Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 12, 2020
Latest plan for school reopening
Dear family members, students
and staff of the Jefferson County
School District 509-J,
I’m writing to provide an up-
date on our plans to reopen
schools on Tuesday, September 8,
within the Comprehensive Dis-
tance Learning guidelines provided
by the State of Oregon.
The state originally provided
three models for districts to con-
sider for reopening schools.
These models included the ‘On-
Site’, ‘Hybrid’ and ‘Comprehensive
Distance Learning’ options.
Our district began the planning
process to offer both the on-site
option, and a distance learning op-
tion for our families.
However, in August the Gov-
ernor, Oregon Departmetn of
Education and Oregon Health
Authority released health metrics
limiting all schools within Jefferson
County to the Comprehensive Dis-
tance Learning model until the
level of positive Covid-19 test
drops below the health metric
guidelines.
At that time, we announced that
we will be starting the first six
weeks of school in the Distance
Learning Model.
This past spring, school staff
and families were given little warn-
ing prior to the closing of schools.
This provided minimal oppor-
tunity for school employees and
families to plan for technology
needs, systems for communication,
training and support, and other lo-
gistics needed to make learning in
the virtual environment highly ef-
fective.
This summer, district employees
have been researching, planning, and
acquiring resources to ensure we are
significantly more prepared to sup-
port our employees, students, and
family members in the Comprehen-
sive Distance Learning model.
In addition, we have expanded
our district’s Online Learning pro-
gram to accommodate families
who choose to opt into this model.
In both options, students are ex-
pected to engage and log in on a
daily basis for attendance and to
make weekly progress based upon
pacing guides for completion of
courses.
Comprehensive Distance Learn-
ing and Online Learning Program
options are described below:
Comprehensive Distance
Learning
Comprehensive distance learn-
ing—CDL—provides the opportu-
nity for teachers, students, and
classmates to remain connected
and engaged with district content
materials while working from a dis-
tance.
Teachers will use live engage-
ment tools such as Google Meets
(K-12), as well as video and au-
dio recorded lessons, to provide
direct, teacher-super vised in-
struction.
This will be a much more ro-
bust distance learning model than
last spring and will be designed for
the teacher and students to navi-
gate back to on-site learning when
health metrics allow us to return
to traditional classroom teaching
and learning.
This option is likely the best
choice for families who plan to
have their students return to in-
person learning once metrics allow
us to reopen our schools.
Ken Parshall, superintendent,
school district 509-J. August 6,
2020.
Removing invasive plant species
from Lake Billy Chinook
Eurasian watermilfoil is a kind
of feathery, submerged aquatic
plant that can quickly form thick
mats in shallow areas of lakes and
rivers.
It is native to Asia and Europe,
but is now found in North
America. It arrived here sometime
between the 1880s and the 1940s.
The thick watermilfoil mats
can interfere with swimming and
entangle propellers, which hinders
boating, fishing, and waterfowl
hunting.
The plant is found in Lake Billy
Chinook. The U.S. Forest Service
in July began a removal project
of the nuisance invasive plants.
Michael Crumrine, specialist
with the Deschutes National
Foresty, is heading up the re-
Courtesy USFS
Eurasian watermilfoil
moval.
The Eurasian watermilfoil is
also a problem invasive species
because it can block water move-
ment, and warm the water tem-
perature.
The watermilfoil is widespread
throughout Western Oregon and
the Columbia River. In Central
Oregon the plant is currently
found only in Lake Billy Chinook.
The plant can travel to new lo-
cations, carried on the bottoms of
boats, trailers and other water
equipment. The best practice to
slow the spread of the plant is to
clean anything that goes in the wa-
ter.
“Drain out bilges and things,”
Crumrine said. “Any sort of con-
tainer that might keep a little bit
of water in it, that might have some
floating plants it. Dry those out be-
fore you go anyplace else. Contain-
ment is really the goal.”
Crews are out this week work-
ing on the cleanup. This will prob-
ably not be the end of the removal
project, as the plant is persisent
once in place.
www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/
profile/eurasian-watermilfoil
St. Charles adds curbside collection locations
Available at
Madras location
St. Charles Health Services
this month added curbside Covid-
19 specimen collection at six St.
Charles clinics. The service is
available to any person with a
physician’s lab order, and no ap-
pointment is needed.
The six curbside collection sites
replace the drive-through testing.
The sites include:
St. Charles Family Care in Ma-
dras at 480 NE A St. Open Mon-
day through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5
p.m.
St. Charles Family Care in
Redmond at 211 NW Larch Ave.
Open Monday through Friday, 8
a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays 9
a.m. to 2 p.m.
St. Charles Family Care in Bend
at 61250 SE Coombs Place. Open
seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 6
p.m.
St. Charles Family Care at 2600
NE Neff Road, Bend. Open
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to
4 p.m.
You can com-
plete your 2020
Cenusus infor-
mation from the
KWSO website
- KWSO.org
St. Charles Family Care and Im-
mediate Care in La Pine at 51781
Huntington Road. Open seven
days a week, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
St. Charles Family Care in
Prineville at 384 SE Combs Flat
Road. Open Monday through Fri-
day, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and
weekends 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Before going to any St. Charles
collection site, individuals are asked
to blow their nose at home and
wash their hands afterward, but to
avoid using nasal spray or nasal
salve 24 hours prior to collection.
St. Charles’ Immediate Care
clinics are also able to evaluate in-
dividuals and provide Covid-19
specimen collection without an ap-
pointment.
Page 5
Corrections facility closed
The Warm Springs Police Department reported that the Warm
Springs Correctional Facility closed due to maintenance issues.
They have contracted with Northern Oregon Regional Cor-
rectional Facility—or NORCOR—located in The Dalles.
In addition from the Corrections facility: Remember that in
the event a person is arrested on tribal criminal charges, it is up
to the individual to provide his or her own transportation back
home after being released from custody.
No timeline was given for reopening of the Warm Springs
jail. In other public safety news:
Cougar sighting
The Warm Springs Police Department alerted commu-
nity members in the Kah-Nee-Ta, Wolf Point, Culpus Bridge,
Charley Canyon, Schoolie and Simnasho areas that a large
cougar was sighted recently by Kah-Nee-Ta security officers
recently.
They remind you that if you encounter a cougar in the wild,
or a residential area, you should:
· Stay calm and stand your ground. Maintain direct eye
contact.
· Pick up any children, but do so without bending down or
turning your back to the cat.
Back away slowly. Do not run: Running can trigger a chase
response.
· Raise your voice and speak firmly. If the cougar seems
aggressive, raise your arms to make yourself look larger and
clap your hands.
If in the very unusual event that a cougar attacks you, fight
back with rocks, sticks, tools or any other item available. Al-
ways be aware of your surroundings.
Grant for some elder home repair
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs is among 21
tribal communities across the
country to receive a $30,000
grant from the Wells Fargo
Foundation, in partnership with
the Native American Indian
Housing Council.
The funds will go toward
elder home repair projects.
With tribal nations across
the country severely impacted
by Covid-19, Wells Fargo and
the Native American Indian
Housing Council provided a
total of $620,000 in grants to
tribal housing programs to
fund housing repairs for 96
elder homeowners in 21 tribal
communities.
The funding includes a to-
tal of $180,000 in grants
funding home repair projects
such as plumbing upgrades,
accessibility improvements,
and heating maintenance and
installation.
At a time when tribes are
forced to pare down services
and devote their limited re-
sources to pandemic response,
these grants will help ensure the
safety of senior homeowners
and their families.
Many of the homes can cur-
rently be classified as substan-
dard based on plumbing, heat-
ing or other repair needs.
The repairs made through
the rehab program will ensure
that families have safe places to
reside as they are forced to stay
home due to Covid-19 physical
distancing requirement.
The Dalles area fire contained
Work on the Fir Mountain Fire
early this week increased the con-
tainment to more than 80 percent.
Close to 200 firefighters con-
tinue mop-up operations working
from the perimeter into the inte-
rior of the fire. The fire was
human caused.
Firefighters use a grid system
to locate any areas of heat, then
cool these spots with water and
dirt as they pull the material apart.
Fire behavior on the Fir blaze
this week was minimal this week.
Full containment is expected this
Wednesday, August 12. The Cen-
tral Oregon Fire Management Ser-
vice Type 3 Team has transferred
command back to Oregon De-
partment of Forestry’s The Dalles
Unit.
A Type 4 organization will
shadow the team today in prepa-
ration for the transition. Wasco
County Sheriff ’s Department early
this week reduced the Level 3
evacuation notice for 2900
Godberson Road to a Level 1.