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REGION Friday, October 25, 2019 East Oregonian A3 Stanfi eld schools see fl uctuations in enrollment and profi ciency Stanfi eld schools are seeing more students and higher attendance number By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian STANFIELD — Stan- fi eld School District saw some of the most dramatic fl uctuations in population, attendance and profi ciency on the west end of Uma- tilla County during the last school year, according to data recently released by the Oregon Department of Education. Namely, a rise in population. The infl ux of students is for more than one reason, according to Superintendent Beth Burton. “It’s something we’ve been working really hard for,” Burton said. This time last year, the district housed 463 students. Today, there are 532 in total. The steady incline is undeniable. During the 2017-18 school year, the ODE listed the district’s enrollment as 451. By the end of last school year, the number was 495. She said the district had previously seen a decline in student enrollment, and that it may have had to do with administrator turnover. In February 2018, Shel- ley Liscom resigned from the superintendent and ele- mentary school princi- pal positions due to con- fl ict with the school board. She was going to stay on through the end of the 2017- 18 school year, but Burton — then the principal of the secondary school — took her place instead. Steve Sheller was hired to take the secondary school principal position that sum- EO fi le photo Beth Burton, right, Stanfi eld School District superintendent, said the recent infl ux of students into her district is due to a number of factors. This time last year, the district housed 463 students. Today, there are 532 in total. mer, and Lacey Sharp later became the Stanfi eld Ele- mentary School principal. Students may have trans- ferred to the Hermiston or Echo school districts, or have opted to fi nish school online. Burton said during the 2017-18 school year, lower enrollment predictions also caused the district to keep two teacher positions vacant for the 2018-19 school year. As a result, the elementary school made use of blend- ed-grade classrooms. She added the district was planning to see an increase in enrollment after construction fueled by the recent school bond was completed. Burton said she didn’t think they’d see the increase this early. The district plans to break ground on construc- tion of a middle school wing for Stanfi eld Secondary School this summer. “The passing of the bond has been good. When con- struction is done, people will be excited,” she said. Burton added that an emphasis on the Every Day BRIEFLY OSP provides shot of suspect vehicle from fatal hit-and-run HERMISTON — Ore- gon State Police have released a possible photo of the vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Hermiston in August. The crash took place Aug. 31 about 2:30 a.m. on Highway 395 near Sherrell Chevrolet, killing Antonia Cobarubias, 41, of Herm- iston as she was pushing a shopping cart. Left behind at the scene was a passen- ger-side mirror and a dark red bumper that appeared to belong to an Acura Integra from between 1994-2001. On Thursday afternoon, OSP released two stills from a security camera that they believe show the vehicle in question in the parking lot of Rocket Mart, which is just north of the crash site. They are requesting that anyone who can iden- tify the vehicle or was in the area of Rocket Mart on Aug. 31 about 2:30 a.m. call Oregon State Police by dialing *OSP (*677). They can reference case number SP19-313012. Umatilla County mails corrected tax statements M I LT O N - F R E E WA- TER — Umatilla County is mailing about 4,000 corrected tax statements to Milton-Freewater residents. County Assessor Paul Chalmers said the county collects about $280,000 in Matters school attendance campaign may be respon- sible for the 8% increase in regular attendance across the district, rising one point above the 83% state average for last school year. But the district also saw a 12% drop in English Language Arts profi - ciency among third-grad- ers, and a 27% drop in math profi ciency among eighth-graders. “Looking at test scores is important, and gives you a one-time snapshot,” Bur- ton said. “But you’re not looking at the same group of kids. Not all of our classes are similar size moving through.” Graduation rates fell by 10%, and the percentage of college-going seniors fell by 25 points, down to 51%. The number of freshmen on track to graduate, however, increased 7 points to over 95%. Burton said she didn’t know why college-going rates fell behind the state average of 62%, but that each graduating class at the dis- trict had different variables. As for graduation, she said that students who trans- fer to the district late in their high school careers often don’t end up graduating in four years. “In our area, all of our districts struggle with stu- dent mobility,” she said. “Our fi fth-year completer rate increased a little bit. We’re small, so one student is a large percentage.” According to Ameri- can Community Survey estimates, around 15% of adults over 25 in Umatilla County have their bache- lor’s degrees. Data compiled by DHM Research shows this number has stayed more or less the same since 2000. But the rate of high school graduates enrolling in col- lege classes within a year of graduating has fl uctuated in area schools. Since the ODE started collecting that data from the National Student Clear- inghouse two school years ago, the percentage of col- lege-going students has hovered between the high 40s and low 60s across the county with the excep- tion of Helix School Dis- trict, where the college-go- ing rate jumped to 93% last year. The Umatilla School Dis- trict saw a jump too during the 2018-19 school year, from 40% to 49%. “Compared to similar schools, we have almost three times the going rate,” said Superintendent Heidi Sipe. “We’re really proud of how many kids we can get to go to college.” Both Umatilla and Stan- fi eld school districts are a part of a 2014-21 statewide grant program called GEAR UP, which is meant to pro- vide support to schools for rallying interest in post-high school education. Contributed photo by OSP Oregon State Police pulled this still from a surveillance cam- era at Rocket Mart in Hermiston, which shows a possible sus- pect vehicle from a fatal hit-and-run on Aug. 31. taxes for the Milton-Free- water Water Control Dis- trict Bond, but the tax statements the county mailed around Oct. 5 showed no one owed a penny for the bond. Chalm- ers said one of the district’s board members contacted him Wednesday about the situation. “It truly was a glitch,” he said. Chalmers explained cer- tifying the tax rolls takes multiple steps, and he and staff check and dou- ble check the numbers. He showed he certifi ed the roll for the water control district bond on Sept. 25, but some- time between Oct. 1 and the mailing, the amount due for the bond on tax statements disappeared. “I’m still waiting to hear from our software provider why it deleted the bond payments,” he said. So the county asses- sors offi ce is mailing cor- rected statements Friday along with a short state- ment explaining the error. The situation is baffl ing, Chalmers said, and his offi ce understands if folks are unhappy with getting a new tax bill. County fair looking for court chaperone HERMISTON — The Umatilla County Fair needs someone to escort its court to various events, and it’s accepting applications for the county resident willing to fi ll that role. According to a press release, the fair is solicit- ing applications for a court chaperone, a position that is expected to “guide and mentor” the two to six girls on the court throughout the year. The chaperone will be expected to participate in all the court’s activities in parades and events, which are usually on weekends but sometimes require weekday and evening commitments as well. All applicants must pass a background check and participate in an interview. Applications can be accessed at the fair offi ce at 1705 E. Airport Road in Hermiston or on the county fair’s website. Applications are due on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. For more information, contact the fair offi ce at 541-567-6121 or at fair@umatillacounty.net. City closes Airport Road for sewer work PENDLETON — The city of Pendleton closed the top half of Airport Road Monday and expects to keep it closed for a couple of weeks. According to an email from Community Develop- ment Director Tim Simons, the detour will take driv- ers through Northwest H Avenue, 49th Street, and A Avenue. The city is closing the road as contractors extend a sewer line to the Pendle- ton Unmanned Aerial Sys- tems Industrial Park on the Pendleton airport airfi eld. — East Oregonian staff AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File Findings from the Oregon Health Authority adds to evidence that vaping is subjecting many more youth to addiction. New data shows one in four Oregon 11th-graders reported vaping a nicotine product, with youth use of e-cigarettes, such as Juul, increasing nearly 80% between 2017 and 2019. New data shows rapid rise in youth vaping East Oregonian of 11th-grade students and 13% of young adults, ages 18 to 24, use nicotine e-cig- arettes versus just 3% of adults age 25 and older. About half of Oregon high school students who currently use e-cigarettes report they never smoked conventional cigarettes — not even one time. In Oregon, youth vaping overlaps with use of con- ventional tobacco and fl a- vored tobacco products, the OHT analysis showed. More than half of Oregon eighth- and 11th-graders who use tobacco use fl a- vored tobacco. Roughly half of all youths who currently use conventional tobacco products started with vape products. Nearly two in fi ve Oregon 11th-grade vape users also currently smoke conventional cigarettes. A February 2019 study in the journal JAMA Net- work Open, one of the fi rst studies to track youth e-cig- arette users over time, found that young people who vape e-cigarettes are nearly three times as likely to start smoking cigarettes as peers who don’t vape. PORTLAND — While overall use of marijuana among Oregon youth has remained fl at, the primary way they’re using the sub- stance — vaping — has dra- matically increased, accord- ing to an Oregon Health Authority analysis. The fi ndings, which were released on Thursday, adds to evidence that vap- ing is subjecting many more youths to addiction. New data shows one in four Ore- gon 11th-graders reporting vaping a nicotine product, with youths use of e-ciga- rettes, such as Juul, increas- ing nearly 80% between 2017 and 2019. Marijuana use changed dramatically as well, according to the data, with youths shifting from smoking marijuana to vaping. Youth vaping of mari- juana increased 295% — from 11% to 44% among 11th-graders using mari- juana between 2017 and 2019 — even as 11th-grade overall marijuana use stayed constant at 20%. The data comes from Ore- gon Healthy Teens, a survey of middle- and high-school students that OHA adminis- ters every two years. “This is alarming,” said 10/25-10/27 Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health offi cer and state epidemi- Cineplex Show Times ologist for the OHA Pub- $5 Classic Movie lic Health Division. “It Showing Wednesday @ 12p confi rms what we’ve long Phantom of the Opera known — vaping is put- ting a new generation at risk Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (PG) for addiction. 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