REGION
Thursday, August 29, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
Building character with social emotional learning
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — At
Armand Larive Middle
School, the eighth-grad-
ers in science teacher Katie
Corral’s class are sure to
know each other’s names.
After all, they spent 30
minutes discussing them
on Wednesday morning.
“How many of you have
been in a class and felt that
a teacher didn’t know your
name?” Corral asked the
group.
Several students raised
their hands.
“It made me feel like a
ghost,” one student said.
“It made me feel like
I wasn’t actually there,”
chimed another.
Their conversation was
sparked by the Character-
Strong curriculum, which
was introduced to Armand
Larive this year.
The
CharacterStrong
website describes the pro-
gram as providing curric-
ula and training that teach
character development and
social emotional learning.
Different versions of the
program can be purchased
by schools online. They
range in price anywhere
from $249 to $3,999.
Wednesday’s lesson was
all about the importance
of knowing one another’s
names. Corral went around
the class, naming her stu-
dents one by one. Kids
designed dance moves to
go with their names in
order to help each other
remember who’s who.
“If you know someone’s
name, you can work with
them. The point is to make
people feel welcome,” Cor-
ral told her class.
The in-class lessons
like Wednesday’s are sup-
plemented with videos,
activities, and “Charac-
ter Dares,” which encour-
age students to break out
of their comfort zones by
complimenting their peers
or holding doors open for
people. Staff are encour-
aged to participate as well.
Principal Stacie Rob-
erts said that Armand Lar-
ive introduced some of
the CharacterStrong con-
Fire ruins bathroom
after resident moved
in two months ago
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Fire
ruined a bathroom in a
Pendleton home, but pets
and the lone occupant were
unharmed.
Pendleton Fire & Ambu-
lance Services responded to
911 calls Wednesday around
9:30 a.m. about smoke bil-
lowing from the attic of the
home at 15 S.E. Isaac Ave.
Firefighters forced open the
front door and found no one
inside except pets. One fire-
fighter emerged with a York-
shire terrier in his arms, while
a slim, medium-sized white
dog bolted from the home.
Reports indicated a kitten also
escaped.
The emergency respond-
ers also used a chain saw to
cut through another portion of
the attic and get a better idea
of what was going on inside.
Diana Taylor said she was
not home when flames broke
out. She said she only moved
in two months ago.
She and her grandson were
nearby at May Park trying
to catch the white dog. Tay-
lor said the fire made the pet
skittish.
Taylor’s daughter, Mandy
Bosworth, hustled over and
nabbed the dog’s collar.
“They came and got me
at work,” Bosworth told
her mom. “My heart is
pounding.”
Bosworth said her in-laws
rent the place to her mother.
Taylor said the neighbors
complimented her for making
the yard look good.
Pendleton Assistant Fire
Chief Shawn Penninger said
the fire was in a bathroom and
electrical in nature, either a
light fixture or a ceiling fan.
The fire did not spread much
beyond the bathroom, he said,
so most of the home did not
sustain damage.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Armand Larive Middle School teacher Katie Corral, left, leads
a CharacterStrong workshop involving the importance of re-
membering names Wednesday morning in Hermiston.
cepts toward the end of last
school year.
“It wasn’t immature.
There’s all kinds of things
you can find for elemen-
tary, and it was great that
(CharacterStrong) adhered
to our secondary students,”
she said.
Parts of Character-
Strong are being taught in
Hermiston High School’s
leadership classes as well.
Roberts said Sandstone is
using a similar program
called Second Step.
Second Step and Char-
acterStrong are two of
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton Development
Commission
continues
to cycle through blighted
housing plans, the lat-
est proposal coming at a
workshop Tuesday.
Meeting as the devel-
opment commission, the
members of the Pendle-
ton City Council heard
from Associate Direc-
tor Charles Denight, who
shared the latest forgiv-
able loan concept from
the commission’s advisory
committee.
Under the newest pro-
posal, the urban renewal
district would create a
housing blight reduction
program that provides
loans to residents who
want to fix up homes that
have fallen into disrepair.
Over the course of the
five-year loan, up to 60%
can be forgiven by the
city contingent on pass-
ing inspections. The other
40% wouldn’t need to be
paid until the house sells
or changes hands.
The
draft
plan
would initially allocate
$300,000 for the pro-
gram, with Greater East-
ern Oregon Development
Corp. and Community
Action Program of East
Central Oregon providing
the bulk of the adminis-
trative work.
For its first year, the
blight reduction program
would apply only to own-
er-occupied homes, which
excludes landlords and
their tenants from access-
ing the loan.
Although the loan pro-
gram would be available
across the urban renewal
district, Denight said
the advisory committee
wants to start its focus on
the downtown area from
Southeast Sixth Street to
Southwest Sixth Street.
According to a survey
of homes in the downtown
area, 10 owner-occupied
blighted homes are in that
six-by-six block area.
Denight said the hous-
East Oregonian
experienced phone
outage
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principals expressed more
worry over student assess-
ment and institutional
practices.
Also in 2018, the Aspen
Institute’s National Com-
mission on Social, Emo-
tional
and
Academic
Development released a
research report that found
that nine in 10 parents
thought schools had a role
in helping children develop
“life skills.” The same
study revealed four in five
teachers who were sur-
veyed wanted more sup-
port to address social and
emotional development in
classrooms.
For Roberts, the social
emotional learning taking
place at Armand Larive
this year is part of a much
bigger picture.
“In middle school, it’s
a hormone explosion,” she
said. “If we can help accli-
mate and adjust a student
to everything going on in
their life, that’s the ulti-
mate goal. We found some-
thing that has fun activi-
ties, and hopefully we’re
creating better people.”
Commission mulls $300,000 home loan program
BRIEFLY
PENDLETON — The
East Oregonian offices in
Pendleton experienced an out-
age in its phone system Tues-
day evening and Wednesday
morning, but the phones were
back up and running before
noon.
Callers who were unable
to get through or leave a mes-
sage during that time frame
can now call the paper again
toll free at 800-522-0255.
The East Oregonian
receives its service through
CenturyLink, but Kerry Zim-
mer, lead communications
manager for CenturyLink,
said in an email Wednesday
afternoon that technicians
in Hermiston and Pendleton
reported there was not a Cen-
turyLink outage in the area
that day.
— East Oregonian staff
many social emotional
learning — or SEL —
development
programs
available for schools to
purchase online.
According to The Col-
laborative for Academic,
Social and Emotional
Learning, SEL is “the pro-
cess through which chil-
dren and adults understand
and manage emotions, set
and achieve positive goals,
feel and show empathy for
others, establish and main-
tain positive relationships,
and make responsible
decisions.”
And it’s something that’s
been on the forefront of
many administrators’ minds
over the past few years.
In 2018, growing emo-
tional problems among
students was the top con-
cern for a sample of K-8
principals in the United
States, according to a
10-year study released
by the National Associa-
tion of Elementary School
Principals.
It’s something that
didn’t even make the top
three back in 2008, when
ing blight reduction pro-
gram idea is based off of
a similar program offered
by the North Clackamas
Revitalization Area in
Clackamas County, which
issues four to 10 loans
per year with minimal
advertising.
Based on her own
experiences with housing
improvement grant and
loan programs, GEODC
Community and Eco-
nomic Development Offi-
cer Judy Moore said the
commission shouldn’t be
overwhelmed with loan
requests.
While commissioners
have discussed multiple
options to fix up rundown
housing, the forgivable
loan concept is starting to
win over at least one for-
mer skeptic.
“I’ve kind of changed
my thinking about this
over the last couple of
months that we’ve dis-
cussed it,” Mayor John
Turner said. “I wasn’t real
hot on it when we first
started, but I’m starting to
warm up to it quite a bit.”
Despite a detailed
draft plan, there are still
some details the commit-
tee needs to hammer out.
For instance, Moore said
the GEODC and the com-
mission haven’t yet dis-
cussed how the nonprofit
would be compensated
under the loan program for
providing administrative
services.
Denight said he would
like the commission to
approve the plan soon. The
commission’s next meet-
ing is set for Sept. 17.
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