REGION
Saturday, March 21, 2020
East Oregonian
A3
CORONAVIRUS
Hermiston council urges online participation for meeting
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
city of Hermiston is adjust-
ing access to its build-
ings and its next city coun-
cil meeting in order to
better follow social distanc-
ing guidelines set forth by
the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention.
Beginning Monday and
lasting until at least April 14,
residents are asked to call
and make an appointment
before coming in to talk to
city staff or access services.
Bill payment can be made
online at hermiston.or.us/
pay_home, by phone at 541-
567-5521, or at the drive-
through drop box outside the
old city hall.
The city council is going
ahead with its regular meet-
ing Monday at 7 p.m., but
it has been moved to the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center, and everyone
interested in attending is
urged to tune in via video or
phone instead of attending in
person.
MAKING AN APPOINTMENT
To schedule an appointment with a department in the city
of Hermiston, call a number below:
City Hall or Planning Department, 541-567-5521
Building Department, 541-667-5025
Parks and Recreation, 541-667-5018
Police Department (non-emergency), 541-567-5519
Hermiston Library, 541-567-2882
Municipal Court, 541-567-6610
A livestream video will
be broadcast at https://bit.
ly/HermistonYouTube and
can also be accessed after
the meeting, or residents can
listen in by phone by calling
1-206-462-5569 and using
the code 8262-77-4726. Call-
ers will be muted for most of
the meeting, but there will
be opportunity to make pub-
lic comment by phone.
For those who aren’t able
to access those options, a
limited number of chairs
will be available at the meet-
ing and in an overfl ow room
with video. The agenda
includes a discussion about
moving city council meet-
ings to once a month during
the COVID-19 outbreak,
continuation of the city’s
efforts to clean up the lan-
guage of its code of ordi-
Local schools brace for extended closure
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pub-
lic schools will remain closed
through late April, but school-
work is resuming.
The Pendleton School Dis-
trict offi ce will be open next
week to provide supplemental
learning material to its 3,000
students stuck at home after
the governor ordered schools
closed statewide over the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning Monday, the
district’s central offi ce at 107
N.W. 10th Street will be open
from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. to offer
work packets for elementary
school students and laptops.
The packets will also be avail-
able online for download and
at the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion Education Department in
Mission. The packets are dif-
ferentiated by grade, but are
otherwise the same regardless
of the student’s class.
Matt Yoshioka, the dis-
trict’s director of curriculum,
instruction, and assessment,
said middle school and high
school students would receive
education material through
their teachers’ web pages.
Yoshioka said the dis-
trict already had been sup-
plying supplemental mate-
rial after Gov. Kate Brown
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
The Pendleton School District culinary arts food truck sits
at the CTUIR Recreation Center as the district distributes
lunches and breakfasts to students 18 and under during the
closure. The recreation center site is one of three lunch sites
operated by the school district on weekdays from 11:30 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. Lunches are also available at Washington Ele-
mentary School and Pendleton Early Learning Center.
closed schools March 16, but
they began preparing the fi ve-
week packets once Brown
extended the ban to April 28.
Despite the interruption
to everyday learning, Yosh-
ioka said Pendleton decided
quickly not to switch to an
online school format because
it would create an inequitable
situation for students without
access to the internet.
While the Pendleton dis-
trict does operate its own
online school program that
will go uninterrupted through
the school closure, Yoshioka
said the district is not allow-
ing new students to sign up
during the shutdown.
Yoshioka said the packets
provided by the district would
contain worksheets covering
reading, writing and math,
and would be similar to home-
work in the sense that they
would reinforce concepts the
children have already been
taught rather than introducing
new ones.
InterMountain Education
Service District Superinten-
dent Mark Mulvihill said his
organization would begin
activating its printers and cou-
riers to assist Eastern Oregon
districts in delivering supple-
mentary material.
When Brown closed state
schools, Mulvihill said the
state promised to continue
funding K-12 education as
long as schools met four basic
requirements: employees are
paid, students are fed, sup-
plemental education services
are provided and schools pro-
vided staff and space for day-
care for the children of emer-
gency professionals.
Mulvihill said regional
superintendents met for two
hours on Thursday to coordi-
nate their supplemental edu-
cation programs.
While each program will
have its differences, Mulvi-
hill said the region can expect
each district to roll out supple-
mental education plans over
the next few weeks.
After some superinten-
dents pondered reopening
their schools to seniors as long
as they kept the class sizes
small and observed social
distancing, Mulvihill said he
reminded them that the school
closure order was ironclad.
But educators will return
to work, just without the bene-
fi t of face-to-face contact with
their students.
“This isn’t a vacation,” he
said. “This is an emergency.”
nance, and staff and council
reports.
“Just as many businesses
have limited their contact
with customers to stop the
spread of coronavirus, the
city of Hermiston is taking
precautions to stay in com-
pliance with state and fed-
eral guidelines,” Hermiston
City Manager Byron Smith
said in a statement. “We
will continue to operate and
meet the needs of residents,
and we appreciate everyone
doing their part to keep this
community safe.”
BRIEFLY
Tribes suspend
Hermiston man
Kayak Public
killed by gunshot
Transit for a week
HERMISTON — The
MISSION — The
Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Reserva-
tion announced on Friday
afternoon that it would be
shutting down Kayak Pub-
lic Transit, according to a
press release.
The closure — in
response to COVID-19
— would begin Monday
and run though Satur-
day, March 28, the release
said, adding that the board
will monitor the situation
and a make determination
concerning the following
week.
“Kayak recognizes its
role as a lifeline for access
to employment, medi-
cal and shopping needs
throughout the region and
we do not take this action
lightly,” the release said.
Kayak Public Transit
operates three fi xed routes
and four commuter bus
services in Southeastern
Washington and North-
eastern Oregon, including
La Grande, Hermiston and
Walla Walla, Washington.
Anyone with questions
are encouraged to contact
dispatch for updates or
inquiries.
autopsy of the Hermiston
man found dead northeast
of the city on Wednesday
revealed he was killed
by a gunshot wound, the
Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce said in a press
release Friday.
A
Umatilla/Morrow
County Major Crimes
Team is investigating
the murder of Jordan
Deloen Crandall, whose
body was found by a res-
ident at about 9:37 a.m.
on Wednesday approx-
imately 75 feet west of
Alpine Drive, north of
Punkin Center Road and
next to an irrigation ditch.
“At this time, there is
no reason to believe the
general public is in dan-
ger due to the homicide,”
the press release said. “We
will release further infor-
mation when we are able.”
According to the East
Oregonian’s
archives,
while attending Hermis-
ton High School, Crandall
competed with the Inter-
mountain High School
Rodeo team from 2007
to 2009. He was 28 years
old.
— EO Media Group
State-run campgrounds forced to close
By MICHAEL KOHN
EO Media Group
SALEM — Camp-
grounds in state parks, for-
est areas and wildlife areas
have been ordered to close
after April 3 in the state’s
latest attempts to curb the
spread of COVID-19.
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department will
accommodate current over-
night guests through April
2, according to a release.
Reservations for campsites
in state parks from April 3
through May 8 will be can-
celed and site fees will be
refunded.
The recreation depart-
ment will review the state
campground closure prior
to May 8 and determine
at that time if the closure
should be extended. All
individual and group over-
night facilities are affected,
including campsites, yurts,
cabins, tepees and ser-
vices operated by conces-
sionaires. Reservations for
group day-use areas are also
suspended.
The restrictions do not
affect daytime access to
state parks, so people are
still encouraged to visit state
parks in Eastern Oregon.
Most campgrounds run
by the Oregon Department
of Forestry are currently
closed for the season and
will not reopen for individ-
ual and group use. Year-
round campgrounds close
starting Monday. Trails,
forest roads and trailheads
on state forestlands remain
open to the public, but day-
use campgrounds are tem-
porarily closed due to lim-
ited janitorial services.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife will
close its wildlife areas to
overnight camping starting
Sunday. The closure affects
both
dispersed
camp-
ing and established camp-
grounds. Wildlife areas
currently open will remain
open to visitors for day-use
activities.
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