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
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