Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
SCHOOL: Attendance at
3,052 students on fi rst day
Continued from 1A
the community.
“You can’t lead what you
don’t know,” Fritsch said.
Fritsch plans to make trips
to the schools each week as a
part of a regular routine.
District-wide issues
Declining enrollment is a
trend on Fritsch’s radar.
According to Fritsch,
approximately 3,052 students
were in attendance at a Pend-
leton School District school
on the fi rst day.
While that fi gure is better
than the district ended with
on June 1, it’s lower than the
3,173 students who attended
the fi rst day of school last
year.
Although the district
expects student enrollment to
rise in the coming weeks, it’s
taking steps to try to address
the problem.
Fritsch said he’s taking a
look at the “cohort survival
rate,” studying each grade
level year by year and seeing
how many students stay on
or transfer elsewhere.
He also wants to start
looking at families who
live in Pendleton but never
entered their kids into public
schools in the fi rst place.
In the meantime, the
district will continue to
develop an online school
program to bring some
district students back into the
fold.
Fritsch said administra-
tion also wants to right-size
classroom numbers. Fritsch
would like to see class sizes
in the low-20s rather than the
28-29 students some classes
are experiencing.
New at schools
At the high school level,
the district’s career technical
education program has
grown while also taking a hit.
Pendleton High School
Principal Dan Greenough
said robotics and culinary
classes are now taught
full-time at the Pendleton
Technology and Trades
Center instead of being split
between the high school’s
main campus and the former
West Hills Intermediate
School behind it.
Kristin
Swaggart’s
culinary program is being
bolstered in other ways —
including more classes at the
center’s commercial kitchen.
In addition, thanks to a
$100,000 grant from Farmers
Insurance, the culinary
program’s food truck has
been delivered and is road
ready.
Outfi tted with a smoker,
fryer, oven and other pieces
of equipment, Swaggart said
the truck will be open to the
public at the PHS football
team’s home opener against
La Grande High School on
Friday.
Swaggart said students
won’t serve food out of the
truck until they get some
learning under their belt and
food handler licenses.
Despite the gains in the
CTE program, it also lost its
full-time coordinator.
When former CTE
Coordinator Curt Thompson
fi lled a vacancy left behind
by former high school
Assistant Principal Chris
Bettineski, who now works
as the InterMountain Online
coordinator, the district left
Thompson’s old position
unfi lled.
Fritsch said high school
staff will handle CTE
coordinating duties for
now, but the district will
look at reviving the position
longterm with dropout
prevention funds from
Measure 98.
At Sunridge Middle
School, Principal Dave
Williams said his faculty are
making a concerted push to
build personal relationships
with students.
Williams
said
that
research shows that students
with strong relationships
with teachers perform better
in school and attend more
often.
He had his staff create a
master list of ways to build
bonds with students, which
were then reduced to a
handful of methods teachers
could employ.
Williams said it could
be as simple as seeing a
student wearing a Ducks or
Beavers shirt and striking up
a conversation about it.
During her prep period,
Sunridge sixth grade teacher
Nichole Erwin told Fritsch
and Williams that she
originally planned to insert
a slideshow or an additional
activity to round out her day.
Instead, Erwin used her
time to help kids with lockers
or talk with students sitting
by themselves during lunch.
“You sit down with a kid
and 10 more kids will come,”
she said.
Teachers
are
also
changing up their routines
at Washington Elementary
School.
For the fi rst time, Principal
Aimee VanNice said students
will be placed in cross-grade
small groups.
Second and third graders
or fourth and fi fth graders
will intermingle in small
groups based on their skill
level, ensuring students will
have 30 minutes of reading
and math at their skill level.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
GRADUATION: 14 percent of survey
respondents favored Kennison Field
Continued from 1A
for friends and family, and
Wayland said there was a
good chance that number
would be reduced to four
in 2018. The venue also
presents safety and visibility
issues with so many people
packed inside the gym,
and has limited accom-
modations for guests with
disabilities.
On the positive side,
the indoor gym does not
require a backup location in
case of inclement weather,
the district has full control
over the venue in the weeks
leading up to the event, and
the school is a source of
community pride.
Wayland
said
the
district spent about $11,883
on graduation in 2017,
including
audio/visual
rentals and upgrades, staff
time for set-up, decorations,
and an array of preparations
the district completes each
year before graduation,
including new paint and
window-washing.
Board member Mark
Gomolski
questioned
whether the district really
needed to spend so much
money on things like new
paint every year, especially
if the gym would only be
used in case of emergency,
but Sherman, Principal Tom
Spoo and Superintendent
Tricia Mooney all said that
Hermiston has a tradition of
treating graduation as a very
formal, serious event and
they didn’t want to compro-
mise on quality.
“This is a culminating
event for our families,” Spoo
said. “It’s very important. ...
We expect this to be formal,
and we try to show that we
have class. It’s something
parents will remember and
we take pride in that.”
Kennison Field
Only 14 percent of the
859 survey respondents
“very strongly agree” with
using Kennison Field for
graduation.
The venue would seat
2,400 including students,
staff and the band, meaning
attendance would still be
limited, and the district
would still do its usual
preparations of the gym in
case of inclement weather.
Wayland estimates using
Kennison Field would cost
an average of $25,878 per
year. That includes the
$11,883 for preparing the
gym, plywood to cover the
fi eld (Wayland averaged a
per-year cost on the assump-
tion the plywood could be
used for fi ve years), repairs
to turf damaged during setup
and cleanup, chair rentals
and upgrades to the stadium
on par with what the district
does to prepare the gym.
“People’s expectations of
attending a sporting event in
the rain is a lot different than
the graduation of their only
child,” Wayland said.
He said the estimates
for seating and cost did not
include renting any addi-
tional bleachers.
EOTEC arena
The Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center had
the most positive response
from the community survey,
with 46 percent of respon-
dents saying they very
strongly agreed with using
the venue for graduation.
Wayland said the indoor
event center would not
accommodate any more
seating than the high school
gym, but the rodeo arena
could seat 5,000 people,
removing the need to give
each student limited tickets
for family members.
The downside of the
arena is that Wayland
estimated it would cost
an average of $34,678 per
year to host graduation
there, including the money
to prepare the gym in case
of bad weather. He said
EOTEC doesn’t have a set
price for renting its arena
yet, but based on prices for
the event center he guessed
it would cost about $2,500,
plus the district would have
to buy plywood to cover the
dirt fl oor, rent audio/visual
equipment and put money
into getting the venue grad-
uation-ready.
“The arena prep and
cleanup is going to be
signifi cant because we’re
going to have to spend a lot
of time, a lot of manpower,
to get the arena right,” he
said.
Wayland said it would
also be diffi cult to make
graduation accessible for
students with disabilities,
and the plywood panels
could shift in the dirt and
create tripping hazards.
Toyota Center
The Toyota Center in
Kennewick was the most
polarizing of the four
options presented to the
community, with about
36 percent of respondents
strongly agreeing with
the choice, but 37 percent
strongly disagreeing.
On the positive side, the
Toyota Center would allow
students to invite as many
friends and family members
as they want, and is the
cheapest option because the
center is used to holding
multiple graduations per
year and would require little
work on the district’s part.
Wayland said if the district
signed a fi ve-year contract it
could expect to spend about
$6,550 per year, including
transportation costs.
The downside, according
to Wayland, was that moving
graduation out of town
would not inspire the same
community pride as having
it in Hermiston. The district
would also need to provide
transportation to parents
and students without the
means to drive themselves
to the Tri-Cities, and would
have to compete with other
area schools for scheduling,
which could mean a week-
night ceremony.
At the end of the
presentation, Sherman said
she knew that whatever
decision the board made,
some would disagree, but
she appreciated that at the
beginning Wayland had
named “what’s best for the
students” as the top consid-
eration.
“This was very helpful,”
she said. “We don’t ask for
this haphazardly; we want
to use this information so we
can make the best decision.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
DATA: Free enterprise zones create
incentives to draw new businesses
Continued from 1A
the deal, so the parties have
not worked how much each
would receive.
The agreement also calls
for Vadata to pay the county an
annual improvement payment
of $4 million for each year of
the exemption period. Each
data center beyond the fi fth
costs an additional $750,000.
The county board voted
3-0 in favor of the deal
Wednesday in Pendleton.
Chalmers, who is also
a Pendleton city councilor,
was on the county team that
worked on the agreement,
along with Commissioner
George Murdock, chief
fi nancial offi cer Robert Pahl,
and counselor Doug Olsen.
Murdock said in terms of
maintaining the stability of
a conveyor belt into the back
of a 30-ton semi-truck bound
for the farm’s packing plant in
Sherwood.
In another three weeks,
Amstad said they will be
going full bore on fi lling their
eight, 9,000-ton storage sheds
around the county. Most
of what Amstad grows are
fresh market potatoes — the
kind you fi nd in the produce
section of the grocery store
— though the farm also plants
several varieties of red and
yellow potatoes, which are
sold to Reser’s Fine Foods to
make potato salad.
Not only is quality looking
good this year for Columbia
Basin potatoes, but so is price,
according to Amstad. Thanks
in large part to a 15,000-acre
reduction in neighboring
Idaho, Amstad said the fresh
market is looking to bring in
about $12 per 100 pounds,
which is the best he’s seen in
three years.
“It’s called supply and
demand,” he said. “And
demand has been real good
so far.”
Bill Brewer, CEO of the
Oregon Potato Commission,
said the fresh market has been
dogged by overproduction
the last couple of years. When
Idaho, the largest supplier
nationwide, reduces produc-
tion, Brewer said Oregon is
well positioned to reap the
benefi ts.
Oregon’s potato export
markets have also been on
the rise over the last 10 years,
Brewer added, thanks to the
prosperous french fry and
potato chip industries over-
seas in countries like Mexico,
China and throughout the
Pacifi c Rim.
“Our international markets
are extremely important to
us,” Brewer said, noting that
65 percent of Oregon potatoes
are exported.
Domestically, about half
of Oregon potatoes are sent
to french fry factories like the
massive Lamb Weston plants
in Hermiston and Boardman.
Another 20 percent are
used for potato fl akes and
fl our, like what’s made at
Oregon Potato Company in
Boardman. Roughly 8-10
percent go to potato chip
processors like Shearer’s
Foods in Hermiston.
The rest are fresh market,
which makes up the bulk of
taters at Amstad Farms.
Tony Amstad started the
business in 1959, making this
his 58th potato harvest. He
has seen plenty of cycles in
the industry, and has learned
to take the good with the bad.
“Overall, when I look back
on 58 years, it’s been very
good to us,” he said.
Amstad’s partners include
his two sons, Jeff and Skeeter,
and his nephew, Todd Dimbat.
Amstad Farms is now one of
the region’s larger growers of
fresh market potatoes.
A Place for Mom has helped over one million families find
senior living solutions that meet their unique needs.
! We’re paid by our partner communities
the state approves these
agreements.
In other county business,
the board approved revising
the county’s planning director
position in the wake of
long-serving director Tamra
Mabbott taking a job with the
city of Umatilla.
Murdock said Mabbott
divided her time between land
use planning and economic
development. The board
on Wednesday created one
director position for land use
planning and code enforce-
ment and one coordinator of
economic development and
tourism.
The planning department
has the equivalent of four
full-time employees, he said,
and rather than adding to that,
the board reorganized the
department.
“Overall, when I
look back on 58
years, it’s been
very good to us.”
Continued from 1A
SENIOR LIVING SOLUTIONS
CALL
CALL (855)
(855) 864-4711
864-4711
county programs, these deals
are essential.
The county cannot raise
property taxes, he said, so the
only way to bring in enough
revenue to cover county
programs is to expand the tax
base. Murdock and Chalmers
said programs — like free
enterprise zones — create
incentives to draw businesses.
They also said the deal
packs benefi ts for the local
economy. Each dollar Vadata
spends on development,
Chalmers said, touches seven
hands, from “heads on beds”
in local hotels to hiring area
subcontractors.
Olsen said once the city of
Umatilla agrees to the deal,
Business Oregon, the state’s
economic
development
agency, has to give its OK.
Olsen said in his experience,
POTATOES: 65 percent of
Oregon potatoes are exported
The support you need to find quality
There’s
There’s no no cost
cost to to you!
you!
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
— Tony Amstad, owner
of Amstad Farms
Amstad
This year brought excel-
lent growing weather during
the months of April, May
and June, Amstad said. He
admits he was concerned as
temperatures have climbed
in recent weeks to triple
digits, as such stifl ing heat
can essentially halt the devel-
opment of tubers. But with
harvest beginning Aug. 5, he
said yields are so far looking
promising.
Brewer cautions it is still
early, and said he wouldn’t
be surprised if the intense
heat does result in a slight
dip in yields. Most growers
are prepared for that, he said,
and he doesn’t anticipate any
quality issues related to the
heat.
Meanwhile,
Amstad’s
crews will remain busy with
harvest well into October.
Barring anything unexpected,
the crop should fetch a
reasonable profi t.
“It’s kind of a good feeling
for a change,” Amstad said.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
- EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY -
Administrative Support / Inside Sales
Great work environment. Super
awesome team. Good base pay
PLUS commissions. Retirement plan.
Weekends off. Interested?
We are looking for a motivated,
confident individual to join our team at
East Oregonian in Pendleton. This full-
time position will do inside sales and
provide administrative support to the
advertising director and publisher.
No media or sales experience? No
problem, as long as you understand
the importance of great customer
service, working hard and a desire to
enjoy your job.
Could this be you?
Benefits include Paid Time Off (PTO)
and 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement
plan. Send resume and letter of
interest to EO Media Group, PO Box
2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048 or e-mail
hr@eomediagroup.com
Come work with us!
We are an awesome team.
Send resume and letter of interest to
EO Media Group,
PO Box 2048 • Salem, OR 97308-2048,
by fax to 503-371-2935
or e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com
Come work with us! We are an awesome team.