A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
O ur readers write
JOE PETSHOW
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Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
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General Manager
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Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011)
TOM LANCTOT
Past President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
Editor
TONY METHVIN
Columbia Gorge Press Manager
DAVID MARVIN
Production Manager
Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area.
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PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
recycled paper.
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News,
P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796
Member of the Associated Press
Game time
Not the Ducks, but the
House and Senate
T
he two squads will go head-to-head in a con-
test of strength and strategy.
Heads will butt, sweat will pour and per-
haps even some blood will flow, and support-
ers will fill the seats paying close attention to
the gritty maneuvers by rivals on both sides of the …
floor.
No, we’re not talking about Duck football anymore.
We’ve witnessed that frustrating contest, in which
we learned that Mr. Jones, Cardale, is the Real Deal,
and a man who goes by Zeke is not the punchline, but
the puncher of linemen. Marcus Mariota’s future re-
mains the big question, but otherwise our month-long
football obsession can settle into the background
along with the buckets of Buckeye confetti.
Can we focus on another bruising test of wills?
The Oregon Legislature is about to back in session,
and Ohio State is the least of our concerns now.
The 2015 Session’s pre-game ceremony was Monday,
with Gov. John Kitzhaber’s fourth inauguration and
the swearing in of Oregon legislators including Hood
River’s Sen. Chuck Thomsen and Rep. Mark Johnson.
Congratulations to those gentlemen who survived
tough challenges from able opponents in November
and deservedly return for another term in Salem.
On laptops and chalkboards, coaches from both
sides of the aisle are preparing for stiff competition
over minimum wage, transportation funding, educa-
tion reform, and how the state will make sense of en-
acting and enforcing the dramatic changes in marijua-
na laws.
Then there is the entire matter of how well the
Legislature chooses to fund education, P-20: pre-school
through grad-school, the new game plan under
Kitzhaber’s work-in-progress education strategy. Will
Oregonians pay as much attention to that as they did
to the Oregon Duck gridders’ glorious 2014-15 run?
The whole Ducks-Bucks lead-up and even the game
were fun (despite the outcome) and rallying behind
Mark Helfrich’s lads gave Oregonians something to
share. Taking nothing away from that heady experi-
ence, however, the real test of our togetherness starts
in two weeks in Salem. Will the sense of unity of the
past few weeks carry into what is sure to be a con-
tentious session in Salem?
With more than 1,400 proposed bills introduced
Monday, Democrats and Republicans have started
doing a virtual taping up and reviewing of film as
they prepare for what is sure to be a tussle kicking off
Feb. 2, with a lot more on the line than a football game
held in Texas.
Cold nights,
warm bed
I got involved with the Hood River
Warming Shelter program last year
as a volunteer. It is one of those ex-
periences that just leaves you feeling
good. To be able to offer someone a
warm cot on a cold night is a small
thing to those of us with our own
beds. But getting a chance to be
warm and dry for awhile is every-
thing to them. There are a variety of
shifts available starting in the early
evening. My personal choice is the
late night when all I need to do is be
there in a comfortable chair with my
book and computer. There is Wifi
available. All that is required is a lit-
tle generosity of spirit. Please con-
tact the Site Coordinators at
hoodrivercares@gmail.com for
more information.
Marg Guth
Hood River
A vision of
peace
What an inspiration it was this
Sunday to see the people in Paris
and France join together to say, “Je
Suis Charlie!” This was a sponta-
neous people’s march — people of
different faiths and ethnic back-
grounds, the “silent majority” —
more than 2.5 million people who
came out on the street to show their
unity. People like us.
It was a wonderful image, a vision
to hold on to — all people working to-
gether in peace, standing for free-
dom with respect for others. Even
though we may not see each other
out on the street, I believe, the ma-
jority of us share this vision. That it
will live on in our imagination in the
coming years.
Lawrence Jones
Hood River
Good job,
Obama
News flash: I am not a fan of
Obama, but that being said, it gets
me when the news media blasts
Obama for not going to Paris to
support France after the shootings.
I did not see French or any of the
leaders of any other nation stand-
ing on US soil after 911, so I say
good job Mr. President.
Jim Burdick
Parkdale
Standardized
testing a
disservice
Standardized testing in schools
has become increasingly harmful
to your children and your public
schools for reasons including un-
warranted stress on children, loss
of instructional time, and narrow-
ing of curriculum. Recently, Super-
intendent Goldman extolled the
virtues of Common Core Stan-
dards and Smarter Balance stan-
dardized tests. If he had stopped
with Common Core, I wouldn’t be
writing. Since these standards are
new, teachers’ opinions are still de-
veloping. In general, though, teach-
ers support and maintain high
standards for students — provided
they are developmentally appropri-
ate.
However, the overwhelming ma-
jority of educators working direct-
ly w i t h ch i l d re n b e l i eve o u r
decades long experiment in high
stakes standardized testing is not
only a complete failure but also
harmful to children — so harmful
that some Hood River teachers are
taking the extraordinary step of
exempting their own children from
testing.
Supt. Goldman states he is “will-
ing to be disturbed if it means [he]
can help our children succeed later
on.” The problem with this state-
ment is that there is absolutely no
evidence these new tests — any
more than the previous tests —
will help our children succeed.
What we know for certain, howev-
er, is that we now spend more time
assessing our students and less
time instructing. I hear from our
high school that we set aside 16
hours for each student to complete
testing. For the fourth graders I
teach, we anticipate 6 to 8 hours.
Additionally, there will be test-tak-
ing practice, and administration
has other assessments for even
more practice. It is likely that by
the end of the year, an elementary
student will spend more time prac-
ticing and taking standardized
tests than in PE or Music. The
amount of time, money, and effort
we put into standardized testing is
truly disturbing, and a huge dis-
service to our children.
We agree wholeheartedly with
Supt. Goldman regarding the lack
of resources. Oregon ranks 46th
lowest in funding relative to GDP.
If we aspire to lofty standards, pol-
icymakers need to be serious about
providing adequate resources.
If you desire more information
on exempting your child from
har mful standardized testing,
email
o p t o u t h o o d r iv -
er@gmail.com.
Kelvin Calkins
President, Hood River
Education Association
Hood River
Standardized
tests not
working
In his Jan. 6 Another Voice letter,
(Superintendent) Dan Goldman left
out that the Common Core State
Standards were designed, in part, to
circumvent federal restrictions on
the adoption of a national curricu-
lum, hence the insertion of the word
“state” in the brand name.
States were coerced into adopting
the Common Core by requirements
attached to the federal Race to the
Top grants and, later, the No Child
Left Behind waivers.
For an eye-opening and historical
review of how and why the Common
Core was created and adopted, in-
cluding a thorough look at the impli-
cations for our children, read “The
Problems with the Common Core”
by Stan Karp, found on rethink-
ingschools.org. This article is one of
many that sheds light on the politics
behind the top down, market-driven
engine driving the Common Core,
including details on who created it,
the billionaire-financed marketing
campaign in support of it, its long-
term funding credibility and much
more.
After a decade of testing showing
that millions of students could not
meet the NCLB standards, the
founders of Common Core have fur-
ther increased standards, putting
our most vulnerable students (Eng-
lish learners, learning disabled, etc.)
at risk. It is a myth that more rigor
equates to more or better learning
as Fairtest.org offers: “If a child
struggles to clear the high bar at five
feet, she will not become a ‘world
class’ jumper because someone
raised the bar to six feet and yelled
‘jump higher,’ or if her ‘poor’ perfor-
mance is used to punish her coach.”
While the Common Core curricu-
lum itself may be fresh and relevant
to today’s children, it will be the
high-stakes testing that will eventu-
ally lead Common Core down the fa-
miliar path of NCLB. Pay close at-
tention and do your own research. If
you feel that high-stakes standard-
ized testing is not right for your
child, remember that you have the
legal right to opt-out in Oregon.
“Opting-out” is when a par-
ent/guardian chooses to have a child
not take the state standardized test,
without personal penalty.
For details on how to opt-out and
instead have your child assessed in
a d i f f e r e n t w ay, l o g o n t o
OptOutOregon.org. There you will
find answers to many questions
you may have about the conse-
quences of opting out.
Karen Ford
Hood River
Budget
solutions
Superintendent Dan Goldman’s
commentary about the Common
Core Standards was both informa-
tive and upbeat in explaining the
positive and necessary aspects of
this progressive education reform. I
fully agree that students need to
process information and not merely
memorize facts.
However, I found the portion of
the commentary quite disappoint-
ing. In his second year as superin-
tendent, Mr. Goldman has already
played the budget card to explain
our district’s academic performance
woes. This explanation has grown
quite old over the years. As I taxpay-
er and father, I find it both disre-
spectful and unprofessional.
Our education budget has been re-
duced annually for a decade and this
is a trend will likely continue. I find
it unacceptable that the highly-edu-
cated and well-paid people responsi-
ble for our children’s futures cannot
work harder to come up any new
ideas.
Our district continues to pass
children who fail to meet grade stan-
dards, tolerates excessively rude and
disruptive behavior, and continues
to reward students for the smallest
positive behaviors. Meanwhile,
teachers’ hands are tied to appropri-
ately discipline repeat offenders. In-
stead, they are forced to spend their
days redirecting and correcting be-
haviors, which should have been
learned years ago.
How do these things affect the
budget? Teachers, counselors, and
principals are forced to devote valu-
able time to meet with parents, de-
velop behavior plans, fill out count-
less forms, and communicate repeat-
edly with parents through emails
and phone calls to address these stu-
dents’ special needs.
Maybe we could start by address-
ing some of the aforementioned
problems and teachers can get back
to teaching.
Steve Kaplan
Hood River
Every single soldier: looking for photos to help honor Vietnam fallen
My name is Janna Hoehn. I am a 25 year
resident of Maui, Hawaii. Six years ago,
my husband and I made our first trip to
Washington, D.C. Because Vietnam was
the war that was going on while I was in
high school, the first memorial on my list
was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Even though I never knew anyone killed
in Vietnam, I wanted an rubbing of one of
the names. I approached the Wall and
choose a name ... Gregory John Crossman
... an MIA. When I returned home, I decid-
ed to research Gregory and try to find his
family, in the event they were never able to
go to the Wall, I would send them the etch-
ing, hoping they would share a photo with
me of Gregory. Off and on for six months I
researched every way possible and never
found any family. I was quite disappointed,
but I had one more possibility: my cousin,
our family historian. Six weeks later, she
found a college photo of Gregory. Two
years later I saw a story on our local news
about the “Faces Never Forgotten” for the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The
goal, to put a face with every name that is
etched on the Wall. I immediately sent in
the photo I had of Gregory Crossman. Five
days later I received an email from Jan
Scruggs, the Founder and President of the
Vietnam Wall. He thanked me for sending
the photo. It was the first for this Soldier.
He asked me if I could help him find the
photos for the 42 Maui County Soldiers
that were killed in Vietnam. I told him it
would be an honor. I have always hoped I
could to do something for the Vietnam Vet-
erans as the way they were treated when
they returned. Here was my chance.
What I thought would be a very easy pro-
ject, with Maui being so small, was any-
thing but easy. I started by combing the
phone books, calling every like name of
each soldier, and I found about 10 of them
this way. Then off to archived yearbooks
for every high school on Maui, I found a
few more; to the library to look for obitu-
aries, where I found 3 more; and to the
Maui News. They printed a beautiful front
page article about the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund and the Education Center.
I started receiving calls from all over the
United States sending me photos. I was un-
aware how many people read the Maui
News online. The Maui News ran an arti-
cle about every six weeks printing the list
PHOTOS NEEDED
Janna Hoehn seeks photos of the
following local men:
Keith Perkins, 1942-1967, Hood River
Rudy L. Baldon, 1946-1969, Hood River
Charles W. Bauman,1936-1966, Maupin
of names of photos I still needed.
Every time they ran a story, I would re-
ceive another photo or two. After six
months of searching, I had a photo of
every Solider from Maui County. Once I
had all the photos I decided I did not want
to keep this to myself. I needed to share it
with Maui County. I had a display made
with all 42 photos, and I take it all over
roes’ stories and sacrifice will never be for-
gotten.
My plea is this: If anyone is related, a
friend or a classmate to any of the young
men on the list I would very much appre-
ciate
hearing
from you. Even if
you don’t have a
photo but know
which school any
of these young
■
men attended, it
I have been
would be so help-
very involved in
ful. We need to ob-
trying to locate
tain a photo of
photos of the Na-
every single sol-
tive American sol-
dier whose names
diers,
which
are etched on The
brought me to
Wall, all 58,300 of
star t searching
them. To date we
for ALL soldiers
have over 38,000
Submitted photo
in Califor nia.
photos.
Over 60 newspa- VIETNAM WALL photo curator Janna Hoehn with a
I am also look-
pers have run the portion of her photo display.
ing for an individ-
story throughout
ual that would
Califor nia. The
like to volunteer
response has been amazing, I have collect- to do some footwork in your community if
ed over 1100 photos since May 2013. With we do not find all the photos.
your help it will be more.
Please submit any photos or informa-
All of these photos will be submitted to tion to Janna Hoehn at:
the “Wall of Faces” online memorial with
neverforgotten2014@gmail.com
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, as
For more information about the Educa-
well as in the future Education Center that tion Center or make a donation to help
will be adjacent to the Vietnam Wall in build the Center go to:
Washington, D.C.
www.vvmf.org/thewall
Putting a face with a name changes the
Mahalo,
whole dynamic of the Wall. It keeps these
Janna Hoehn
soldiers alive and will honor them, our he-
Maui giving presentations to high schools,
libraries and civic groups. It has been very
well received.
Once I finished finding all the Maui
County photos, I moved on to my home-
town in Califor-
nia and found the
six soldiers from
my
childhood
home, Hemet and
San Jacinto, Calif.