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East Oregonian
PRINCIPALS: Students
may gain better knowledge
of what it takes to be a leader
have to do the work,” Owens said.
On Tuesday, Reyburn is joined
The activity is the brainchild of by fellow assistant principal Lexi
¿UVW\HDU6KHUZRRG+HLJKWV3ULQFL- Chandler.
Chandler said she was really
pal Theresa Owens, who brought it
over from her previous job as prin- excited for the chance to be assis-
cipal of Creekside Park Elementary tant principal and was even worried
she’d get sick and miss her day.
School in Anchorage, Alaska.
As part of their duties, Owens
Owens said she was inspired
to start the activity when a student directs them from class to class for
asked if he could help her with her observations.
In Donna Bostwick’s kindergar-
duties. She decided to make it a for-
mal event, extending the opportuni- ten class, Reyburn and Chandler
W\WRDOO¿IWKJUDGHUVUHJDUGOHVVRI help students with a St. Patrick’s
Day activity before typing a brief
their behavioral status.
Owens’s intent is to give stu- observation into an iPad.
Reyburn and Chandler will skip
dents a new-found awareness of the
challenges teachers and administra- PRVW RI WKHLU FODVV WLPH WR IXO¿OO
their duties as assistant principals,
tors face on a daily basis.
“‘All it is is drama, drama, dra- checking in with their teachers at
ma all day long,’” Owens recalled the end of the day to collect home-
one student saying after his stint as work.
While they’ll just be regular stu-
assistant principal.
Even for students that enjoy the dents by the next day, two new em-
experience, Owens said there are ployees are expected to join Sher-
wood Heights staff next week.
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———
She hopes some of children will
Contact
Antonio
Sierra at asi-
have better knowledge of what it
erra@eastoregonian.com or 541-
takes to be a leader.
“If you want to be in charge, you 966-0836.
Continued from 1A
CONFERENCE: County has third highest teen pregnancy rate in state
to help teens avoid pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases and
but decided against it. Oregon learn about healthy relationships.
Health Authority spokesman Jon- This isn’t a simple matter of push-
athon Modie defended the confer- ing abstinence and walking away,
ence, saying in a statement, “The said DeBolt and Southwick. To
conference aligns with our goals do so, they said, would ignore the
around youth using accurate in- universe of temptation and incor-
formation and well-developed rect information available in cy-
skills to make thoughtful choic- berspace.
“The access is just huge —
es about relationships and sexual
health.” OHA co-sponsored the ZKDWWKH\FDQ¿QGZKDWWKH\FDQ
see,” Southwick said. “I want to
conference.
Despite that support, this week, come from a perspective of ‘I
a month before the 2015 event, know what they know and what
they’re talking about.’ It’s about
organizers decided to cancel.
A news release from the Ore- meeting kids where they are.”
That means frank discussions
gon Teen Pregnancy Task Force,
WKH ¿VFDO VSRQVRU UHDGV ³:KLOH about protection, STDs and the
we remain steadfast in our vision, smörgåsbord of disastrous advice
we feel current conditions have available on the Internet. To teach
shifted the setting and our abili- good choices, they said, you must
ty to offer open, safe and honest talk about the bad ones, too.
“Otherwise, they’re going to
conversations about sexuality.”
guess,” Southwick said. “They’re
Registrants will receive refunds.
No Umatilla County Health going to have unsafe sex and have
Department employees attended unwanted pregnancies.”
Others, however, feel dif-
the 2014 session, though they did
attend in past years. Southwick ferently. Opposition revved up
had registered for the 2015 con- again as the 2015 conference ap-
ference, “Healthy Bodies, Minds proached.
“This conference has morphed
and Communities.” Grants and
into such a perversion from actual
state scholarships pay the way.
Both DeBolt and Southwick health and welfare that it is time
said the conference serves youth to bring it to a stop and get back
by providing strategies for teach- to some sanity,” Clatsop County
ers, parents and peer counselors Sheriff Tom Bergin told a Daily
Continued from 1A
FERGUSON: Attack created more race-related mistrust
Continued from 1A
ready fraught relationship
between police and protesters
just as the city seeks reforms
in the wake of a withering
Justice Department report on
racial bias in its law-enforce-
ment practices.
The attack also seemed
to create another layer of
race-related mistrust after a
week in which an unarmed
young black man was killed
E\ D ZKLWH RI¿FHU LQ 0DGL-
son, Wisconsin, and a Uni-
versity of Oklahoma frater-
nity chapter was thrown off
campus after a video surfaced
showing members singing a
racist chant.
In Washington, President
Barack Obama took to Twit-
ter to relay his prayers to the
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olence against police. “Path
to justice is one all of us
must travel together,” Obama
wrote, signing the tweet with
his initials to indicate the
president personally com-
posed it.
Attorney General Eric
Holder said the gunman was
“a damn punk” who was “try-
ing to sow discord in an area
that was trying to get its act
together, trying to bring to-
gether a community that had
been fractured for too long.”
7KH VKRWV ZHUH ¿UHG HDU-
ly Thursday just as a small
crowd of protesters began
to break up after a late-night
demonstration that unfolded
hours after the resignation of
Ferguson Police Chief Tom
Jackson.
The shots were believed to
come from a handgun across
the street from the police de-
partment, which has been a
national focal point since the
fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Mi-
chael Brown, who was black
and unarmed, by a white po-
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The gunman may have
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away, a distance longer than a
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ing in front of the building,
the shooter did not have to
be particularly accurate to hit
two of them, Belmar said.
“We’re lucky by God’s
JUDFHZHGLGQ¶WORVHWZRRI¿-
cers last night,” he said.
A 41-year-old St. Louis
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the right shoulder, the bul-
let exiting through his back.
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Webster Groves was wearing
a riot helmet with the face
shield up. He was shot in the
right cheek, just below the
eye, and the bullet lodged be-
hind his ear.
On Thursday night, about
50 people gathered at a public
plaza in downtown Ferguson
near the police station for a
vigil. The group sang spiri-
tuals, prayed for peace and
expressed sympathies for the
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Tensions have been high
in Ferguson since August and
escalated in November after a
St. Louis County grand jury
declined to prosecute Darren
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Brown. Justice Department
investigators concurred with
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leased March 4.
But a separate Justice
Department report released
that same day found racial
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lice force, and a municipal
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largely on the backs of black
and low-income residents.
In the week after the re-
port, Ferguson’s court clerk
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and the city manager volun-
tarily stepped aside. Wilson
resigned in November.
John Gaskin III, a St.
Louis community activist,
speculated that the shooting
was conducted by outside
agitators intent on hijacking
attention from peaceful, re-
Friday, March 13, 2015
form-minded protesters.
Activists “cannot afford
these kinds of incidents hap-
pening, because that gets us
absolutely nowhere.”
In a statement, Ferguson
Mayor James Knowles III
and the city council said al-
though they respect the right
to protest peacefully, “we
cannot continue to move
forward under threats of vi-
olence and destruction to
our community. We ask our
residents and clergy in this
area to partner with us as we
make our way through this
process.”
Astorian reporter in December.
The cancellation saddens De-
Bolt, who said that educators will
miss out on the quality informa-
tion they would bring back to
their counties.
“We want to make sure that the
youth of Umatilla County and Or-
egon have the right education in
terms of their bodies and health,”
she said.
Umatilla County, she said, has
the third highest teen pregnancy
rate in the state at 47.1 per 1,000
girls, aged 15 to 17. Southwick
said the county recently part-
nered with the state and Baker
and Malheur counties to replicate
evidence-based programs proven
successful elsewhere.
“These are programs they’ve
implemented along the I-5 corri-
dor,” Southwick said. “We want
to replicate that on the east side to
bring our rates down.”
Using peer counseling is one
tool.
“Teens are going to listen to
other teens,” she said. “It’s been
proven time and time again.
That’s why teen peer educators
attend the conference with chap-
erones.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@
eastoregonian.com or call 541-
966-0810.