A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Pinkerton to join La Grande School District
Enterprise
superintendent
will be director of
student services
in La Grande
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Erika
Pinkerton is transitioning
to a bigger school district
after spending fi ve years in
Enterprise.
She isn’t, however, head-
ing too far away.
Pinkerton, who has
been the superintendent of
the Enterprise School Dis-
trict and the elementary
school principal, will take
over as the director of stu-
dent services in the La
Grande School District, she
announced last week on the
school district’s Facebook
page. Her fi nal day in the
district will be Aug. 30.
Part of the decision for
Pinkerton was in the oppor-
tunity to gain experience
working in a larger school
district.
A primary role she will
have as the Student
will allow her to
Services Director is
aff ect a group she
being responsible
said she has had a
for providing lead-
big heart for in spe-
ership in the devel-
cial-needs children.
opment,
imple-
“This is an
mentation
and
opportunity for me
Pinkerton
coordination of the
to work closer with
District’s
special
children and be able
education, sections 504, and to give back and serve in a
mental health programs for positive capacity,” she said.
the district.
She called the move,
“Basically, I’ll be the though, bittersweet, as she
district resource for special said she has been in Enter-
education teachers to con- prise as the district made
sult with,” she said. “Advo- several
improvements.
cating for students with spe- Most recently, the district
cial needs, in addition to received $4 million from a
building relationships with school bond passed by vot-
families is a big part of this ers in November, a bond
job, as well.”
that came with a $4 million
She’ll replace Landon matching grant.
Braden in the role. Bra-
She also touted the dis-
den, interestingly, recently trict’s position fi scally, work
became the high school done within the special-ed-
counselor at EHS.
ucation program, moving
“It’s a win-win for both the district from a targeted
districts,” Pinkerton said.
assisted Title I program to a
She came to Enter- school wide Title I program,
prise fi ve years ago after safety and security, and
serving as an elementary technology, among others.
school principal in the Win-
“Bringing the district into
ston-Dillard School Dis- the 21st century was huge.
trict, a role she held for eight We moved from basically
years.
no technology to 1-on-1
The change, she said, technology,” she said.
Also important, she
said, was, “Making sure
that equity was within our
school system, whether real-
izing that we have ramps
that are not ADA compli-
ant, to making sure all stu-
dents had access to curricu-
lum and were able to access
their curriculum.”
She said she struggled
with the decision to take the
job, though, because of the
relationships built with stu-
dents, staff and parents.
“When you gain that
trust, that’s when you can
be more progressive,” she
said. “Change is hard, but
the changes we made were
pretty impressive in fi ve
years.”
The school board has
looked at hiring an interim
superintendent from a
pool of retired superinten-
dents before beginning the
search for a permanent hire,
Pinkerton said.
“I’m extremely grate-
ful to have served our com-
munity over the past fi ve
years,” Pinkerton said. “I do
really look forward to hear-
ing about the continued suc-
cesses of our district.”
New post offi ce
Hospital gets
donation for
orthopedics
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Wal-
lowa Memorial Hospi-
tal has received a major
fi nancial boost to help
fund its orthopedic surgery
department.
The hospital received a
$100,000 donation from the
Wallowa Valley Health Care
Foundation to invest in the
new department, which is
headed by orthopedic sur-
geon Bradley Smith, who
joined the staff at the hospi-
tal in June.
“We are incredibly for-
tunate to live in a place that
values quality health care
with a community that goes
above and beyond to sup-
port the mission of the foun-
dation,” hospital CEO Larry
Davy said. “This generosity
makes services like ortho-
pedics available locally. We
can’t thank the foundation
and the people that support
it enough.”
The donation was made
during the foundation’s June
board meeting.
“For years, our goal was
to build our portfolio so
we could make a substan-
tial gift when a need arose,”
Foundation Board President
David Smyth said in a press
release. “Bringing orthope-
dic surgery to the county is
something we are excited to
support.”
Smith became the fi rst
in-county orthopedic sur-
geon in a decade when he
came to Wallowa County.
The money makes up
about one-third of the more
than $300,000 needed to
fund the new orthopedic sur-
gery department, accord-
ing to WMH Chief Nursing
Offi cer Jenni Word.
“This generous gift will
allow us to expand the ser-
vices we can off er,” she said.
The hospital will pay for
the remainder from its capi-
tal budget.
Equipment — including
a range of tools and instru-
ments, an orthopedic table
and protective equipment
for support staff — is among
what is being supplemented
for the new department.
The foundation, which
was founded in 1991, has
built a portfolio of more than
$1.7 million, largely through
major donations or estate
gifts.
“Most of the estate gifts
come with specifi c direc-
tions about how the funding
is to be used. The portfolio
covers all major adminis-
trative costs, so that money
raised from fundraisers
such as the annual Healthy
Futures Dinner Auction,
Circle 100 and Men’s Guild
can go toward improving
and expanding health care
services,” the press release
from the foundation states.
‘Instance in Time’ photo
exhibit will open July 30
Josephy Center
to feature local
photographers
Chieftain staff
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The new modular building that will house Lostine’s new post offi ce at Neal Park behind City Hall was almost ready to open
Saturday, July 17, 2021. The lease on the current post offi ce expires Aug. 1, and the owners notifi ed the city last year that it
would not be renewed.
PLAY CHESS?
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WALLOWA COUNTY CHESS CLUB
Thursdays • 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, 403 Main St., Joseph, OR
For info call Clem at 541-432-6309 or Bill at 541-432-0409
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JOSEPH — “Instance in
Time,” an exhibit featuring
local photographers Rick
McEwan and Adele But-
tolph will open Friday, July
30, at the Josephy Center
for Arts and Culture.
The exhibit opens with a
reception starting at 7 p.m.
that includes an artists’ Q
& A and an exhibit walk-
through. Food and drink
will be served and the art
will be for sale. The exhibit
ends Friday, Sept. 10.
According
to
a
press release, McEwan
approached the Josephy
Center two years ago with
an idea for this exhibit that
focused on his style of pho-
tography, where he captures
the beauty of an instance in
time.
McEwan, a nature pho-
tographer, said, “I seek to
communicate a sense of
place through hours, days,
sometimes years of personal
experience in a location.”
As an artist, he endeav-
ors “to see the familiar in
new and intriguing ways,
seeing patterns and con-
nections across time, space
and experience. … We live
in a world where we doc-
ument through photogra-
phy, our instances in time.
To hold those photographs,
is to hold the memories in
our lives.”
Buttolph
is
from
Enterprise.
“Nature, travel and inten-
tional camera movement
techniques are truly inspir-
ing for me as a photogra-
pher,” she said. “My intent
is to capture the essence of
a place or an emotion, as I
experience it.”
Like McEwan, Buttolph
shares the idea that “each
photograph preserves a
unique portrayal of place
and time.”
A catalog of the exhibit
will be for sale, $15, and
can be purchased online or
in-person at the exhibit. A
slide show of the exhibit
will be on the center’s web-
site at josephy.org.
This exhibit was sup-
ported by the Ford Fam-
ily Visual Arts, Oregon
Community
Foundation,
Ann Werner and donor
patronage.
For more information,
contact the center at 541-
432-0505, or contact Exhib-
its Director Dawn Norman
at exhibits@josephy.org.
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