OFF PAGE ONE
Obama to police: U.S. safer because of your efforts
Page 10A
East Oregonian
&HI&AGO AP —
Defending police of¿ cers who
have come under scrutiny
like never before, President
Barack Obama on Tuesday
said the men and women
who risk their lives to provide
security are wrongly “scape-
goated” for failing to deal
with broader problems that
lead people to commit crimes.
8nemployment,
poor
education, inadequate drug
treatment and lax gun laws
are not the responsibility of
police of¿ cers, Obama said
in remarks to the International
Association of &hief of
Police, which held its annual
meeting in the president’s
&hicago hometown.
He blamed the news
media’s tendency “to focus on
the sensational” for helping to
drive a wedge between police
of¿ cers and a public they
take an oath to protect and
serve. He called for rebuilding
the trust that once existed
between them.
Obama delivered his
speech amid a roiling national
debate about of¿ cers’ treat-
ment of potential criminal
suspects following the deaths
of unarmed black men in New
York, Missouri and elsewhere
by police.
“Too often, law enforce-
ment gets scapegoated for
the broader failures of our
society and criminal justice
system,” the president said.
“I know that you do your jobs
with distinction no matter the
challenges you face. That’s
part of wearing a badge.”
“But we can’t expect you
to contain and control prob-
lems that the rest of us aren’t
willing to face or do anything
about,” he said.
Obama also sought to
avoid making the debate about
police against communities.
“I reject any narrative that
seeks to divide police and
the communities that they
serve — I reject the story line
that says, when it comes to
public safety, there’s an ‘us’
and ‘them,”’ Obama said. He
said it’s a “narrative that too
often gets served up to us by
news stations seeking ratings,
or tweets seeking retweets, or
political candidates seeking
some attention.”
CTUIR: &andidates’ opinions differed on legalizing marijuana
Continued from 1A
tional training program, just to name a
few,” he wrote.
Quaempts wrote that he would like
to see the board steer the reservation
toward becoming more self-reliant
and less dependent on outside sources
of funding like federal grants, as well
as diversify the tribes’ economic
development
ventures
outside
gaming and agriculture.
Ellen Taylor, one of the 10 chal-
lengers vying for one of the at-large
seats, desires more economic diver-
sity, too.
Taylor is a 16-year veteran of the
Wildhorse &asino and 5esort and
currently works in the marketing
department for &lub Wild.
Taylor said she would like to see the
retail area expand to include an outlet
mall with shopping destinations and
restaurants like Olive Garden and Red
Lobster.
6he also wants the tribes to increase
its educational focus on vocational
opportunities for tribal youth.
While many of the candidates
seeking of¿ ce have previously been on
the board or have campaigned before,
Taylor said this is her ¿ rst and only
political campaign.
The varying views and opinions of
the other candidates ensures that which-
ever nine candidates voters choose will
have much to debate.
The Confederated Umatilla Journal,
the tribes’ monthly newspaper, sent out
a questionnaire to all the candidates and
asked them about the issues.
One hot-button topic was marijuana,
which was legalized in Oregon under
Measure 91.
While many candidates were
quick to point out that the measure
doesn’t apply to tribal land, views
were split about whether legalizing
marijuana was something that should
be explored further or remain banned
under federal prohibition.
Opinions also differed on the
subject of leasing space to a big-box
store that sold alcohol and gasoline.
While some candidates saw it as a
potential economic boon to the reser-
vation, others thought it could be an
unnecessary competitor to the Arrow-
head Travel Plaza.
Voting will take place at the
Nixyaawii Governance &enter on the
8matilla Indian Reservation between 8
a.m. and 8 p.m. on Nov. 7.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
TESTS: The most tests were required in 8th and 10th grade
Continued from 1A
devoted to preparation ahead
of testing required by the
federal government, states or
local districts. It also did not
include regular day-to-day
classroom quizzes and tests
in reading, math, science,
foreign languages, and more.
In connection with the
study’s release 6aturday,
President Barack Obama
called for capping standard-
ized testing at 2 percent
of classroom time. Even
while acknowledging that
the government shares
some responsibility for an
over-emphasis on testing,
the president said federal
of¿ cials would work with
states, schools and teachers
to “make sure that we’re not
obsessing about testing.”
The Obama administra-
tion still supports annual
standardized tests as a
necessary assessment tool,
and both House and 6enate
versions of an update to
No &hild Left Behind law
would continue annual
testing. But, the rewrite
legislation would let states
decide how to use test results
to determine what to do with
struggling schools. Differ-
ences between the two bills
still need to be worked out.
“Learning is about so
much more than just ¿ lling
in the right bubble,” Obama
said in a video released on
)acebook. “6o we’re going
to work with states, school
districts, teachers, and
parents to make sure that
we’re not obsessing about
testing.”
To drive the point home,
Obama and Education 6ecre-
tary Arne Duncan scheduled
an Oval Of¿ ce meeting
Monday with teachers and
school of¿ cials working to
reduce testing time.
“How much constitutes
too much time is really
dif¿ cult to answer,” said
Michael &asserly, the coun-
cil’s executive director. He
said the study found plenty
of redundancy in required
testing
—
supporting
concerns from teachers
and other critics about the
tests consuming too much
teaching and learning time.
)or example, &asserly
said that researchers found
some states and school
districts were mandating not
only end-of-year tests, but
end-of-course tests in the
same subjects, in the same
grade.
The council reviewed
testing for more than 7
million students in about
three dozen states during
the 2014-2015 school year.
And a “testing action plan”
released by the Education
Department said too many
schools have unnecessary
testing.
Aiming to close achieve-
ment gaps and assess
learning, the No &hild
Left Behind Act signed by
President George W. Bush
in 2002 mandated annual
testing in reading and math
for students in grades three
through eight and again in
high school. 6tates and local
school districts decide which
standardized assessments to
use to gauge student learning
and progress in those two
subjects and others.
This past spring saw the
rollout of new tests based on
the &ommon &ore college-
ready academic standards in
reading and math. About 12
million students in 29 states
and the District of &olumbia
took the tests developed by
two groups — the 6marter
Balanced
Assessment
&onsortium and the Part-
nership for Assessment of
5eadiness for &ollege and
&areers PA5&&.
Other ¿ ndings in the
McKay Creek Estates
presents:
SAFETY
council’s report:
• The most tests were
required in 8th and 10th
grade; the fewest were in
pre-K, kindergarten and 1st
grade.
• )our in 10 districts
report having to wait
between two months and
four months before getting
state test results. The lack
of timely results means
teachers begin a new school
year not knowing where a
student needs to improve.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
MARIJUANA: Next meeting Nov. 9
Continued from 1A
saying he felt the council
had a responsibility to send
a clear message one way or
another.
Manuel
Gutierrez
abstained from the discus-
sion and vote, saying as a
board member of the Good
6hepherd
&ommunity
Health )oundation he didn’t
want people to confuse the
nonpro¿ t foundation with
Good 6hepherd Medical
&enter and think he had a
conÀ ict of interest.
Before voting the council
held a public hearing and
got two comments, one
from a citizen in favor of a
ban and the other in favor of
allowing commercial grows
and dispensaries in the city.
Anton Wanous said even
though the west side of the
state had embraced legal-
ized marijuana, the voters
in Hermiston made it clear
last year they didn’t want it
in their community.
“I realize it’s legal now
but I think the city should
still do what it can to keep it
out of the city,” he said.
Ken May said he
disagreed with making
people who had been
legally prescribed medical
marijuana by their doctor
travel to La Grande or The
Dalles to buy it.
“What I see is the city’s
lack of faith in medical
professionals
in
the
community and a hindrance
to their providing prescrip-
tive medical care,” he said.
May also suggested that
the tax money generated
from commercial marijuana
activity could be used to
support the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event &enter.
After the 5-2 vote on a
¿ nal reading of the ordi-
nance, the ¿ nal reading and
adoption was postponed
until the council’s next
meeting on Nov. 9.
CLASSROOMS: Hermiston
district already uses 24 modulars
Continued from 1A
with bathrooms would cost
$189,200, which would
drain the fund the district
set aside for modulars.
The three rental units
without bathrooms for the
high school would cost
about $50,000 each the
¿ rst year, 6mith said, as
well as $20,000 each for
all additional years they
are needed. He said these
modulars would have to be
paid for from the general
fund, and they could be
placed in the current high
school parking lot between
the school and the baseball
¿ eld. He said the possible
rental unit at 6unset would
be of similar cost.
6mith said the district has
exhausted its “one-time stop
gaps,” such as converting a
computer lab into a class-
room at 6unset and moving
certain personnel of¿ ces
from the schools into a new
district of¿ ce.
The district already uses
2 modulars, 6mith said,
and few other options exist
without capital funding —
such as that from a bond
effort being considered for
May 2017. Based on current
growth rates and a Portland
6tate 8niversity population
study, the district will
need 56 to 80 modulars to
accommodate an additional
800 to 1,200 students by
2023 unless permanent
capacity is added.
“It’s a desperate situa-
tion at the high school,” he
said, adding enrollment has
already exceeded the 1,600
students it was designed for
with even larger classes in
the middle and elementary
schools that will eventually
end up at the high school.
6uperintendent
)red
Maiocco said renting
modular classrooms from
the general fund would
negatively impact the
district but that other
options — such as having
two shifts of students at one
school — were not tenable.
“You can’t turn the kids
away,” he said.
Here to help,
even before the
smoke clears .
FIRST
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Join us as we host a lecture series to
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 3:30 PM
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 3:30 PM
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