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.