REGION
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
PGG auctioning off 122
acres of industrial property
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Pendleton Grain Grow-
ers is putting 122 acres of
industrial land up for auc-
tion outside Hermiston.
The flat property off
Feedville Road sits adja-
cent to the Hinkle Rail Yard
and near two interstates,
which Realty Marketing/
Northwest is describing as
the perfect opportunity for
an “intermodal distribution
complex” shipping freight
via rail, truck, and even
barge. An example plan
provided in promotional
materials shows a distribu-
tion center and office with a
solar farm and rail spur.
“I think that’s a real
opportunity for the prop-
erty,” RMNW president and
broker John Rosenthal said.
PGG has been auction-
ing off multiple properties
across the county in the last
two years after members
voted to dissolve the finan-
cially struggling co-op.
Rosenthal said RMNW
has been working with
the co-op to auction sur-
plus properties and is has
“worked pretty well.”
The Hermiston property
is divided into three sec-
tions that can be bid on indi-
vidually or in bulk. There is
an undeveloped 10-acre lot
off Hinkle Road, an unde-
veloped, Utah-shaped 105-
acre parcel between Feed-
ville Road and the rail
yard, and a 7-acre parcel
with warehouses, office
and truck shop currently
leased to Crop Production
Services.
Rosenthal said that lease
comes up for renewal in
2023, and is a revenue
opportunity for potential
new owners.
A brochure about the
property notes that Walmart,
FedEx, UPS, Lamb Weston
and Amazon were all drawn
to the area by low cost
freight, labor, land, power
and water. Rosenthal said
there has already been sig-
nificant interest in the PGG
property.
The property is just out-
side Hermiston city lim-
its. Rosenthal said while
Contributed by Realty Marketing/Northwest
PGG is auctioning off these three parcels outside Hermiston.
it is not currently included
in Hermiston’s Enterprise
Zone, city staff have said
that it would be possible for
the city council to vote to
expand the tax incentive to
include a project there.
PGG hopes to get at least
$3.29 million from sale of
the property. Bids will be
accepted until Dec. 5. Bid
packages, environmental
reports and other informa-
tion are available by calling
1-800-845-3524.
PENDLETON
Symphony opens season with ‘Bucolic Beethoven’
By TAMMY MALGESINI
East Oregonian
A pair of violin soloists —
Hannah Leland and Hannah
Burnett — will join the Ore-
gon East Symphony during its
season-opener.
“Bucolic Beethoven” fea-
tures a performance of Wolf-
gang Amadeus Mozart’s
“Sinfonia Concertante” and
Ludwig van Beethoven’s
“Symphony No. 6.” Under the
direction of Beau Benson, the
concert is Sunday at 2 p.m. in
the Vert Auditorium, 480 S.W.
Dorion Ave., Pendleton. Tick-
ets are $25 for adults, $20 for
seniors, $15 for students or
$65 for a family of four.
Praised for her “passion
and precision,” Leland is an
active soloist, chamber musi-
cian, orchestral violinist and
teacher. Leland received a
doctor of musical arts degree
in violin performance from
Arizona State University. In
addition to private lessons,
Leland teaches at George Fox
University in Newberg and
Chemeketa Community Col-
lege in Salem. She is a tenured
member of Portland Opera
and frequently performs as
a substitute with the Oregon
Symphony.
Contributed photos
Hannah Leland and Hannah Burnett are co-soloists for
the Oregon East Symphony season opener. The Nov. 4
concert is at the Vert Auditorium in Pendleton.
As half of the violin-piano
duo Duo Odéon, Leland trav-
els across the Unites States to
perform, present, and research
the music of American com-
posers of the 20th century and
today. Referred to as “an aus-
picious debut CD,” the duo
released ”Specter” in June
2018. The album has garnered
critical acclaim.
A native of Waco, Texas,
Burnett began playing viola at
the age of 3. She studied at the
Central Texas String Acad-
emy from 2001-16 with Julia
Hardie. A four-time member
of the Texas All State Orches-
tra, Burnett toured China and
Europe with the National
Youth Orchestra of the United
States of America in 2015
and 2016. After graduating
from Midway High School
in 2016, she entered The Juil-
liard School in New York
City, where she studies under
Roger Tapping.
Burnett’s true passion
lies with chamber music.
For the last two summers,
she has been a young art-
ist at the Kneisel Hall Cham-
ber Music Festival in Blue
Hill, Maine. At school, she is
regularly involved in several
ensembles.
Advance tickets are avail-
able at the symphony office,
345 S.W. Fourth St., Pend-
leton Art + Frame, 36 S.W.
Court Ave., or www.orego-
neastsymphony.org. In addi-
tion, season ticket packages
are still available. For ques-
tions, call 541-276-0320.
School ratings show some growth on test scores
Superintendents
putting data to use
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Reports released by the
state last week show Uma-
tilla County’s largest school
districts are near or below
the state average in most cat-
egories, with a few notable
exceptions.
The ratings, which the
Oregon Department of Edu-
cation released to the pub-
lic on Oct. 24, offer data for
every district and individ-
ual school and tracks prog-
ress based on Smarter Bal-
anced state test scores. The
rating areas include English
and math scores and growth,
and success of English lan-
guage learners. Each report
also tracks schools’ chronic
absenteeism, or students
who are absent for 10 per-
cent or more of school days.
For high schools, there is also
data for freshmen on track,
and four- and five-year grad-
uation rates.
Data was presented in
“At-a-Glance” documents,
which used graphs to show
overall progress of schools
in each category. An accom-
panying report offers more
detail, looking at student
performance by subcate-
gories like race, economic
background, language back-
ground and disabilities. The
ratings were divided into
five levels, with level 1 being
the lowest and level 5 the
highest.
Hermiston scored at or
below the state average in
most areas, scoring at the
lowest category in only one
area — on-time gradua-
tion. Hermiston is at 66 per-
cent, about 10 percent lower
than state average. The dis-
trict saw its strongest overall
ratings in math and reading
growth, where the major-
ity of the district’s elemen-
tary school students scored a
level 4 or 5.
Its
freshmen-on-track
score was 82 percent, just
below the state’s average of
85 percent. The district’s ele-
mentary schoolers scored
below the state average in
English language arts, but its
high schoolers were above
at a “level 4.” District math
scores were around the state
average at the elementary
schools, but below average at
the middle and high school.
Hermiston Schools Super-
intendent Tricia Mooney said
the information in the reports
had been previously available
to the public or to districts,
but the at-a-glance profiles
made it more understandable.
“As a district we have
some areas we can be proud
of and some areas that need
more of our attention,” she
wrote in an email to the EO.
“The good news is that we
have a committed staff, tal-
ented students and a sup-
portive community working
together to prepare all of our
students for their next steps.”
Pendleton tended to have
lower scores than the state
average for reading and math,
with the exception of its high
school reading scores, which
were a “level 4,” and its ele-
mentary school math scores,
which met the state average.
The district showed aver-
age levels of growth in both
areas.
Pendleton was around the
state average for its freshmen
on track, but scored higher
with an 83 percent four-year
graduation rate.
Pendleton
Superinten-
dent Chris Fritsch said the
above-average graduation
rate has allowed the district
to put more resources into
Hawthorne School, which
had scores in the bottom 10
percent of the state.
He said the data show
many areas they are proud of,
but also some where they can
improve.
“I am encouraged that our
on-track ninth-grade class
made a dramatic increase (up
10 percentage points) and is
now at the state average, 85
percent,” Fritsch wrote in an
email to the EO.
Umatilla School Dis-
trict scored low on many of
its math and reading ratings,
with only the high school
meeting the state average
in reading. But the district
scored above the state aver-
age in its graduation and
freshmen-on-track ratings.
About 95 percent of Umatil-
la’s ninth-graders are on track
to graduate, and 82 percent
are graduating in four years.
Umatilla
Superinten-
dent Heidi Sipe said while
she appreciates the new for-
mat for the state report cards,
the district doesn’t use them
as their only measure of
progress.
“We decided many years
ago not to focus on SBAC
(Smarter Balanced Assess-
ment Consortium) as there
is no correlation between
Oregon students’ results on
SBAC and their graduation
or college success,” Sipe
said. “While we do monitor
the report card to determine
individual student growth
on SBAC, we use our local
assessments to determine
actual student skill level.”
Sipe noted the school’s 82
percent on-time graduation
rate and 95 percent freshmen-
on-track rates as marks of
success, and added that they
still need to improve atten-
dance at the lower grade lev-
els. She also said that some
students opt out of taking the
state test.
The data had been pre-
pared weeks ago and pre-
sented to school super-
intendents, but Oregon
Department of Education
Director Colt Gill initially
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planned to wait and release
the results in mid-November.
An article in The Oregonian
noted that Gill was appointed
to his position by Gov. Kate
Brown, whose opponent in
the governor’s race, Knute
Buehler, has taken Brown to
task for the state’s low gradu-
ation rates and public school
performance.
The Oregonian also pre-
sented the data in a simpli-
fied format, after noting that
the state did provide the data,
but only in individual docu-
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