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SATURDAY • March 20, 2021
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Pandemic | Bend-La Pine Schools
District plans return to in-person learning in April
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
Bend-La Pine Schools an-
nounced Friday it intends to
return students to in-person
learning in the first week of
April.
In a letter sent to parents,
Superintendent Lora Nord-
quist said the state is expected
to announce a reduction in
social distancing at schools,
from 6 feet to 3 feet, which
would allow the school district
to bring all students back to
classrooms.
The school district plans
to bring back kindergarten
through fifth grade classes by
April 5 and all K-12 by April 12.
“We feel more confident
bringing students back, as well,
because studies continue to
show that schools are not ma-
jor sites of COVID-19 spread,”
Nordquist said in the letter.
Nordquist told The Bulle-
tin on Friday that the change
will help fourth grade through
12th grade students who have
attended classes both remotely
and in-person. Third grade
students and younger have al-
ready been back to school full
time.
The change will help about
9,000 students in fourth
through 12th grades, Nord-
quist said.
“It’s pretty universally un-
derstood by our staff and our
students that hybrid learn-
ing, while better than distance
learning, still leaves a lot to be
desired,” Nordquist said.
Nordquist also expects to
see the emotional and mental
well-being of students improve,
because they will spend more
time with their peers at school.
“It’s just more time for that
social and emotional contact
and time to be with peers and
having a routine and schedule,”
Nordquist said. “That’s more
like what they are used to.”
In addition, the return to
in-person learning will benefit
teachers and students, Nord-
quist added.
“I think it will make life eas-
ier for our teachers so they can
focus on the students in front
of them,” Nordquist said.
For families who are not
comfortable with in-person
learning, or who have found
success with distance learning,
the school district will continue
to offer remote instruction.
e
Reporter: 541-617-7820,
kspurr@bendbulletin.com
BEND
COVID-19 in Oregon
TEEN CLIMATE
ACTIVISTS PROTEST
Thousands
will be made
eligible for
vaccine earlier
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
People with serious medical conditions and
front-line workers are among those who will
become eligible earlier for the COVID-19 vac-
cines, Gov. Kate Brown said Friday.
“This doesn’t mean that every Oregonian will
be able to get a shot right away,” Brown said.
As late as January, state officials were fore-
casting that it would take into autumn or be-
yond to offer vaccination to the 3.2 million
eligible adults. Brown said the timeline is now
much shorter.
“We expect to have enough doses for every
Oregonian who wants a vaccine to have the op-
portunity for at least a first dose by the end of
May,” Brown said during the news conference.
Brown ordered a compression of the state’s
priority list after President Joe Biden directed
states to remove all limits on vaccine eligibility
by May 1 — two months earlier than Oregon
had planned.
The climate strike was held in soli-
darity with similar protests in at least
60 countries as part of the global
movement, Fridays for the Future,
created by 18-year-old Swedish ac-
tivist Greta Thunberg.
Vaccine eligibility
Under the revised timeline announced Friday,
people 45 and older with serious medical condi-
tions that could lead to severe illness or death if
they were infected by COVID-19 can get vacci-
nated beginning Monday. The group had been
scheduled to become eligible March 29.
Counties must send a written statement to
the Oregon Health Authority attesting they
have “largely” vaccinated residents over 65 and
can handle moving on to the next group. OHA
Director Pat Allen said there is no single state
metric for meeting the standard. Counties that
submit the statements do not need to wait for
OHA response or approval.
With 58% of those 65 and older vaccinated,
Allen said many counties will likely start inoc-
ulating the new group. Allen singled out De-
schutes County as one that had inoculated a
high percentage of seniors.
See Climate / A7
See Vaccines / A4
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Twin sisters Sasha Dhone, left, and Abby Dhone stand together Friday at Wall Street and Newport Avenue during a climate protest in downtown Bend.
Deschutes Youth Climate Congress event held in solidarity with rallies worldwide
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
The Bend-based teen activist group
Deschutes Youth Climate Congress
led a protest Friday in downtown
Bend to demand action on climate
change at local and national levels.
About two dozen people of all
ages gathered at the corner of New-
port Avenue and Wall Street. Some
chanted while others held signs. The
protesters wore face masks and kept
their distance due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
BEND-LA PINE SCHOOL BOARD
BEND PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT BOARD
Eight candidates to compete Three seats up for election
for four seats in May election
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
Voters will be choosing at
least three new members of the
Bend-La Pine School Board in
the May 18 special election.
Nine candidates filed to run
for four seats on the board.
Only one of them is an in-
cumbent: board Chair Carrie
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Douglass, who’s running for
a different seat than she cur-
rently occupies.
This May will mark the sec-
ond school board election in a
row with multiple races with-
out an incumbent, after nearly
a decade of pre-appointed in-
cumbents dominating.
The Bend-La Pine School
Sun; a shower
High 47, Low 27
Page A8
INDEX
Board could also diversify
its ranks, with one candidate
identifying as African Amer-
ican and two identifying as
Mexican American or Indig-
enous Mexican. In recent his-
tory, only a few Bend-La Pine
board members have been
people of color.
See School board / A7
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A5-6
B6-7
B5-6
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A7
B4
A7
Three positions on the Bend
Park & Recreation District
board of directors will be on
the ballot for the May 18 spe-
cial election.
Incumbents Nathan Hov-
ekamp and Deb Schoen are fac-
ing challengers, and two new-
comers are vying for a seat that
opened when longtime board
member Ted Schoenborn de-
cided not to seek reelection.
Local/State
Lottery
Nation/World
A2
B2
A4
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
A6
B6
B1-3
Schoenborn, retired from
a career in public health, has
been on the board since 2003.
Running for Schoenborn’s
Position 4 seat are Zavier Borja
and Robin Vora.
Borja, a former Bend park
district employee, runs a Latino
outdoor program called Va-
monos Outside through the
High Desert Education Service
District. Borja was a finalist for a
park board appointment in 2020
for the seat that went to Schoen.
The Bulletin
ù
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recycled
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Vol. 119, No. 68, 16 pages, 2 sections
Borja has worked for several
other youth programs with the
Boys and Girls Club of Bend
and the parks district. He also
serves on the Governor’s Road
Map to the Outdoors taskforce
and Racial Justice Council.
Vora, retired from a
39-year-career with the U.S.
Forest Service and Fish and
Wildlife Service, has spent the
past 19 years in Bend serving
on several city committees.
See Park board / A4
DAILY
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
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