A3
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
Disability rights groups sue Astoria turns to recruiter to
Oregon in federal court
fi nd development director
Suit claims
students
shortchanged
Associated Press
SALEM — Disabil-
ity Rights Oregon and
four other groups fi led a
class-action lawsuit Tues-
day against the state of Ore-
gon in U.S. District Court
saying the state denies hun-
dreds of children with dis-
abilities the right to attend a
full day of school.
The lawsuit fi led in fed-
eral court in Eugene comes
on the fi rst day of Oregon’s
legislative session and
names Gov. Kate Brown,
the Oregon Department of
Education and its director,
Colt Gill, as defendants.
It says that children with
disabilities are frequently
removed from the gen-
eral classroom and given
instruction separately or are
sent home because of dis-
ruptive behaviors. In some
cases, the students remain
out of class for days or
weeks, according to the
complaint, and the problem
is worse in small and rural
districts.
Brown’s offi ce didn’t
immediately return a mes-
sage seeking comment.
Marc Siegel, spokesman
for the Oregon Department
of Education, said he could
not comment on pending lit-
igation, but added in a state-
ment that the department
is “committed to equity
and excellence for every
learner.”
The state has made a
handful of efforts to reduce
the use of shortened days in
the last few years. But Dis-
ability Rights Oregon attor-
ney Joel Greenberg told The
Statesman Journal that the
situation is getting worse,
not better.
“What’s happening is
hurting a lot of children
every day,” he said. “They
have a disability, and that
disability makes it hard for
them to understand and reg-
ulate their own behavior.
“I would like other par-
ents to understand what it
might be like just because
your child is different in
some way and they are told
they don’t belong in school
... that they won’t get the
same opportunities.”
The lawsuit was fi led by
a list of concerned families,
attorneys and advocates,
including Disability Rights
Oregon, the National Center
for Youth Law, the Coun-
cil of Parent Attorneys and
Advocates and the Bazelon
Center for Mental Health
Law.
The lawsuit says children
as young as 5 and 6 are rou-
tinely excluded from attend-
ing a full school day with
their peers because of their
disability-related behaviors.
Some of these children
receive as little as one or
two hours of instruction a
day instead of the six hours
their classmates typically
receive. One child Green-
berg has represented was
denied a full day before
he even began attending
school, he said.
When children are in
school, instruction often
takes place in a separate
classroom where they have
little opportunity to interact
and learn with their peers,
despite research that says
they are far more likely to
enjoy academic and social
success when allowed to do
so, the complaint says.
“It’s similar to what hap-
pens on a snow day or unan-
nounced day off of school,
only it goes on forever,” he
said.
Under federal law, the
state must ensure that all
students receive an appro-
priate education without
discrimination based on
disability.
State law allows students
to be placed on an abbre-
viated schedule in some
instances.
In those cases, parents
must have had an opportu-
nity to meaningfully partic-
ipate in the placement, and
school specialists that help
craft the child’s education
plan must show they con-
sidered at least one other
option. That team must
also document the reasons
why an abbreviated day is
necessary.
Shutdown makes it tough to help whales
By PATRICK WHITTLE
Associated Press
via said. “We have little
to no ability to fi nd them
because of NOAA’s being
furloughed.”
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
After more than a year
without a community devel-
opment director, Astoria is
turning to a recruiter to fi nd
candidates as permit requests
remain high and major proj-
ects and complex discussions
about future development
move forward.
The city has been without
a community development
director since former direc-
tor Kevin Cronin left in 2017.
City Manager Brett Estes
has since posted the job mul-
tiple times and interviewed
several candidates.
“That has not proved to be
a fruitful process,” Estes told
the City Council on Tuesday .
Recent candidates decided
to remove their names from
consideration at the last min-
ute for various reasons.
Though it is common
for the city to use recruiters
when it comes to hiring posi-
tions like the police chief or
fi re chief, this is the fi rst time
Estes has used a recruiter to
hire a community develop-
ment director .
After working with the
city’s human resources staff
to compile a list of fi rms that
specialize in recruiting for
public agencies, Estes will
consider hiring a consultant
later this week.
The search for a new com-
munity development director
came at a time when the city
was already down a police
chief after Brad Johnston’s
abrupt retirement. The long-
planned retirements of the
public works director and
fi re chief followed. Then, last
summer, the parks director
announced she was taking a
job in Colorado.
Now, only the community
development director and the
fi re chief positions remain
vacant. Richard Curtis was
hired as interim fi re chief in
September and Estes plans to
interview several candidates
for the permanent job at the
end of the month.
The city is not alone in
its struggle to fi nd someone
to head community devel-
opment . Other cities on the
coast have reported long
searches for city planners and
planning department leaders.
In the meantime, Estes
has brought in other consul-
tants to help with projects,
including former city plan-
ner Rosemary Johnson and
Mike Morgan, who served as
interim director after Cronin
left. The city also recently
contracted with Heidi Dublac
to help with code enforce-
ment and other projects.
Dublac, who has a planning
PROFESSIONAL
Q: What are dental
sealants, who should
get them and how
long do they last?
sealants are a clear
A: Dental
coating place in the deep
JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR
DMD, FAGD
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
background, co-owns Good
to Go, a to-go sandwich,
soup, salad and pastry shop
in Astoria.
Since Cronin left, com-
munity development staff
have handled several large,
sometimes contentious proj-
ects that involved multi-
ple appeals, most notably
an application by Hollander
Hospitality to build a four-
story hotel on the Astoria
waterfront.
At the same time, staff
have also started the pro-
cess of crafting guidelines
and standards for the fi nal
piece of the city’s Riverfront
Vision Plan , the Urban Core.
The plan guides how devel-
opment occurs along the
Columbia River.
They have also launched
“Uniontown Reborn,” look-
ing at how to address the
city’s western gateway with
streetscape improvements
and zoning changes, as well
as creating a homestay lodg-
ing permit process to curb
illegal Airbnb-type vacation
rentals .
Consult a
503/325-0310
1414 MARINE DRIVE,
ASTORIA
www.smileastoria.com
grooves of teeth, protecting them
from food and bacteria that can be
hard to remove with brushing.
We recommend having your
child’s permanent molars sealed as
soon as they are fully erupted. You
can expect sealants to last upwards
of 10-15 years and are a safe, in-
expensive way to help ensure your
child’s oral health. Call us today to
make your appointment.
Q: Does the
Oregon Health
Plan cover
chiropractic
care?
The Oregon
ASTORIA A: Yes!
Health Plan does cover
CHIROPRACTIC
Barry Sears, D.C.
503-325-3311
2935 Marine Drive
Astoria, Oregon
chiropractic care with
referral from your primary
care physician.
Call us today for more
information or to schedule
your appointment.
Now accepting new patients.
have a Medicare
Q: I Supplement
policy and
would like to look around
for a lower premium. I was
told that because of my
health issues I would not be
able to switch companies. Is
that right?
Steve Putman
Oregon you have an
A: In opportunity
to change
companies during a short window
around your birthday, known as the
Medicare Products “Oregon Birthday Rule.” You do not
have to answer underwriting health
503-440-1076 questions to qualify during this
“window” of time. However, there are
specific rules regarding the type of
Licensed in Oregon
changes you may make. Call to find out
and Washington
more, you may be able to lower your
premiums while maintaining the same
putmanagency@gmail.com level of coverage.
Q: How can I tell if my
account information
has been leaked by
a “data breach” at a
large company?
LEO FINZI
Astoria’s Best.com
We sell and
A great resource is
service Macs
haveibeenpwned.com. Go
and PCs; all
there and enter your email
makes, all
address. You will be informed if
models.
A:
Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-4
Astoria, OR
503-325-2300
10TH STREET
ASTORIA
TRANSIT CENTER
PORTLAND, Maine —
Rescuers who respond to
distressed whales and other
marine animals say the fed-
eral government shutdown
is making it more diffi cult
to do their work.
A network of rescue
groups in the U.S. works
with the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric
Administration to respond
to marine mammals such
as whales and seals when
the animals are in trou-
ble, such as when they are
stranded on land or entan-
gled in fi shing gear. But the
federal shutdown, which
entered its 33rd day today,
includes a shuttering of the
NOAA operations the res-
cuers rely upon.
NOAA plays a role
in preventing acciden-
tal whale deaths by doing
things like tracking the ani-
mals, operating a hotline
for mariners who fi nd dis-
tressed whales and provid-
ing permits that allow the
rescue groups to respond
to emergencies. Those
functions are disrupted
or ground to a halt by
the shutdown, and that’s
bad news if whales need
help, said Tony LaCasse,
a spokesman for the New
England Aquarium in Bos-
ton, which has a rescue
operation.
“If it was very pro-
longed, then it would
become problematic to
respond to animals that
are in the water,” LaC-
asse said. “And to be able
to have a better handle on
what is really going on.”
The shutdown is com-
ing at a particularly dan-
gerous time for the endan-
gered North Atlantic right
whale, which numbers
about 411, said Regina
Asmutis-Silvia, a senior
biologist with Whale and
Dolphin
Conservation
of Plymouth, Massachu-
setts. The whales are under
tight scrutiny right now
because of recent years of
high mortality and poor
reproduction.
NOAA recently identi-
fi ed an aggregation of 100
of the whales south of Nan-
tucket — nearly a quarter
of the world’s population
— but the survey work
is now interrupted by the
shutdown,
Asmutis-Sil-
via said. Surveys of rare
whales are important for
biologists who study the
animals and so rescuers
can have an idea of where
they are located, she said.
No right whale mortali-
ties have been recorded so
far in 2019, but there have
been at least 20 since April
2017.
“There’s a really sig-
nifi cant impact on marine
mammal
conserva-
tion based on this shut-
down,”
Asmutis-Sil-
The city’s search
has lasted more
than a year
your account was one of literally
BILLIONS that have been leaked.
If yours was compromised, create
a new complex password. I like
substituting a number for a vowel
or consonant, e.g. mypasswordis
becomes M7p1ss65rd3s if I
substitute “1 for a, 2 for e, 3 for i, 4
for o, 5 for u, 6 for w and 7 for y.”