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Columbia Gorge News
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
3
May Street Elementary teachers Heidi Von Lubken, left, and Natalie Wright (themselves alumnae of Hood River elementary schools) com-
municate with students during morning sessions last week. In its Oct. 28 regular session at 6:30 p.m., Hood River County School District
board plans a detailed discussion of the district blueprint for a possible return to in-person instruction, as early as Nov. 9, in grades K-3.
Kelly Beard photos
LEARNING
Older siblings
help younger kids
Continued from page 1
headphones and the glasses
on, it gives her a headache
and makes it hard for her to
concentrate, but without her
glasses, she has trouble see-
ing,” she said. “My 8-year-old
said the headphones hurt her
ears and don’t always work
properly. And my 15-year-old
has little sisters who con-
tinually ask her for things,
especially once they are out
of class and she is trying to be
in class.”
Because both she and her
husband, Craig Maurer, work
fulltime in sales, they must
rely on the older kids to help
with the younger. It’s Dylan,
for example, who goes to May
Street to pick up materials
for his younger sisters on his
lunch break each Tuesday.
“We are not part of any
parent pods,” Walker said.
“We are having to rely on our
older kids to help with our
little ones.”
In Borton’s family, the
challenge has been “a lack of
typing skills.” Her youngest
son struggles to complete
assignments because it takes
him a long time to write and
type his responses.
“We have switched to
drawing and writing on paper
as opposed to on the com-
puter, and then just taking a
picture to submit,” she said.
Another challenge is a lack
of internet or internet outag-
es. “Out here in Underwood,
there are few options and we
get kicked out of Zoom meet-
ings regularly,” she said.
Gooding has had a
similar issue with technol-
ogy. The schools provided
Chromebooks, but they are
not always Zoom compatible.
“There have been some
tech issues,” she said. “… I
was fortunate to have two
fantastic bosses who donated
computers to my kids be-
cause we had issues with the
Chromebooks.”
She sees the commitment
as something of a challenge
as well. “I had to rearrange
my whole life so that they can
get an education,” she said.
“My kids are doing okay,
but I think many are strug-
gling,” she added. “I have mo-
tivated kids and I encourage
them to stay that way. Not all
kids are motivated to work
— distance learning doesn’t
help those kids. There is no
incentive to do the work and
they can easily be left behind,
not at the fault of the teachers
or parents.”
All have had to supply
some materials for their
students, although all said
support from their respective
districts have been good on
that point.
“The Hood River County
School District has been very
good at supplying everything
the kids have needed to suc-
ceed,” said Walker. “I did have
to change internet providers
to be able to have enough
bandwidth and speed for all
of them to be online at the
same time … we also had to
purchase a WiFi booster.”
Borton said that her family
had to upgrade both its wire-
less plan and internet service
“and we still struggle to get
enough to sustain our family
needs.”
All three have discovered
unexpected benefits to dis-
tance learning. Walker said
her kids aren’t as tired at the
end of the day and that they
enjoy their half-day sched-
ules. Gooding said that, while
her children miss seeing their
friends, “overall, they love the
freedom distance learning
gives them — they are so
adaptable and tech savvy.”
“I am really impressed
by how much the kids are
learning to navigate through
the platforms,” said Borton.
“They are getting pretty savvy
with Google Classroom,
triple duty to try and make
“Mykidsaredoingokay,butIthinkmanyare this work. Personally, I feel
struggling.” like I’m failing miserably and
Cassie Gooding
Google Documents, etc. I am
also so proud of them learn-
ing to get out of their comfort
zone and email their teachers
or go to office hours.”
Still, it’s a difficult balance.
“I couldn’t work and assist
my kids without my family
and support from my em-
ployers,” said Gooding. “… I
have had to work fulltime the
past few weeks, so my mom
has helped me out with the
kids. I had to move their set-
ups to her house two hours
away, but the bonus is that
distance learning can happen
from just about anywhere.
“… My kids are worth the
time and effort. Not everyone
can afford to give up a job to
help their kids in school. I
am fortunate to have people
that support me and my kids
during this time,” she said.
Borton also has support.
“My husband also works at
home, so he comes in and
helps at times when I am in
meetings with my students.
My mom has also been a
huge blessing … she has
learned how to help Nate get
into his Zoom call and how
to navigate Seesaw. I think it’s
Sense of Place returns Oct. 21
Mt. Adams Institute has
announced the line-up for
the annual Sense of Place
Lecture Series. Now in its
11th season, the series will
feature virtual lectures rather
than in-person events as a
way to mitigate risks associ-
ated with COVID-19. As in
previous years, lectures will
occur on the second or third
Wednesday of the month,
October through April, at 7
p.m. Descriptions of each lec-
ture and information about
how to access the lectures are
available at mtadamsinsti-
tute.org/senseofplace.
■ Oct. 21 — Responding to
a Pandemic: An Indigenous
Perspective. Speakers: Emily
Washines and Chuck Sams
■ Nov. 18 — Klickitat
Country: The Cradle of Plant
Based Diets. Speaker: Seth
Tibbott
■ Dec. 16 — Meet Your
Neighbor: A Conversation
with Gladys Rivera. Speaker:
Gladys Rivera
■ Jan. 13 — Magical,
Menacing, and Magnificent
Wildlife: How to Ensure their
Future in the Gorge, Speaker:
Bill Weiler
■ Feb. 17 — Black Pioneers
on the Oregon Trail. Speaker:
Zachary Stocks
■ March 10 — The Legacy
and Promise of Land Grant
Universities and Oregon
State Extension in the Gorge.
Speaker: Ann Harris
■ April 14 — Pikas Under
Fire: American Pika Ecology
and Behavior in a Time of
Global Change. Speaker: Dr.
Johanna Varner
The season welcomes the
return of Sarah Fox as the
host and curator. “The format
of this season will be uncon-
ventional, but the line-up of
speakers could not be more
intriguing. The variety of top-
ics and range of guests will
provide a great opportunity
to learn about and connect to
the Gorge during this fall and
winter.”
This season will offer a few
exciting “firsts.”
■ All lectures will be re-
corded, archived, and made
available to the public.
■ Admission to the lectures
will be free, with the option to
donate.
■ The December lecture
will be made available in
Spanish and English.
Also new this season,
Sense of Place has launched
the Dear Neighbor Project,
which provides a way for
participants to engage with
one another in meaningful
ways. Dear Neighbor is a
letter-exchange project that
will run concurrently with
season 11 of Sense of Place.
More information can be
found at mtadamsinstitute.
org/dear-neighbor.
“The decision to move
forward with season 11 came
after overwhelming support
from an audience survey
expressing a desire for the
season, even in a virtual for-
mat,” said Fox. “A memorable
sentiment from the surveys
was that having Sense of
Place this year would provide
a needed sense of continuity
for the community.”
Sense of Place is a program
of the Mt. Adams Institute,
whose mission is to strength-
en the connection to the
natural world through educa-
tion, service learning, career
development, and research.
For more information, please
go to mtadamsinstitute.org/
senseofplace.
really fun for Nate to teach
his grandma some technolo-
gy skills.”
Working at HROA has also
“been a blessing,” she said.
“I am working a lot, but I
have much more flexibility
to support my children.” Her
two youngest children will
soon be attempting a hybrid
option, having in-person
classes twice a week.
Walker said, “Honestly,
no,” when asked if she had
enough support to work and
assist her children with dis-
tance learning. “But we are
trying to make the best of it. I
feel like the schools/teachers
are doing their best to make
sure we have supplies (and)
supplementary instruction
tools … but it’s still exhaust-
ing trying to both work and
try to coordinate distance
learning. And we are lucky in
the sense that we have older
kids at home to help, some
families don’t have that.
“… I feel like we are all try-
ing to navigate this together,
but while we are having a
shared experience, it’s differ-
ent for everyone,” she said. “
… I feel like everyone is doing
just when I think we’ve got it
down, schedules change, or
something else gets added
(that needs to happen during
the weekday before 5 p.m.)
and it feels like an uphill bat-
tle again. However, as diffi-
cult as it is, I would rather not
have my children get sick, so
in that respect, I appreciate
the caution and having them
in a safe environment.”
“There is a huge equitable
disparity that we are all trying
our best to overcome,” said
Borton. “I know how much
I have to do to help my own
children makes me feel so
bad for parents who have to
work outside the home each
day or for older siblings who
are also given the respon-
sibility for teaching their
younger siblings.”
“Shout out to the teach-
ers,” Gooding said. “This is
not easy — especially at the
elementary level, to control
your classroom over a screen
is nearly impossible, but they
are doing it. As the weeks go
by, it seems to be getting bet-
ter and the kids are adjusting
to this new routine. Distance
learning is far from perfect
— and the teachers are doing
their very best.”
EVOLUTION: BIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE #13
As noted in the last article the functioning biological body of
a living creature is more complex than most casual evolutionists
would care to admit. When the idea of evolution was first
introduced by Mr. Darwin in 1859 the workings of a biological
cell was considered very simple. So in 1859 the theory looked
possible. Not now. Evolution should have been put to sleep when
DNA was discovered in the 50’s. Nope. To look at the DNA structure
under a powerful microscope and still insist that it evolved over
millions of years is just nothing but pure contempt and hate
for the idea that it was “Created.” How is it possible to see this
structure and “believe” that it all came to be just by millions of
chance random mutations? How? Genetic fact, 99.99% of all
mutations are detrimental to the species. Think. Chance mutations
would produce the nervous system? It would be like playing
craps and always…always throwing a seven. Millions of sevens
in a row for millions of years. Each human brain contains about
one hundred thousand billion electrical connections (more than
all the world’s electrical appliances). Biologically possible from
chance mutations? A person who wants to question this theory
need not be a genetic scientist or a have a PhD. in microbiology.
They just need to use commonsense and less hate.
g.d. fischer | zionman@netcnct.net | 541-296-8578
Exceptional Horse Boarding
WIND DANCE STABLE
Festival
of
Light
Neighborhood Party
October 31st, 5 -7 PM, all over White Salmon
Grace Baptist Church will be hosting the
Festival of Light in a modified version this year.
In order to avoid large crowds but maintain the
connection to our friends and neighbors, the FOL
will be hosted at a number of locations throughout
White Salmon. Each location will host a game booth
with prizes, just like always.
Maps will be provided at Bubba’s Brew parking lot!
Grace Baptist Church
www.grace-ws.org
509-493-2597
Close to town & next to owner’s home for added security.
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Heated tackroom, turnout pastures, hay & grain furnished.
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541-490-6642
4281 Post Canyon Drive
Hood River
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