East Oregonian : E.O., January 25, 2018, Image 1

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TEEN TRASHES
CONVENTION
CENTER
SCIENTISTS
CLONE
MONKEYS
REGION/3A
WORLD/5A
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018
142nd Year, No. 71
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Data
center
delays
lease
again
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sophomore Alejandro Gutierrez, right, gets counseling for his class schedule from graduation coordinator Omar Medina on Wednesday
at Hermiston High School.
TABS ON GRADS
Hermiston grad rates lag behind
as neighbors improve their rates
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
2016-17 SCHOOL YEAR
Graduation Dropout
The Oregon Department of Education
released its annual graduation rates Thursday
and Hermiston fell well below the state
average.
Hermiston School District’s graduation
rate of 65.8 percent — a slight uptick from
the previous year — is more than 10 points
below the statewide graduation rate of 76.6
percent. The fi gure is derived from the
percentage of students who receive a diploma
four years after they begin high school.
Hermiston’s rates have been lower than
the state average for the last few years, and
the rate this year was the lowest of all districts
in Umatilla County.
Hermiston administrators acknowledged
that the rates are not where they had hoped.
“I would love to at least hit the state
average next year,” said Hermiston High
School Principal Tom Spoo. “And that would
be a huge jump. The state average has been
steadily climbing.”
One factor in the low rates, Spoo said,
was the 2016 dissolution of the Innovative
Learning Center, Hermiston’s alternative
school. Those students were absorbed back
into the high school.
“We’re still seeing the ramifi cations of the
Helix
93.3%
0%
Ione
90.0%
0%
Athena-Weston
86.8%
2.1%
Stanfi eld
86.7%
4.5%
Pilot Rock
85.2%
1.0%
Pendleton
83.0%
3.7%
Umatilla
81.7%
6.5%
Echo
81.0%
3.5%
Milton-Freewater
80.5%
4.0%
Morrow County
77.8%
3.5%
State of Oregon
76.7%
3.9%
Ukiah
75.0%
0%
Hermiston
65.8%
5.6%
Pendleton high nears
95 percent graduation,
other schools vary
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
ILC dissolving,” Spoo said.
The graduation rate for Hermiston High
School this year, including alternative school
students, was 72.5 percent. Last year, with
those students in a separate category, the high
school graduation rate was 87.6 percent.
However, the district-wide graduation
For the second straight year, the Pendleton School
District’s graduation rate signifi cantly exceed the
state average. But the district’s relatively high
graduation rate belies a growing disparity between
Pendleton’s three high schools.
Matt Yoshioka, the district’s director of curric-
ulum, instruction and assessment, was excited about
the 83 percent graduation rate for 2016-2017, only a
point below the year before.
“Obviously, we’re thrilled,” he said.
Anchoring that overall statistic was the perfor-
mance of Pendleton High School, which graduated
94.7 percent of its seniors.
PHS’ success wasn’t limited to a single demographic.
No race, gender, socioeconomic background or other
subgroup graduated at a rate less than 85 percent.
Pendleton High School’s dropout rate was a paltry
0.5 percent, much smaller than the 3.6-percent rate
district-wide.
Principal Dan Greenough said the key to Pend-
leton High School’s success is the teachers and
counselors who worked with the students along the
way. Counselors were assigned to each subgroup to
make sure students were doing what they needed to
graduate on time.
See HERMISTON/8A
See PENDLETON/8A
While data centers have
turned into a legitimate
industry on the west side of
Umatilla County, Pendleton is
still waiting for its fi rst.
It’s not from lack of trying.
In 2015, the city signed a
30-year lease with Makad
Corp. to open a new, $45
million data center on the
Airport Road extension.
More than two years later,
the city is still without a data
center or a rental payment for
the 12 acres it leased to the
Vancouver, Wash., company.
At an October 2015
meeting, Makad offi cials told
the city council that the subsid-
iary that was going to handle
the project, CyDat Industries,
needed a two-year grace
period on $2,460-per-month
rent while it conducted feasi-
bility studies.
The rent deferments are
supposed to deliver longterm
benefi ts if the data center
opens: 45 jobs and up to $8
million in property tax revenue
over the life of the lease, in
addition to revenue from
the rent, which will increase
annually.
If Makad’s project came
to fruition, the city would
introduce its own set of incen-
tives, including waived sewer
connection fees, free electrical
and fi ber connections, a 5
percent reduction of permit-
ting fees per job with a 50
percent reduction ceiling and
assistance in qualifying for
Pendleton’s enterprise zone,
which would exempt the data
center from paying property
taxes for three to fi ve years.
A
$300,000
sewer
extension has already been
completed.
But most of those incen-
tives aren’t close to being
activated yet.
City manager Robb Corbett
said Tuesday that the begin-
ning of the lease payment had
been pushed back to Jan. 1,
2019.
This is the second time
the city has agreed to change
See MAKAD/8A
HERMISTON
HART gives 2,723
free rides in fi rst year
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The HART shuttle leaves the bus stop at Walmart on Wednesday in Hermiston.
Ridership on Hermiston’s
new bus system did not grow
as quickly as anticipated
during its fi rst year of service,
but it still fulfi lled its purpose
of providing free transporta-
tion to residents.
“Overall I’m really happy
with it,” said Susan Johnson,
manager of Kayak Public
Transit.
The HART began in
January 2017 as a free
public bus system run by the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
under a contract with the
city of Hermiston. Ridership
numbers for its fi rst year of
operation show an average
of 11.1 riders per day for the
fi rst nine months of 2017,
which jumped to 11.8 riders
per day after the city adjusted
the route on Oct. 1 to make
it more user-friendly. In all, it
gave 2,723 rides in 2017.
The system’s best month
was November, when 283
rides were given over 19
service days. Assistant city
See HART/8A