Wednesday, November 15, 2017
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SCHOOL: Added signs in Umatilla and Nez Perce at Washington Elementary
Page 8A
East Oregonian
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teachers didn’t understand
their culture. Around 10
percent of both groups felt
they were harassed at school
because of their culture.
“Analysis of individual
items on the cultural iden-
tity subscale showed that
students were proud of their
language and their culture,
but that class assignments
did not always encourage
their
cultural
identity
formation,” the study states.
“Finally, analysis of the
individual items on the
family and community rela-
tionships scale showed that
the majority of students felt
the school welcomed their
family and community, but
that teachers did not always
reach out to their family
members to invite them to
the school.”
Smith said there was
“some really strong, positive
things that came to light”
through the report. Smith said
the university researchers
interviewed teachers that
students considered cultur-
ally responsive and used
their answers to formulate a
survey that will be given to
other teachers.
Board member Dave
Krumbein asked Smith how
teachers were supposed
to know about a student’s
cultural identity. Smith
responded that teachers
should develop a culture of
sharing with students
“Those are more cultur-
ally responsive classrooms,
where you’re invited to bring
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A group of children color during family night for American Indian students and families on Tuesday at
Washington Elementary School in Pendleton.
your suitcase of cultural
identity in class with you,”
she said. “There are other
places where you leave that
outside at the door.”
The district has under-
taken a number of initiatives
over the past few years to
improve academic outcomes
for tribal students.
With the aid of state
grants, the district developed
and implemented a tribal
curriculum for several grade
levels and added signs in
Umatilla and Nez Perce at
Washington
Elementary
School.
The district also made a
conscious effort to recruit
more American Indian
teachers, although its only
resulted in two teachers so
far. Oregon Teacher Path-
ways, an Eastern Oregon
University pipeline program
for aspiring teachers, has also
struggled to attract CTUIR
students at Pendleton High
School.
But one of the district’s
chief initiatives is funded
through a grant from the
state’s Tribal Attendance
Pilot Program. The grant
funds a “family advocate”
position that focuses on
boosting attendance in tribal
students. As a part of the
program, Washington has
hosted monthly family nights
to make tribal families feel
more welcome at the school.
In its second year, Wash-
ington held its first family
night of the school year on
Tuesday. Families dined
on pizza and cookies in
the school cafeteria before
children were ushered into
a nearby den to play with
boardgames and coloring
sheets while the adults
listened to a presentation
from Cason’s Place, a grief
support organization. The
night concluded with award
presentations for students
with good attendance.
Sitting with his children,
Brad Spencer was pretty
familiar with Washington’s
family nights. Spencer’s
brother Brent was the family
advocate for Washington last
year and Brad frequently
attended
the
inaugural
events.
Brad said the family
nights were a good way to
motivate children to attend
school and opened up lines
of communication between
parents and the school.
Sitting a few tables
down, David and Cassandra
Thompson were attending
their first family night with
their two children. Cassandra
Thompson said she felt like
the district could be doing
more outreach, especially
during November, which is
National American Indian
Heritage Month. Outside
of Washington school,
Thompson said there isn’t as
much outreach.
Regardless of the feelings
in the room, the crowd that
turned out for Monday’s
event filled most of Wash-
ington’s small cafeteria
room. Stacey Jacobs, the
current family advocate, said
it was the best turnout yet for
a family night.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
FIRE: Cycle Oregon was
canceled this year due to smoke
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Construction is complete on a new training tower at the Umatilla County Fire
District 1 substation off of Westland Road outside of Hermiston.
UCFD: Next priority is replacing
old engines, updating equipment
Continued from 1A
partner up with community
health workers and visit the
homes of people who have
chronic illnesses or who
have just been released from
the hospital. The goal of the
program is to help people
manage their health issues to
prevent unnecessary return
trips to the hospital, thereby
reducing the strain on para-
medics and ambulances.
Stanton said the grant-
funded program has been a
positive for the community
so far.
“We’re seeing some
amazing
work
being
done with the paramedics
in conjunction with the
ConneXions program,” he
said.
The third major change,
Stanton said, has been
building the drill tower at
the district’s Station 23 on
Westland Road. The four-
story tower, which was just
finished, was built in conjunc-
tion with Blue Mountain
Community College’s fire
science program. But Stanton
said the facility will be a
resource for fire districts and
programs throughout Eastern
Oregon.
“We’re already in talks
with county search and rescue
about starting a rope rescue
team,” he said. “As a regional
concept versus just us doing
it.”
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College and UCFD will
host a grand opening for the
new fire training tower at
noon on Monday, Nov. 20 at
78760 Westland Road.
The district’s next priority,
Stanton said, is making some
capital improvements, such
as replacing old engines and
updating equipment.
They also hope to secure
insurance claims, which may
provide a fuller picture of the
economic impact.
Special wildfire recovery
councils in Southwest
Oregon and the Columbia
River Gorge are also
working on recommenda-
tions to help local economies
bounce back. In those areas,
the Chetco Bar and Eagle
Creek Fires were particularly
severe.
“We’re trying to have this
be a data-driven and local-
ly-driven process to inform
the kind of support we can
deliver,” Lewis-Berry said.
Broader
economic
impacts were also felt in
Eastern Oregon — not only
did fires affect air quality, but
road closures of Interstate 84
on the state’s northern border
likely impacted summer
travel and commerce to
and from Eastern Oregon,
Lewis-Berry told legislators
Tuesday.
“Even though Eastern
Oregon technically wasn’t
directly impacted by the
fires, you certainly had a
lot of people and businesses
that were due to the road
closures,” Lewis-Berry said.
The
interstate
was
closed 19 days eastbound
and eight days westbound.
State economists calculated
that each day the interstate
was closed cost shippers an
extra $250,000 to $290,000,
Lewis-Berry said.
Courtesy U.S. Forest Service
The Eagle Creek fire in the Columbia Gorge burns the
night of Sept. 4, 2017, in this Forest Service photo.
Development officials want the Oregon Legislature
to provide funding to help businesses impacted by
this summer’s wildfires.
He added that the state
parks department also esti-
mates that it lost $157,000
in expected revenues due to
fire season, while needing
an additional $150,000 for
restoration costs at state
parks.
While wildfires are
nothing new for the state’s
rural areas east of the moun-
tains, poor air quality due to
smoke brought the wildfire
issue front and center in
the state’s cities as well this
summer, including Portland,
Eugene and Salem. It also
led to closures of popular
events across the state.
Cycle Oregon, an annual
cycling tradition in Central
and Southern Oregon, was
canceled, as were some
outdoor performances at
the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival in Ashland. This
year’s Sisters Folk Festival
west of Bend also got the ax.
As a result, Lewis-Berry
said, the fire season posed a
threat to the Oregon “brand”
of world-class tourism and
recreation, which Travel
Oregon and other groups are
trying to protect.
There are also environ-
mental concerns in areas
affected by fire, such as
watershed problems and soil
erosion, which could also
lead to public safety and
public health issues.
But the wildfires aren’t
likely to stop anytime soon
— which may require local
economies to adapt.
Following Trump visit, China sending envoy to N. Korea
Photo contributed by UCFD 1
J.W. Roberts, Chief Scott Stanton and Eldon Marcum
of the Umatilla County Fire District, accept the state-
wide Fire District of the Year award at Wednesday’s
board meeting.
a grant for a new app called
“Pulse Point,” which civilians
trained in CPR can use to
alert them if someone nearby
has an emergency. Stanton
said as the district progresses,
they’d like to work on
securing sustainable funding
for the community paramedic
program and to recruit more
volunteer firefighters.
“That’s an issue across the
state, and across the nation,”
he said. “It’s not new, but it is
an ongoing problem.”
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan
at
jramakrishnan@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4534
BEIJING (AP) —
Following President Donald
Trump’s visit to Beijing,
China said Wednesday it is
sending a high-level special
envoy to North Korea amid
an extended chill in rela-
tions between the neighbors
over Pyongyang’s nuclear
weapons
and
missile
programs.
Song Tao, the head of
China’s ruling Commu-
nist Party’s International
Liaison
Department,
will travel to Pyongyang
on Friday to report on
outcomes of the party’s
national congress held last
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month, the official Xinhua
News Agency said.
Xinhua made no mention
of Trump’s visit or the
North’s weapons programs,
although Trump has repeat-
edly called on Beijing to do
more to use its influence to
pressure Pyongyang into
altering its behavior.
Song would be the first
ministerial-level Chinese
official to visit North
Korea since October 2015
when Politburo Standing
Committee member Liu
Yunshan visited Pyongyang
and met with leader Kim
Jong Un. Liu delivered a
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letter to Kim from Chinese
President Xi Jinping (shee
jihn-peeng)
expressing
hopes for a strong relation-
ship, although the respite
in frosty ties proved short
lived. Vice Foreign Minister
Liu Zhenmin visited Pyong-
yang in October of last year.
China’s
Communist
Party and North Korea’s
ruling Worker’s Party have
longstanding ties that often
supersede formal diplo-
macy, even while Beijing
has long been frustrated
with Pyongyang’s provoca-
tions and unwillingness to
reform its economy.
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