3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
Oregon’s child welfare system fails federal standards
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s
child welfare system failed
to meet all of the standards in
a recent federal assessment,
state Department of Human
Services director Clyde Saiki
told lawmakers in an email
Wednesday.
The state fell short of fed-
eral goals from foster par-
ent recruitment and reten-
tion, to ensuring “children are
¿rst and foremost protected
from abuse and neglect,” Saiki
wrote, regarding the report by
the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
He warned there is likely
more bad news to come. The
¿ndings were only the ¿rst
part of a two-phase review,
and “it is very likely Oregon
will meet the standards in the
¿nal report.”
Oregon’s
child
wel-
fare system, operated by the
Department of Human Ser-
vices, has a history of prob-
lems and has faced renewed
scrutiny by lawmakers and the
public since Willamette Week
reported last year the agency
continued to send children
to a troubled Portland foster
program.
Theoretically,
Oregon
could lose some of its fed-
eral child welfare money if
the state fails to meet goals for
improving the system. In prac-
tice, that has not happened.
Gene Evans, a spokesman
for the department, wrote in an
email Wednesday that the fed-
eral government has not with-
held any money from the state
as a penalty for failing to meet
such goals. Oregon’s child
welfare program has already
been on a federal “program
improvement plan” since at
least 2008.
State Sen. Sara Gelser,
D-Corvallis, said one of her
takeaways from the report was
the situation since 2008 has
“gotten worse rather than bet-
ter ... The agency has lacked
adequate leadership for a long
time.”
Gelser, who has criticized
the department’s failure to pro-
tect children and sponsored
legislation earlier this year to
force the agency take action
when children are at risk,
said it is time for the agency
to clean house to remove
employees who allowed the
problems to grow.
“We need signi¿cantly new
leadership at all levels of our
child welfare agency and a
culture change,” Gelser said.
“And I think Clyde (Saiki) is
the right person to make that
happen ... The governor has
made it really clear that is her
priority and directive she’s put
forward.”
Gelser said it was under-
standable the federal govern-
ment had not withheld funds
from Oregon because the pro-
gram is already underfunded,
and this causes problems such
as overloaded caseworkers.
Oregon House Republicans
suggested on Wednesday the
agency could do a better job
with its current budget.
“We must take action to
demand accountability from
our child welfare system and
ensure that Oregonians’ tax
dollars are being handled pru-
dently, and in a way that max-
imizes positive outcomes for
children in our child welfare
system,” Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner, the chairman of
the House Republican Budget
Committee, said in a written
statement.
Meanwhile, Oregon has
plenty of company when it
comes to being on a federal
“program improvement plan”:
states from Alaska to New
York are also listed by the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services as being on
such monitoring plans.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Orca tagging stops after dead
whale found with fragments
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
New uptick in
revenue brings
robust Seaside
schools budget
District will
also present
bond measure
By NANCY McCARTHY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — With an uptick
in revenue through property
taxes and stable ¿nances, the
Seaside School District will add
a few more teachers next year
and make essential repairs at all
four schools.
The district’s budget com-
mittee received its ¿rst look at
the 2016-17 budget Tuesday
night and will continue discus-
sion on it May 17.
Oregon is experiencing a
“full throttle rate of growth” in
revenue from taxes and build-
ing permits, said Superintendent
Doug Dougherty, and the Sea-
side district is experiencing the
same phenomenon.
The budget includes a $19.5
million general fund, with reve-
nue coming mostly from prop-
erty taxes and timber revenues.
A ¿ve-year local option levy,
approved by voters last Novem-
ber, also added $1.2 million to
the budget.
Because its property val-
ues are higher than the average
throughout Oregon, the Seaside
district does not receive state
education funds.
While the receipts from state
forest timber sales are expected
to be lower this year, more sales
are expected in 2017, so revenue
could be higher than expected,
Dougherty said.
In his budget message,
Dougherty said the district’s
strategy next year is to “evaluate
the current needs of our students,
target areas that need enrichment
and focus our resources to pro-
vide a well-rounded education.”
Bond measure
Dougherty also said the dis-
trict will place a bond measure
on next November’s ballot to
relocate the district’s schools
out of the tsunami inundation
zone. To prepare the ballot mea-
sure, including architectural and
engineering fees and other ser-
vices, the district could spend
up to $540,000. However, that
amount depends on the pro-
ceeds received from the sale of
district-owned property near
Surf Pines. The district hopes to
receive $335,000 from the sale.
A $128.8 million bond mea-
sure to relocate the schools on a
hill east of Seaside Heights Ele-
mentary School failed in 2013.
The 4.5 full-time-equivalent
personnel to be hired include a
social studies teacher at Broad-
way Middle School; a full-time
teacher to reduce class size; a
half-time curriculum director;
a part-time technology support
staff member; and a staff mem-
ber who will serve as a full-time
“teacher on special assignment”
to provide management sup-
port to students, staff, parents
and the community at Gearhart
and Seaside Heights elementary
schools, according to the budget
message.
The budget includes a 2.25
percent salary increase for dis-
trict employees.
Superintendent retiring
Although he is retiring in
June, Dougherty will continue
to stay on half-time to shepherd
the bond measure through the
November election.
Another $798,885 is bud-
geted for repairs to the schools,
which have an average age of 65
years. These include:
New Àooring at Gearhart
Elementary School
• Roof repairs at Broadway
Middle School
• Parking lot renovations at
the bus garage
• Internal walls and doors at
Seaside Heights
• Resurfacing the Seaside
High School track
• Bringing the Seaside High
School restroom to the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act code
with a shower
• Reroo¿ng a section of the
high school gym
Another budget expense
includes a $122,000 trans-
fer to supplement losses in the
school lunch program. The dis-
trict is served by the Chartwells
food service company, which
also worked with the Astoria
School District until that district
dropped the company last year,
complaining about the com-
pany’s lack of communication
and inconsistencies in the food
served to students.
The joint contract the com-
pany has with Seaside, Asto-
ria, Warrenton-Hammond and
Ocean Park, Washington, is due
to expire in June.
NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center via AP
An orca whale known as L95 swims in the Pacific Ocean
near La Push, Wash., shortly before being fitted with a
satellite tag. Federal biologists have temporarily stopped
tagging endangered killer whales in Washington state’s
Puget Sound after a dead orca was found with pieces of
a dart tag lodged in its dorsal fin.
whether the tagging area may
have provided a pathway for
one, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
said. A ¿nal report is expected
in several weeks.
NOAA researchers were
assessing what went wrong
with the transmitter and how
to prevent it from happen-
ing again, said Brad Hanson,
an agency wildlife biologist
who leads the orca tagging
program.
The researchers’ federal
permit requires dart tagging
to stop if the devices break,
and tagging can’t resume
until NOAA authorizes it.
Problems have forced a rede-
sign of the device two previ-
ous times.
“Go back to the draw-
ing board. Apply it less inva-
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sively,” said Kenneth Bal-
comb, senior scientist with the
Center for Whale Research,
who called the devices “overly
barbaric.” “It’s injuring the
animals, and they’re leaving
pieces of hardware stuck in
them that festers and causes
tissue damage.”
Hanson defended the pro-
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AFSCME
A
AF
F SCME
ME Local
L ocal
RIC VRANA
2746
workers
2
27
7 46 and wor
rke
k rs
everywhere
e
v erywhere
y
have lost
July 4, 1952
a tireless champion
p
and
March 26, 2016 ad
advocate
a
d vocate for labor. Ric was
very
a ve
ery y active member of Local
2746
2
27
7 46 and supporter
pp
of his union
brothers
b
br
r othe
ers and sisters. He was President
of f N
North
Coast L Labor
Federation
(formerly
Central l
h C
b F
d
i (f
l C
Labor Council) & President of Astoria Labor
Temple Association.
Memorial Service
Our thoughts and
In h onor O
April 30, 2016, 2 pm
prayers are with his
p
and
f family. He is greatly
Cerimon House
missed.
r e m e m b r a n c e m
5131 NE 23rd, Portland.
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CCB#177717
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Seaside High School and other buildings in the district
will benefit from greater revenues.
SEATTLE — Federal
biologists have temporarily
stopped tagging endangered
killer whales in Washing-
ton state’s Puget Sound after
a dead orca was found with
pieces of a dart tag lodged in
its dorsal ¿n.
Researchers use a dart pro-
jector to ¿re the small satel-
lite-linked transmitters into the
animals to track where they
go in the winter and how they
¿nd food. An initial exam of
the 20-year-old whale found
Àoating off 9ancouver Island
last month did not ¿nd a clear
cause of death, but some advo-
cates fear tagging injures the
animals and say there are less
invasive ways to monitor the
small population of whales.
The transmitter is the size
of a 9-volt battery and attaches
to the orca’s ¿n with two tita-
nium darts about 6 centimeters
long. It’s designed to detach
over time and leave nothing
behind in the whale.
A necropsy of the dead orca
found fragments remained in
its dorsal ¿n when the tag fell
off but “revealed no apparent
localized or tracking inÀam-
mation,” Canada’s Depart-
ment of Fisheries and Ocean
said last week.
Though there were no
signs of infection, veteri-
narians were investigating
gram but said he understood the
concerns.
“It’s provided us with a tre-
mendous amount of information
in a relatively short amount of
time,” he said. “I personally am
concerned for the whales, but
we’re also charged with provid-
ing the best available science for
our colleagues to make manage-
ment decisions.”
Southern resident killer
whales are listed as endan-
gered in the U.S. and Canada.
NOAA is considering whether
to expand habitat protections
for the orcas to include off-
shore areas from Washington to
Northern California.
The male orca known as L95
was tagged in late February off
Washington’s coast. The whale
appeared to be in good health,
and researchers said they did not
observe any breaking when ¿ring
the transmitter. The device pro-
vided data for four days before
the signal was lost. Several weeks
later, the animal was found dead.