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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Friday, November 9, 2018 Committee begins work on large education package By AUBREY WIEBER Capital Bureau After traveling thousands of miles and visiting dozens of schools, one thing was clear to all members of the Joint Interim Committee on Student Success. Today’s schools, and their problems, do not resem- ble the ones that legislators learned in. Some students today show up at school hungry. Some come with- out a winter coat or clean clothes. Some don’t have a home. That was the impres- sion left on 14 legislators who visited 49 sites, which included high schools, mid- dle schools, elementary schools and early learning facilities across the state. Their mandate is to increase attendance and graduation rates — mea- sures where Oregon is objec- tively failing. On Thursday, the Joint Committee on Stu- dent Success discussed the impressions from the state- wide tour, and the policy proposals three work groups landed on. The legislative committee will craft a final report to give to the Legisla- ture, which will include pol- icy proposals as well as cost estimates. As each legislator dis- Aubrey Wieber/Oregon Capital Bureau The Joint Committee on Student Success met on Thursday morning to discuss its statewide tour of schools and propose education policy. cussed the school visits, a theme emerged: Our edu- cators have become de facto mental health work- ers, classroom sizes are too large and students are facing a variety of issues at home at a frequency unheard of 40 years ago. “Far and away, we heard more about mental health than I ever thought we could,” said state Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, who said this is an area where gov- ernment shouldn’t run like a business. “They are their own supervisor,” state Rep. Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass, said of some of the students he talked to. “It’s pretty diffi- cult to make rational deci- sions at that age.” Wilson said his conserva- tive inclination would be to stop the government from coming into a home and tell- ing people how to raise a family. But seeing circum- stances first hand — talking to the students directly — made him realize the state needs to provide “wrap- around” services to kids so that when they show up to school, they can learn. If the education system doesn’t step in, who would, he asked. “It’s a different world,” Wilson said. State Sen. Lew Freder- ick, D-Portland, said the tour had a profound impact on him, and he even contin- ued on by himself, visiting schools on the northern Ore- gon Coast. “This has been one of my favorite things to do, frankly, ever,” he said. Frederick was troubled by some of the things he heard, such as a Coos Bay teacher telling him about an 8-year-old student who had written out plans for how, where and why to commit suicide. He said he heard frequently about an overre- liance on standardized test- ing and a lack of funding. As Washington state has moved Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Times of clouds and sun Partly sunny Mostly sunny and chilly Chilly with brilliant sunshine Intervals of clouds and sunshine 53° 34° 47° 27° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 47° 25° 47° 27° 49° 37° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 54° 31° 51° 26° 50° 26° 47° 26° OREGON FORECAST 48° 33° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 52/40 43/27 52/25 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 51/33 Lewiston 51/39 53/29 Astoria 53/41 Pullman Yakima 44/26 49/36 47/30 Portland Hermiston 52/40 The Dalles 54/31 Salem Corvallis 56/32 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 49/29 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 56/34 56/24 53/32 Ontario 49/27 Caldwell Burns 52° 21° 54° 34° 71° (1978) 11° (1936) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 57/35 0.00" 0.01" 0.29" 6.46" 7.99" 7.57" WINDS (in mph) 49/26 47/13 0.00" 0.10" 0.32" 8.25" 13.98" 10.31" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 48/29 57/37 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 53/34 55/37 50° 27° 53° 35° 68° (1995) 20° (1936) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 48/36 Aberdeen 39/24 44/30 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 47/41 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 58/32 Sat. SW 4-8 WSW 6-12 NE 3-6 NNW 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 53/19 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:46 a.m. 4:31 p.m. 8:42 a.m. 6:16 p.m. First Full Last New Nov 15 Nov 22 Nov 29 Dec 6 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 93° in McAllen, Texas Low -8° in Utica, Mont. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY to pay teachers better, he said schools fear their best educators will be poached. “We have gotten to the point where we can’t do more with less,” Frederick said. While the failures of Oregon’s education sys- tem seemed to leave last- ing impressions on the leg- islators, it wasn’t all bad. In the Arlington School Dis- trict, one of the state’s small- est, students were graduat- ing with associate’s degrees. And legislators repeatedly raved about the success they saw with the career technical education programs, which provides academic and tech- nical training. State Rep. Greg Smith, a Republican from rural Heppner, said as the state crafts education policy for the future, it needs to be aware that “genius can be measured in many differ- ent ways.” Just because a student struggles in math doesn’t mean they are a bad student, he said. The work groups pre- sented proposals, which included additional fund- ing, fully funding Measure 98 (which funds career and technical education, access to college classes for high school students and drop- out-prevention strategies. Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s cold front — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low SALEM (AP) — A lawsuit by a group of young Americans, which asserts the U.S. government is harming them by having cre- ated a national energy system that causes climate change, is on hold again after a fed- eral appeals court Thursday granted the Trump administration’s motion for a tem- porary stay. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gave the parties 15 days to respond to the admin- istrations petition for a writ of mandamus — a rarely used judicial appeal that asks a higher court to overrule a lower one before the conclusion of a case. The constitutional climate lawsuit was brought by 21 young Americans in 2015 and is supported by Our Children’s Trust. Trial was supposed to have begun in fed- eral court in Eugene in late October but was delayed when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily put the trial on hold. Then, on Nov. 2, the Supreme Court declined to stop the lawsuit but told the Trump administra- tion that the government can still petition a lower court to dismiss the case as the gov- ernment had asked the high court to do. The case was brought by 21 young peo- ple, aged 11 to 22, who argue that govern- ment officials have known for more than 50 years that carbon pollution from fossil fuels was causing climate change and that poli- cies on oil and gas deprive them of life, lib- erty and property. “Given the urgency of climate change, we hope the Ninth Circuit will recog- nize the importance to these young Amer- icans of having a prompt trial date,” said Philip Gregory, co-counsel for the young plaintiffs. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken met in Eugene with the parties on Thursday and indicated she would promptly set a trial date once the appeals court lifts its tempo- rary stay, according to Meg Ward, a spokes- woman for the plaintiffs. The young plaintiffs also accuse the government of failing to protect natural resources as a “public trust” for future gen- erations. The lawsuit wants a court to order the government to take action to quickly phase out carbon dioxide emissions to a MEDFORD (AP) — Authorities say a man was killed when two explosions shook near a police and fire station in southwestern Oregon. The Mail Tribune reports authori- ties responded to two blasts Wednesday night near the Grants Pass Public Safety Station. Grants Pass Police Deputy Chief Jim Hamilton says emergency crews found a Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Circulation Manager: Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828 Reporter Aubrey Wieber: aubrey@salemreporter.com or 503-575-1251. Appeals court puts youth climate change lawsuit on hold Explosions in Grants Pass kill one -10s It is currently 60 percent funded), bolstering voca- tional and technical train- ing, improving access to mental health profession- als and adding resources to intervene when a student is floundering. The committee must fashion those ideas into a politically palatable pack- age. “We need to go ahead in the ’19 session to have a very big, comprehensive bill” rather than kick the can down the road, state Sen Kathleen Taylor, D-Mil- waukie, said. The package also needs to be more forward-think- ing than previous educa- tion reforms, said Sen. Alan DeBoer. DeBoer said he had recently read through a doc- ument complied by the Leg- islative Policy and Research Office that gives a summary of Oregon’s education pol- icy from 1985 to 2017. He was struck by how quickly the state had changed its mind on educa- tion policy, or failed to fund what it passed. He implored the rest of the committee, and all in attendance, to read up on the past to avoid repeating that pattern. ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via AP, File In this July 18, 2018, file photo, law- yers and youth plaintiffs lineup behind a banner after a hearing before Feder- al District Court Judge Ann Aiken be- tween lawyers for the Trump Adminis- tration and the so-called Climate Kids in Federal Court in Eugene. certain level by 2100 and develop a national climate recovery plan. The federal government, under both the Obama and Trump administrations, has tried repeatedly to get the case dismissed. Trump administration lawyers have argued that the lawsuit seeks to direct federal envi- ronmental and energy policies through the courts instead of through the political process. Lawyers for the youths say evidence should be heard at trial and that the case shouldn’t be dismissed before then. “We are pleased this stay is only tem- porary,” Gregory said. “We want to com- mence presenting the climate science in court as soon as possible.” Correction Mary Dedrick beat incumbent Daren Dufloth in the Umatilla mayor’s race with 50.9 percent of the vote. Their vote totals were switched in a Page 1A infographic in the Wednesday, Nov. 7 edition. The Nov. 8 story “Local leaders don’t look to jump at housing bond measure right away” misstated the amount of a housing bond passed by Metro. It was $653 million. man engulfed in flames and extinguished the fire by using a nearby sleeping bag. Hamilton says the man was taken to a hospital where he died Thursday. Investigators haven’t released the man’s name. Hamilton said preliminary investiga- tion shows two camp-sized propane can- isters may have led to the blasts. He says the explosions don’t appear to be connected to the police and fire facil- ity, but was in an area known for people without shelter to spend the night. 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