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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2018)
Friday, November 9, 2018 OFF PAGE ONE EDUCATION: Hiring speech language pathologists, psychologists still a challenge Page 10A East Oregonian Continued from 1A Wilson said to be placed in special programs, a stu- dent has to go through an assessment. If a teacher or parent thinks a child might need special services, the district has evaluation spe- cialists who will determine what services, if any they need to receive. The Oregon Depart- ment of Education releases an annual special education report card. In 2016-2017, Hermiston was below the state target for some areas of special education, such as students with IEPs (individ- ualized education programs) graduating. Hermiston had 43 percent of its students with IEPs graduate in four years, as opposed to the state’s target of 78 percent. In other areas, Hermiston measured close to or better than the state average. District students with IEPs were below the state average for grade level stan- dards of students with IEPs, but exceeded the state aver- age for alternate standards in all categories: English lan- guage arts and math at all levels. About 79 percent of par- ents with kids in special programs surveyed said the district had facilitated parental involvement with a goal of improving services. The state target for school- prompted parental involve- ment is 77.7 percent. Making changes Though Hermiston has retained some strategies and many staff members, the way special programs oper- ates is different from the days before it left the Inter- Mountain Educational Ser- vice District (IMESD). It has been nearly four years since Hermiston left the ESD, stating it wanted to have more control over funds the ESD gets from per-student payments from the state. When Hermis- ton left, it took control of its special programs and ser- vices like assessment and evaluation, speech language pathologists (SLPs) and school psychologists. Wilson said staffing lev- els didn’t really change. There are about 30 staff members in special pro- grams. But, he said, the level of access between schools and special educators, as well as the roles of special programs staff, are different. Wilson said that while the ESD always met service requirements for students on IEPs (individualized edu- cation programs), having their services in-district has allowed them some more efficiency. Because the ESD serves 19 districts from Morrow County to Baker County, he said there were times when Hermiston would have to postpone helping a student because a provider, such as an SLP, would be in another district that day. “Through no fault of their own, the ESD couldn’t drop everything,” he said. “Now we can respond instantly.” IMESD Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said staff levels in the IMESD are also about the same as before. It now has 13 full-time school psychologists, compared with 13.5 before Hermis- ton’s departure. There are now 15 speech language pathologists, as opposed to 16 before the split. But Mulvihill said while specialists would have to travel to several different districts, most IMESD pro- viders live in or near the dis- tricts they serve. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Instructor Kendra Scott asks her students to name things they are thankful for during class on Nov. 1 at Rocky Heights Elementary School in Hermiston. The increased focus on Hermiston also let evalua- tion specialists tailor assess- ments more specifically to each student. Wilson said they discov- ered some of their assess- ments were culturally biased, and a disproportion- ate number of students were being identified as special needs when the issue was actually related to language or culture. “We’ve tried to tailor our assessments to remove as much cultural bias as possi- ble,” he said. But hiring speech lan- guage pathologists and school psychologists is still a challenge for both entities, and Wilson said there tends to be more turnover in those positions. He said the district strug- gled with speech therapy for a while, but quickly real- ized that speech therapy by video, or “teletherapy,” was not working. “Parents resoundingly said it was not effective,” he said. The district now uses an outside agency, called the Hello Foundation, to pro- vide speech therapy, which operates on-site. Mulvihill said the ESD still provides several ser- vices to Hermiston. The ESD funds pro- grams from a few differ- ent sources. The majority of the programs Hermiston opted out of are covered by the IMESD’s general fund. About 95 percent of that money went to the schools, based on how many students they have enrolled, and about 5 percent goes to the ESD itself. Mulvihill said when Hermiston withdrew, they received about $2.4 million. But the ESD also provides some services that are based on state and federal grants. Hermiston still receives sev- eral services, including for autism, deaf and hard of VETS: Students also honored veterans at an assembly Continued from 1A ese Barnes and Lexie Cox were the parade’s announc- ers and shared facts about Veterans Day with the peo- ple lined up near city hall. Afterward, Barnes said she loves Veterans Day because she has veterans in her fam- ily, including her father, and so it means a lot to her to see people give thanks to those who have served. “I think it’s important because so many people are laying down their lives for us, and we should be cele- brating every day, but this is one day we can definitely honor them,” she said. During the parade, a young man broke off from the group and came over to a group of veterans watching the parade. He shook each of their hands, thanking them for their service, before run- ning back to join his class. Melanie Humbert, an eighth-grader, said she thought it was important for the school to show respect to community members who have served. The annual parade is a way to do that, she said, as well as show- ing respect for the country’s flag. Students also honored veterans at an assembly on Thursday afternoon, where each of the veterans in atten- dance were asked by name to stand while students read information about their ser- vice. There were also songs, poems and a statement by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, read by his field representative Jessica Keys. The keynote speaker was Chuck Sams, communica- tions director for the Con- federated Tribes of the Uma- tilla Indian Reservation. He was an Intelligence Special- ist Second Class Petty Offi- cer in the U.S. Navy, on active duty from 1988-1992 and in the reserves from 1992-1995. Sams — who is Cayuse, Walla Walla, Cocopah, and Yankton Sioux — said he comes from a “warrior cul- ture” where people feel a responsibility to protect the lands they love. “My people fought to protect these lands since time immemorial,” he said. But veterans, more than hearing students, vision and traumatic brain injuries. “We have to serve the kids that reside in those towns, not the districts,” Mulvihill said. Parental involvement Wilson said parents are constantly included, with both sides helping students understand what behaviors are acceptable at school and at home. “One of the keys is part- nerships with home,” he said. “Behavior needs to be reinforced there.” Debbie and Angelo Her- rera have a daughter who is now 15, and has received special services in Herm- iston since she was a small child. Angelo said there have been some ups and downs since the switch from the ESD. “The first thing that comes to mind is the turn- over,” he said. “It seems like there’s always an SLP RADIO: Ads aren’t only action district is taking Continued from 1A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Third-grader David Owen holds a miniature U.S. flag while marching with his class- mates in a Veterans Day parade on Thursday in Echo. “Veterans in your community continue to serve today” — Chuck Sams, Communications director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Staff photo by E.J. Harris Echo sophomore Kenneth Troxell, left, shakes hands with Pendleton veteran Thomas Tangney during a Vet- erans Day parade Thursday in Echo. Staff photo by E.J. Harris An Echo grade-schooler, back, carries the letter “R” with her classmates while representing the U.S. Army and marching with his classmates at the Veterans Day parade on Thursday in Echo. any other people, can tell you of their love of peace, he said. When a country goes to war it is because their politi- cians failed. Sams stood in the crow’s nest of an air- craft carrier in the Persian Gulf on Jan. 16, 1991, and watched the beginning of Operation Desert Storm as planes took off to bomb Iraqi forces in Kuwait. “I can still feel that in my bones,” he said, describ- ing how a friend put his arm around him and said they had joined their forefathers as war veterans. He dedicated his talk to two of his friends whose plane didn’t return: Tom Costen and Charles Turner. Sams said veterans come back from their service with a love of country that con- tinues as they serve in other ways, from volunteering as coaches to raising money for nonprofits. “Veterans in your com- munity continue to serve today,” he said. After the assembly, veter- ans were escorted through a path of students cheering for them and invited to stay for cake and a “wax museum” made up of the students who had dressed as famous veterans. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. job open.” Previously, he said, their daughter had the same SLPs since she was in elementary school. “Now she has a pretty good rapport with the girls,” Debbie said. “But it took a little bit.” Another parent, Branda- lynn Gorman, has had some complaints. She said her son, who is autistic, had been violent with another stu- dent in class, lashing out due to a sensory disorder. After suspending him several times this year, his school attempted to shorten his day. But Gorman said they tried to do so without her permis- sion. She said she was in the middle of working through the situation with the dis- trict, but so far was dissatis- fied with the way things had been going. Wilson said he could not comment on the spe- cific incident. He said some- times staff will recommend a shortened day for a stu- dent if they feel it’s bene- ficial. But he said they will not do so without the input of the parent. Angelo said he doesn’t feel that services are vastly better in Hermiston now, but said they have the potential to be. But he added that some people expect services to improve for their child auto- matically, without advocat- ing for them. “We get involved,” he said. “You can’t just expect things to happen, there’s got to be some follow through.” “But when we talk to spe- cial programs, they’re usu- ally listening,” Debbie said. –—— Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at 541-564- 4534 or jramakrishnan@ eastoregonian.com adopted strategic plan, which has a goal to “Estab- lish and maintain the Pendleton School District brand.” While the district’s other three goals in the plan are meant to address academic performance, the branding goal is designed to boost the public’s per- ception of the district in town and beyond. Fritsch said he con- vened a committee of school officials and mar- keting professionals last spring to discuss strategies about how to promote the district. One of the committee members was a represen- tative for Elkhorn, a La Grande-based media group that owns several radio stations that can be heard throughout the county. The representative suggested Fritsch buy airtime with Elkhorn to get the district’s message out. Since mid-Septem- ber, Fritsch has recorded a new ad each week pro- moting the district, which will run through the end of the year. Fritsch said some- times the ads focus on spe- cific events while other ads are more general topics on schools and education. Pendleton School Board member Debbie McBee is another member of the dis- trict’s branding committee. McBee said she often heard Walla Walla School District radio ads in Pend- leton and was frustrated that there was nothing on the airwaves to promote the hometown district. She supports the dis- trict’s foray into paid advertising because radio ads could reach an audi- ence that don’t read the newspaper or learn about the district through other media outlets. The district will distrib- ute a survey to parents and survey members at the end of the year to determine whether the radio ads are reaching local audiences and if they’re effective in painting a positive portrait of the district. McBee said that if the survey returns prove that the ads are ineffective, the district should stop airing radio ads and spend the money elsewhere. The ads aren’t the only action the district is taking to better communicate and market itself. The district now updates its website regu- larly with profiles on new teachers and other posi- tive stories on the district. Fritsch said the district is also doing something simi- lar, internally, by highlight- ing district achievements in emails to staff. The district’s promo- tional push isn’t meant to just improve its rep- utation, but also to help reverse a longterm decline in enrollment. “With the multitude of educational opportunities of the 21st century includ- ing private schools, charter schools and online schools, the Pendleton School Dis- trict must be more progres- sive in promoting and mar- keting of our investment in our staff, responsiveness to student needs and our innovative programs that are available to local stu- dents and their families,” the plan states. Some of the ways the district plans to measure the success of its branding effort include an increase in student enrollment and a positive trend in its migra- tion data, which measures students enrolling versus students leaving. Fritsch said he doesn’t want to use the ads to “cherry pick” students from other nearby dis- tricts, but McBee said the ads could help stem off enrollment declines while appealing to parents who commute into Pendleton for work but live with their families elsewhere. And the district’s brand- ing effort is far from a fin- ished product. McBee said the district is devel- oping full-fledged com- munication and marketing plans that will include new initiatives.