Wednesday, April 13, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
WATER: Elementary school students can
EDUCATION: Audience supported
participate in challenge via an essay contest expanding career technical education
Page 10A
East Oregonian
second event will also be
held at the park on April
community and people are
30 to celebrate everyone’s
asked to read it and pass it
achievements and collect
on to a friend.
donations. People can also
Hughes said after the
donate to Hermiston’s
committee read the book
challenge page online at
she began researching what
thewaterproject.org
and
Altrusa could do to help and
search for Hermiston under
found the Water Project.
“Find a fundraising page.”
One thing that drew her to
Elementary
school
WKDW SDUWLFXODU QRQSUR¿W LV
students in Hermiston
its transparency. Donors are
are also being given the
told what project their dona-
opportunity to participate
tion went to and can track
in the challenge via an
its progress online through
essay contest about the need
SLFWXUHV ¿HOG UHSRUWV DQG
for clean water in Africa,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
GPS coordinates. The Water
due April 22. They can
Project also stays after There will be 150 copies get information about the
construction is complete of the book “A Long Walk essay prompts and word
to train villagers on how to Water” by Linda Sue minimums from their school
to maintain the well and Park passed out to the library.
practice good hygiene with community.
Hermiston
School
the water.
example) they can still give District children’s librarian
“They don’t just build PRQH\ RU GR D PRGL¿HG Kristi Smalley said “A Long
the well and walk away, challenge.
Walk to Water” was an
they continue to work with
She said it was ironic that Oregon Battle of the Books
the community,” Hughes drinking only water would selection this year, so many
said.
EHDVDFUL¿FHIRU+HUPLVWRQ children in the community
Projects to bring water residents, while drinking have already read it.
to the Sahara vary in cost that same water would be a
“They don’t have to read
depending on variables huge blessing for people in the book to do the essay, but
like the depth of the well, other parts of the world.
we encourage it,” she said.
but Hughes said the Water
On Monday night the
“If anyone really drinks
Project spends an average just water for two weeks I Hermiston City Council
of $23 for every person a can imagine they will be far helped
recognize
the
project serves. Depending more aware of it,” she said.
challenge by reading a
on how much Hermiston
To kick off the chal- proclamation encouraging
raises, the community could lenge, Altrusa International people to join. The council
end up sponsoring an entire is hosting an event from also helped kick off the
ZHOO RU MXVW KHOSLQJ ¿QLVK noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday fundraising portion after
a project that was already at McKenzie Park with councilor Doug Primmer
started.
refreshments,
giveaways challenged everyone on the
Hughes said if people and
a
water-carrying council to donate $25 right
aren’t up to giving up obstacle course. Partic- then.
their morning coffee or ipants will be given a
———
have a health reason not to Water Project wristband
Contact Jade McDowell
fully participate (children and a chart to track the at jmcdowell@eastorego-
shouldn’t give up milk, for money they are saving. A nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
state’s standardized testing
system needs to be exam-
ined and said Every Student
Succeeds should give the
state the power to broaden
the scope it uses to analyze
student performance.
“Instead of basing
everything on the test, we
can look at different cate-
gories,” he said.
Many in the audience
were supportive of boosting
focus on academic subject
areas outside math and
English, such as history, art
and science.
Students in the audience,
many of them from the
Future Farmers of America,
spoke in favor of increasing
the variety of courses
offered at high schools to
keep students engaged.
Audience
members
H[HPSOL¿HG FDUHHU WHFK-
nical education as a way
to offer students a path to
success and employment,
especially those that are
skilled but not academically
inclined.
Other
persistent
ideas from the audience
for improving schools
included reducing class
sizes, establishing more
rapport between students
and teachers and fostering
better relationships with
parents and the business
community.
Noor and the department
of education will continue
to tour the state over the
next few months to collect
input from the public.
The department will use
input from the Pendleton
forum and elsewhere to
create a draft plan, which
it expects to publish for
public comment in August.
The department expects
WRSURGXFHD¿QDOVWDWHSODQ
pending federal approval,
in the fall.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
LAGOON: Moore said some local growers were
interested in using the biosolids to enrich their soil
paying to store, haul and
dump a lot more liquid
million upgrade of the plant mixed in with the solids than
resulted in a much better it needs to. He said if the
liquid handling process, city invested in dewatering
churning out clean water equipment and a dump
into the Umatilla River and truck, it could cut the cost
— once the permits come per ton to $350 and take a
through — the West Irriga- couple of loads of sewage to
tion District’s main canal.
WKHODQG¿OODZHHNLQVWHDGRI
The upgrade didn’t storing it outdoors for years.
include the solids side of the
Moore told councilors
plant, however, which still the investment would pay
VHQGVHYHU\WKLQJ¿OWHUHGRXW for itself within three to four
of the recycled water to be years and the equipment
stored in an open-air lagoon would last about 15 years.
behind the plant.
Not using the lagoon would
Moore said that side of also cut down on odors
WKH SURFHVV ZRUNV ¿QH DQG coming from the plant.
meets all of the government
“I think this deserves
standards, but the city is some critical attention for
Continued from 1A
the money it could save the
city,” he said.
Moore said he had some
preliminary
discussions
with local growers and some
of them were interested in
using the biosolids to enrich
their soil instead of seeing it
VHQW WR D ODQG¿OO &XUUHQWO\
WKH ODQG¿OO FKDUJHV WKH FLW\
$16 per ton to dump it.
Moore said the city would
have to weigh the cost of
staff time for going through
the DEQ permitting and
soil testing processes if it
cooperated with growers.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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