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144th Year, No. 69
REGONIAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
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WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Council pushes
back Edwards
Apartments
decision
Dilapidated building,
built in 1909, has been
vacant since 2011
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
HERMISTON,
PENDLETON LAG BEHIND
GRADUATION MILESTONE
EO fi le photo
Josh Goller, vice chair of the Hermiston Board of Education, speaks during Hermiston’s 2019 commencement ceremony at
the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash.
The Oregon Department of Education released
graduation data for the 2018-19 school year
By ANTONIO SIERRA AND
JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
U
MATILLA COUNTY — A
rising tide doesn’t always lift
all boats.
The Oregon Department
of Education announced
Thursday that the state’s
80% graduation rate for the 2018-
19 school year was the highest ever,
and although most local schools grew
along with the state, the region’s two
largest school districts — Pendleton
and Hermiston — continued to lag
behind.
Hermiston School District
Administrators at Eastern Oregon’s
biggest district know they have their
work cut out for them.
The district saw less than a one-per-
centage point increase in its overall
graduation rate during the 2018-19
school year. But Director of Second-
ary Instruction Scott Depew is not
surprised.
“We had an 8% increase the year
before, and that was huge,” he said.
“Everything this time held to our
projections.”
Depew said the previous year’s
big jump came from a few fast-acting
interventions. A few years back, the
district dissolved its alternative school
and merged those students to the high
school. Graduation rates saw a drop as
a result.
The addition of a graduation coach,
increased monitoring of early warning
indicators and the heightened track-
ing of attendance data in recent years
played a big help in padding the num-
bers, Depew said.
And now, the district is turning to
intervention methods administrators
say need longer to take hold.
“What we’re trying to do is build
a system that’s sustainable,” Depew
said. “An increase in graduation rates
is not going to happen overnight.”
Among those interventions, Depew
lists the district’s recent adoption of the
supplemental Read 180 and Math 180
programs and the individualization of
the newcomer center programs across
elementary, middle and high schools.
“I’ll be honest, we’ve got work to
do,” he said. “We’re going to start to
see some of these numbers rise.”
Student populations that received
fewer four-year diplomas during the
last school year included the migrant
student population, which saw a more
than a 10% drop, and the white student
population, which saw a 6% drop.
Depew said last year, there was a
distinct number of white students who
were unsuccessful in graduating with
diplomas or attaining their GEDs.
He added the graduation rate of the
migrant student population, which was
40% last year, is prone to fl uctuation.
2018-19
GRADUATION RATES
State of Oregon: 80%
Hermiston: 74.4%
Pendleton: 79.8%
Morrow County: 88%
Milton-Freewater: 79.9%
Umatilla: 87%
Athena-Weston: 87.8%
Stanfi eld: 94.4%
Pilot Rock: 75%
Echo: 87%
Ione: 100%
Helix: 93.8%
Ukiah: 100%
“A lot of our kids weren’t graduat-
ing because of language arts credits,”
Depew said.
This year, the high school is pro-
viding supplemental classes for stu-
dents who speak English as a second
language to gain their language arts
credits.
At 87.5%, Depew added the dis-
trict’s completer rate is above the state
average, in part due to the district’s
GED program.
It’s a number that administra-
tors hope to see decrease over time
as on-time graduation rates increase,
but for now, Depew is certain of one
thing.
“The kids who are leaving us are
ready for college or a career,” he said.
See Grad rates, Page A7
PENDLETON — The Pendleton City
Council wants more time to mull tak-
ing over Edwards Apartments, but mem-
bers are saying they want to take action
soon on the vacant complex at 602 S.E.
Dorion Ave.
Meeting as the Pendleton Develop-
ment Commission on Tuesday, the coun-
cil postponed a decision until they could
meet for a workshop in February.
Charles Denight, the associate direc-
tor of the commission, presented the
city’s options he had discussed with the
building’s owners — buy the building
and demolish it, buy the building and
restore it, or restore the building under
a partnership with the current owner.
Denight said there was a fourth option
involving the city working with neigh-
boring property owners to buy the prop-
erty and do something with it.
Edwards Apartments owner Joe
Bachmeier explained why he was inter-
ested in selling the property.
“I thought a renovation project would
be good to take some of my free time,”
he said. “It ended up being a bigger proj-
ect than I anticipated.”
If the city agrees to buy the property,
Bachmeier wants to sell the property for
$50,000. Although that’s higher than the
$37,900 he bought it for in 2018, Bach-
meier said the fi gure included taxes that
were still owed on the property.
Mayor John Turner noted the build-
ing has received an increasing amount
of negative attention as it continued to
deteriorate.
“The Edwards Apartments building
has received more complaints from the
citizens of Pendleton in the last dozen
years than probably all other properties
combined in the city,” he said. “People
are embarrassed. They’re frustrated.”
Despite the building’s condition,
Turner was skeptical that Bachmeier
would be able to convince the commis-
sion to invest heavily into the property.
But the prospect of the city demolish-
ing the dilapidated building also had its
boosters.
Umatilla County Commissioner
George Murdock said the county would
be willing to contribute $5,000 toward
the demolition of Edwards Apartments
should the city decide to level the build-
ing and sell the bare land to a private
developer.
Instead of directly taking over the
building, Chuck Wood, a former city
councilor and commission chairman,
said the city should use existing laws to
compel the property owner to do some-
thing about it.
“I’m here to say that we either enforce
the ordinances that we have or rewrite
See Apartments, Page A7
Legislators set for short session
By SAM STITES, JAKE
THOMAS AND CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Legislators
will roll up their sleeves for
some speedy politicking in
February, tackling some of
Oregon’s thorniest problems.
When they gather for
the monthlong legislative
session, legislators want
to improve the state’s care
for people with mental ill-
ness and its ability to fi ght
increasingly
destructive
wildfi res.
They want to protect the
state’s air quality by decreas-
ing the state’s greenhouse
gas emissions. Also high on
the “to do” list is moving
thousands of Oregon’s home-
less people off the street and
into housing.
Lawmakers expect to
cooperate across party lines
in the Democrat-controlled
Legislature to progress on
run-of-the-mill issues and
budget fi xes.
But the greenhouse gas
proposal poses the risk of a
political blowout. Last year,
Senate Republicans fl ed
the state to avoid taking a
vote on a similar proposal.
They have said such an act
remains an option for them
in February.
Other controversial issues
coming back to life include
campaign fi nance reform
and fi rearm regulation.
Here’s a guide to what to
watch once legislators con-
vene in the Oregon Capitol
on Feb. 3:
Homelessness
The issue: The U.S.
Department of Housing and
Urban Development esti-
mates that about 15,800 Ore-
gonians are homeless. About
64% are “unsheltered,”
meaning they live in public
or private places not meant
for human habitation, such as
cars or public parks. House
Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Port-
land, wants lawmakers to
declare a state of emergency
See Session, Page A7
EO fi le photo
Janet McFarlane, third from left, speaks with a group of
homeless citizens while conducting the point-in-time fed-
eral homeless count with volunteers at Stillman Park last
year in Pendleton. House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
wants lawmakers to declare a state of emergency and to
provide roughly $120 million in funding to help create
more shelters, build aff ordable housing and preserve ex-
isting aff ordable housing stock.