
youth who are aging out of
the system, who are disabled,
or who are LGBTQ. Children
in those categories have been
subjected to unique harms,
the plaintiff s argue, and
should be treated separately.
For each of those classes
to be certifi ed, the plain-
tiff s’ attorneys had to show
that the claims made by the
10 named defendants were
likely to apply to a wide
range of children in foster
care and that actions to
remedy those harms would
also help the greater group.
“The Court concludes
that Plaintiff has shown that
the injuries claimed by the
named Plaintiff s are certain
to recur on other similarly
situated individuals,” Aiken
wrote in her ruling.
The lawsuit was fi led in
2019 by Disability Rights
Oregon, the nonprofi t A
Better Childhood and attor-
neys at the fi rm Davis Wright
Tremaine. Named as defen-
dants are Gov. Kate Brown,
Director of the Oregon
Department of Human Ser-
vices Fariborz Pakseresht,
Director of Child Wel-
fare Marilyn Jones and
the Oregon Department of
Human Services.
The suit alleges that
Oregon has failed children in
its care for years, employing
too few caseworkers, iden-
tifying too few facilities or
homes where children may
stay, providing inadequate
training for care providers,
and not properly evaluating
the needs of foster kids,
among other problems.
The suit includes detailed
narratives of the 10 named
defendants, off ering a pic-
ture of a system in which
kids are separated from sib-
lings, denied necessary med-
ications, frequently moved
between homes and facili-
ties, and generally unable to
access care specifi c to their
needs.
“What we’re seeking to do
is make the system better and
make it better for kids,” said
Marcia Lowry, an attorney
and executive director of A
Better Childhood.
of the school year is just
around the corner, making
it three years since edu-
cators across the nation
fi rst began to adjust to
COVID-19 and guide-
lines given by the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Last week, the CDC
announced new guidelines
loosening previous deci-
sions and leaving safety
measures up to schools
and their county and state
public health offi cials.
“We are very apprecia-
tive as local school dis-
tricts to be provided with a
little more authority,” said
Ryan Carpenter, superin-
tendent of Estacada School
District.
Carpenter said the goal
for his district is to support
Steve Cook, the super-
intendent for the Bend
La-Pine School District,
said that in the past the dis-
trict has made masking
required for certain class-
rooms and grade levels to
manage increasing cases
of COVID-19 and that this
mindset will continue.
“There will be times
when we have issues in
classrooms where we’ll
have to intervene,” he said.
Beyond COVID-19,
across the nation schools
are dealing with staff short-
ages for teachers, substi-
tutes and general faculty.
Ukiah School District
Superintendent Laura Orr
says there are no local sub-
stitutes in her rural area,
with the nearest being 50
miles away.
principal and
superinten-
dent to fi ll the
gaps when
someone
Orr
is out. And
that includes
working in the cafeteria.
“There’s only so many
people to do the job,” she
said. “It’s the reality of
rural school districts. You
cover each other’s backs.”
Bend La-Pine schools
are also in a similar posi-
tion. Cook says he has had
trouble recruiting people
for positions in custodial
and nutritional services.
“I don’t think it’s limited
to rural districts anymore. I
think it’s a public education
issue,” he said.
In addition to a shortage
of teachers, substitutes and
needs of their students.
Carpenter said while he
has been able to hire some
staff to fi t the social and
emotional needs of stu-
dents, it’s been diffi cult
to fi nd qualifi ed staff and
keep them.
“We’re constantly
seeing turnover,” he said.
Orr said that because of
the size of her district she
cannot hire a counselor and
shares one regionally that
she gets from the state. She
says her community and
students need the services
but just can’t access them.
“You cannot have the
kids working on those edu-
cational gaps and making
their needed academic
progress if their mindset is
not in the right place,” she
said.
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Kaylee Domzalski/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Fariborz Pakseresht, head of the Oregon Department of Human
Services, is among defendants named in a three-year-old lawsuit
over the state’s foster care system.
Dog owner loses appeal
over euthanasia order
By ALEXIS WEISEND
The Astorian
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MOD0001727501-01
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LA GRANDE
ENTERPRISE
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La Grande, OR 97850
Enterprise, OR 97828
*Hearing test is always free. Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evolution and ability to adapt to amplification. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine amplification needs only. These
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source of the services about which information is provided. Such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners. The aids must be returned within 30 days of delivery pursuant to terms of your purchase agreement and 100% of the purchase will be refunded.
541-605-2109
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ASTORIA — A Circuit
Court judge has upheld the
city’s euthanasia order of a
pit bull who killed a cat in
June.
James Mayer, the dog’s
owner, still hopes the city
will somehow spare Layla
and allow him to take his
pet back to Multnomah
County, where Mayer lives.
“This was not a mali-
cious act akin to murder
that deserves punishment,”
he said in a statement to
The Astorian. “Capital pun-
ishment for something like
this is too extreme and not
based in logic.”
Judge Beau Peterson
sided in favor of the city
on Wednesday, Aug. 17,
after Mayer appealed a
Municipal Court ruling that
upheld the city’s euthanasia
order.
In June, Layla, who
was staying in Astoria
with Mayer’s girlfriend
while she was working at
Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital, got loose and killed a
cat named Jack. Layla was
chasing another cat before
being caught and taken to
Clatsop County Animal
Shelter.
Eric Halverson, the
interim police chief at the
time, designated Layla a
level fi ve dangerous animal,
the highest level, which
applies to animals at large
that kill other animals.
At a hearing in Cir-
cuit Court on Aug. 17, City
Attorney Blair Hennings-
gaard called Jack’s owner
and others who described
the aftermath of the attack.
John Taylor, who lives
with Theresa Brown, Jack’s
owner, said he saw the dog
pouncing on the cat. He then
went to help corral the dog.
When Taylor went to
go check on Jack, the cat
was making some noise but
clearly dying. “There was
no trying to save him,” he
said.
Brown said Jack often
slept outside in the sun-
shine. When she heard
yelling outside, she came
out to see Layla chasing the
neighbor’s cat and her cat
covered in blood. She said
she sat there for a while
afterward, holding Jack’s
body.
Geordie Duckler, an
attorney in Tigard who spe-
cializes in animal-related
legal issues, represented
Mayer. He said that since
none of the witnesses actu-
ally saw Layla kill the cat,
the dog should not be clas-
sifi ed as a level fi ve dan-
gerous animal.
“They didn’t see dog
kill the cat,” he said. “They
inferred that, of course, dog
killed cat, but they didn’t
see that behavior, and if
we’re at that level in which
we’re applying city code
conscientiously and prop-
erly, then we don’t have
a level fi ve classifi cation,
or we shouldn’t, if we’re
applying it correctly.”
Mayer said he and his
girlfriend feel terrible about
the loss of Jack, but they do
not think Layla should die.
Introducing the NEW CIC Chip in the
ITC Ear
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*Hearing test is always free. Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evolution and ability to adapt to amplification. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine amplification needs only. These
are not medical exams or diagnoses. If you suspect a problem please seek treatment from your physician. **Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Blue Cross, The Blue Shield, BCBS and Federal Employee Program are registered trademarks of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue
Cross Blue Shield Association and its independent licensees are not affiliated with nor do they endorse or sponsor the contents of this advertisement. Trademarks referring to specific providers are used by Miracle-Ear for nominative purposes only: to truthfully identify the
source of the services about which information is provided. Such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners. The aids must be returned within 30 days of delivery pursuant to terms of your purchase agreement and 100% of the purchase will be refunded.