OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, April 14, 2022
School:
one woman said voters in
her community “managed
to keep crazy, fringe char-
acters” off the school board.
“However, they are banging
at the door to get in with their
white-pride, Christian-zealot
fervor.”
Kwee Heong Tan, also
of Washington County, said
his local school board “cares
about admin and non-educa-
tion areas like artificial grass,
while textbooks are old, and
emphasis on AP subjects are
reduced due to lack of teach-
ers.”
While Oregonians are
split on whether they are
being served and repre-
sented by local school leader-
ship, the survey shows broad
support (70% or higher) for
an array of taxpayer-funded
family support services
like tutoring, sports, after-
school clubs, children’s
health care and youth mental
health services.
Even those services that
garnered the least support,
like culturally inclusive
learning materials and
required cultural awareness
and implicit-bias training for
school staff, showed 70% of
those polled felt they were
valuable.
When it comes to support-
ing childcare and early learn-
ing programs, particularly
for kids with special needs
or disabilities, more than
half (56%) of Oregonians
say it’s “very important” to
offer childcare and learning
programs. More than 86% of
those polled said it’s some-
what or very important to
fund programs for special
needs children.
Similarly, 79% said
it was somewhat or very
important to make child-
care more affordable for
families through additional
government funding.
“Women are more likely
than men to express strong
support for using taxpayer
funds to bolster early learn-
ing and childhood programs
and services,” the OVBC
noted in its summary of
survey results. “Lower-in-
come residents are also more
supportive.”
Still, residents are mixed
on how to pay for those
services. In Multnomah
County, which enacted new
tax measures in 2020, and in
Portland, specifically, which
now has the highest state and
local combined income-tax
rate in the nation, higher-in-
come earners are feeling the
squeeze.
“I currently pay over
$500 per month in prop-
erty tax. I get a little over
$1,000 from SS. I am raising
my grandchildren. Do the
math,” one woman in Mult-
nomah County, who iden-
tifies as a Democrat with a
“somewhat liberal” social
ideology, told surveyors. “I
cringe at the thought of all
these well-meaning projects
being proposed, knowing
full well it will be property
taxes that pay for it. Then all
the 20-30 year-olds voting it
all in and then whining about
high rent.”
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation, said at the March
2021 press conference.
The bridge’s location on
tribal land meant the project
wouldn’t ordinarily fall to
ODOT, Patterson said. But
with the insistence of county
officials, Oregon personnel
found a way to allocate state
resources toward repairing
the bridge more quickly.
At that time, Umatilla
County Public Works Direc-
tor Tom Fellows said officials
made plans to remove the
bridge earlier, while simul-
taneously designing the new
bridge.
Funding for the bridge
replacement originally comes
from the federal level, but
“trickles down” to become
state money. This provides an
opportunity to “take savings
from one project and move
it over to another project,”
Fellows said in 2021.
The state, therefore,
pays about 89.7% of costs,
Patterson said.
Umatilla County will cover
about 10.3% of the project’s
overall costs, Dorran said. He
added the county also has to
cover any “early overages.”
Fellows said the main goal
of the project was to shorten
its timeline.
Whether the damaged
bridge will be demolished
this year or not, local resi-
dents won’t have to wait until
2027 to again cross the river at
Thorn Hollow.
MORE INFORMATION
Continued from Page A1
not take the steps to improve
education only making
supporting programs that fit
their agenda. This is done to
the detriment of learning.”
But another Deschutes
County survey taker, a
Democrat, said her school
board was “not doing enough
to support POC & LGBT
community. Racism, sexism,
& homophobia are rampant
in Bend & concerns by
parents are ignored. … They
talk the talk, but don’t walk
the walk.”
In Clackamas County,
Cris Waller said her local
school board was “taken over
by conservatives” in the last
election.
“I’ve heard from people I
know about what a disheart-
ening time it is to be a school
board because of the relent-
less pressure from right-wing
groups,” Waller said when
reached by Pamplin Media
Group. She said that the same
groups that have been taking
over school board meet-
ings have been taking over
Clackamas County’s board
of commissioners.
In Washington County,
Bridge:
Continued from Page A1
received support from politi-
cians, including Oregon Sens.
Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden,
as well as state Sen. Bill
Hansell of Athena and state
Rep. Bobby Levy of Echo.
“This is a project that has
been on our radar since the
floods last year,” Ken Patter-
son, an area manager for the
East Oregonian
The Oregon Values and Beliefs Center is committed to the
highest level of public opinion research. To help obtain that,
the nonprofit is building a large research panel of Orego-
nians to ensure that all voices are represented in discussions
of public policy in a valid and statistically reliable way.
Selected panelists earn points for their participation, which
can be redeemed for cash or donated to a charity.
STEM:
Continued from Page A1
are heard,” GO STEM Hub
Program Director Stefanie
Holloway said.
During last year’s event,
the organization targeted
fourth grade students
after their age range and
older were sent home for
at-home learning due to the
pandemic.
“It’s a pretty pivotal
point,” Melville said
of fourth grade. “It’s a
great point in time where
students transition from
learning to read to then
having the opportunity to
learn and find their own
interests.”
This year’s kits included
several upgrades and alter-
ations, such as paper straws
for the gravity racer kit.
Another new element was
a partnership with Amazon
Web Services. Amazon’s
philanthropic branch
covered the $46,000 project
in its efforts to reach young
learners in rural counties.
The kits were funded by
Oregon Community Foun-
dation last year, through a
grant specific to COVID-19
relief. Organizers at the GO
STEM Hub were thrilled
to partner with Amazon,
utilizing their resources to
help spread STEM educa-
tion in Eastern Oregon.
“The folks at Amazon
Web Services are very
passionate about invest-
ing in education in Eastern
Oregon,” Holloway said.
“They’re very innovative
and forward thinking.”
Growing footprint
The partnership has
spawned numerous future
possibilities, including a
mobile maker space that
is in the works — the vehi-
cle would serve as a STEM
classroom on wheels,
allowing the GO STEM
Hub to bring resources to
schools around the region.
“That’s kind of our
answer to the regional
spread dilemma, because
we can bring the STEM
classroom all over the
region,” Holloway said.
“We’re hoping to iden-
tify our smallest commu-
nities that are lacking in
resources to bring these
opportunities to them.”
The GO STEM Hub
hopes to continue provid-
ing learning opportunities
for rural students, some
of whom may not have
access to STEM educa-
tion. Another big point
of emphasis is providing
teachers with resources
necessary to provide
STEM education, as well as
offering professional devel-
opment opportunities.
T he or g a n i z at ion
houses a free lending
library, which teachers
from around the region can
utilize to acquire supplies
for experiments and activ-
ities. The library includes
a catalog which teachers
can order from and have
the items shipped directly
to their schools.
As the GO STEM Hub
looks to further grow its
footprint and encompass
more students and teach-
ers in Eastern Oregon, the
to-go STEM kits served as
a productive way to bring
STEM opportunities to
young learners.
“We serve seven coun-
ties, so we want to make
sure everyone knows who
we are and what we can
offer,” Holloway said.
“We’re able to visit the
schools by sending them
things like this.”
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