WRESTLING: Pendleton steamrolls Hood river Valley | SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
143rd year, no. 71
REGONIAN
THurSday, January 24, 2019
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Closing
the gap for
graduates
BUSTED!
Local districts see rise in
graduation rates, but still
room for improvement
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
and ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Oregon Department of Educa-
tion released its 2017-18 graduation rates
Thursday morning. umatilla County’s
schools all hovered within a few points of
the state average, but superintendents say
they’ll continue to work toward improved
performance for all students.
Hermiston saw a large jump from last
year, and now sits at 74.2 percent for their
four-year graduation rate. Last year, the
district’s graduation rate was 8.4 points
lower, at 65.82 percent.
The number is still a few points below
the state’s average of 78.68, but Hermis-
ton Superintendent Tricia Mooney said
the district is pleased with the growth.
But she said they didn’t want to just focus
on graduation numbers.
“There are two numbers we were
really looking at,” Mooney said. “The
four-year cohort graduation rate, and the
four-year cohort completion rate.”
Mooney said the completion rate looks
at students who received a GED or an
extended diploma. The completer rate for
2017-18 was 87.47, five points above the
state’s four-year completion rate of 82.53.
She said the work of students and
staff showed in the improved graduation
rates, but she was also excited about the
above-average completion rate.
“That’s still important to me, because
the students who left are still prepared for
what they’re going to do next,” she said.
Mooney said there is still work to do,
but they plan to focus even more on tac-
tics they’ve already implemented.
She said the hiring of graduation
coach Omar Medina has been one posi-
tive change, as well as collecting data to
help them figure out where students need
more help.
See Gap, Page A8
Contributed images by the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics Team
These mug shots represent the majority of the people the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics Team arrested during Op-
eration Wildfire, the recent sweep that targeted local drug houses. The team also seized more than a pound of methamphet-
amine and three guns in the busts.
Operation Wildfire aims to ‘dry up’ drug supply
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
T
he local police task force take-
down of drug houses Jan. 16
netted 54 arrests on-site.
Pendleton Police Chief Stu-
art roberts said the offenders with
“dealer amounts” of dope are looking
at prison time.
“as you can imagine, most of the
folks we’re dealing with that day are
prior convicted felons,” he said.
Many who ended up in handcuffs
were targets for selling drugs, rob-
erts said, but others were offend-
ers with warrants or in possession of
drugs when arrest teams knocked on
the door.
Operation Wildfire also put new
charges on as many as 16 offenders
who were in jail or prison and resulted
in the seizure of 1.25 pounds of meth-
amphetamine, three guns and a set of
brass knuckles, according to informa-
tion from the Blue Mountain Enforce-
ment narcotics Team, plus the recov-
ery of a stolen car. roberts, who
oversees the team’s board of direc-
tors, said the Oregon Department of
Human Services was involved in the
cases and placed 16 children into pro-
tective custody; most went to live with
relatives.
The latest big show from BENT
involved seven months of investigat-
ing drug activity in umatilla, Morrow
See Wildfire, Page A8
Staff photo by Kathy Aney, File
Shaw Jerome stands to be recognized for
winning the Don Requa Memorial Schol-
arship during the 2018 Pendleton High
School commencement exercises at the
Round-Up Grounds.
Construction delays vex Hermiston businesses
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A sign advertising
an autumn 2018
opening sits in the
window at the new
location for the
Affordable Family
Eyewear on Tues-
day in Hermiston.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
When someone announces a
timeline for a large construction
project, it’s not a bad idea to take
the number of months and double it.
Maybe triple it.
It is possible, of course, to finish
on time. But a look at many publicly
announced projects in the Hermis-
ton area shows delays of six to 12
months have been common.
Sometimes it’s a problem get-
ting financing. Other times it’s a
shortage of subcontractors, or an
unexpectedly early start to winter
weather.
See Delays, Page A8
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Sat and Sun, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
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