A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Don’t throw
out the
‘essential
skills’
T
he Oregon Legislature
has suspended through
2024 the requirement
that students show profi ciency
in reading, writing and math
— the aptly named “essential
skills” — as a requirement for
getting a high school diploma.
Is the ability to apply those
skills no longer necessary in
everyday life? If so, we didn’t
get the memo.
Essential skills profi ciency
was added as a requirement
for graduation a decade ago.
Teaching kids to read and
write and do basic math was
the whole point of public edu-
cation when it came into exis-
tence. The public school cur-
riculum has become more
complicated over the years,
but has always been fi lled with
courses where students pre-
sumably learned and used
those skills.
But a lot of students were
graduating without the ability
to apply them in real-life situ-
ations. Employers weren’t the
only ones to take notice, and
the decision was made to man-
date profi ciency as a require-
ment for a diploma.
It does not seem too high of
an expectation after 12 years
of schooling.
School districts had various
options to test that profi ciency.
But critics of the requirement
have called those tests into
question, alleging that they are
unfair to non-native English
speakers and racial minorities.
Senate Bill 744 calls a halt
to the testing and the profi -
ciency requirement and orders
the Oregon Department of
Education to evaluate gradua-
tion standards.
“The testing that we’ve
been doing in the past doesn’t
tell us what we want to know,”
Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Port-
land, told KATU. “We have
been relying on tests that have
been, frankly, very fl awed and
relying too much on them so
that we aren’t really helping
the students or the teachers or
the community.”
We see nothing wrong with
evaluating and upgrading
graduation requirements. We
are less enthusiastic about, but
not completely against, alter-
native evaluation methods for
determining profi ciency.
But we agree with Republi-
cans in the legislature who say
the state should not suspend
the current standard while this
evaluation takes place.
“The approach for Senate
Bill 744 is to, in fact, lower
our expectations for our kids,”
said Oregon House Minority
Leader Christine Drazan.
“This is the wrong time to do
that, when we have had this
year of social isolation and
lost learning. It’s the wrong
thing to do in this moment.”
Our biggest fear is that the
real goal of SB 744 is to fi nd
more ways to declare students
profi cient without actually
teaching more students to be
profi cient.
Putting your boots in the
oven won’t make them bis-
cuits, and declaring a student
profi cient through some con-
voluted evaluation won’t make
that so either.
The goal should be for
every student, regardless of
race or ethnicity, to be pro-
fi cient in the essential skills,
not to artifi cially increase the
graduation rates.
To demand less turns an
Oregon high school diploma
into a participation trophy.
That would truly be a disser-
vice to the students and to the
community.
EO Media Group launching Go! Magazine
S
tarting in July, EO Media
Group is launching Go!
Magazine, a weekly arts
and entertainment publication
designed to do exactly what it
says — get readers to “go” out
and experience all of what East-
ern Oregon has to offer. For
readers in Union, Baker, Uma-
tilla and Morrow counties, Go!
will be in your Thursday news-
paper. For readers in Wallowa
and Grant counties, you will
receive the magazine every
Wednesday.
Go! is designed to be a solid
platform to connect our readers
in more diverse — and I hope,
interesting — ways. The maga-
zine gives you plenty of options
to know what is going on where
and in what town, with a calen-
dar of event dates and times for
a host of weekly entertainment
venues throughout the region.
The accompanying website,
goeasternoregon.com, will offer
a mobile-friendly digital ver-
sion of the magazine and cal-
endar to take with you as you
explore Eastern Oregon again.
After more than a year of stay-
ing home, we are all ready to
take to the roads and start cel-
ebrating at festivals, rodeos,
concerts and events throughout
the region.
After trying to find ways to
work more efficiently and work-
ing on joint projects such as
Northeast Oregon Artisans and
AgriBusiness, the six papers
that make up EO Media Group’s
eastside publications are launch-
ing Go! Magazine as another
shared venture
for our readers.
La Grande and
Baker City read-
ers are more than
familiar with the
product, since it
Andrew Cutler has been a staple
of those papers
for more than a decade.
Our six papers — The
Observer, Baker City Her-
ald, East Oregonian, Wallowa
County Chieftain, Blue Moun-
tain Eagle, and Hermiston Her-
ald — are combining resources
to expand the reach of the
magazine.
Ultimately, what we do —
all we do — is centered on our
readers. We are a news product,
sure, but all six newspapers also
provide a vehicle for readers to
know what is going on in the
towns that dot our great region
of Oregon.
That kind of reach is some-
thing we take some pride in.
Eastern Oregon is a big chunk of
real estate. But we have managed
to provide a comprehensive news
package at our newspapers on a
consistent basis for a long time.
While we are proud of that, we
are most proud of the fact that
we can furnish our readers with
complete coverage in a remote
part of our great state.
Finding a way to work more
efficiently by designing and
then executing joint programs
between our newspapers is a
way to “work smarter” and the
payoff — which is what really
matters — is that our read-
ers will gain a wealth of new
information.
Our six papers provide
unprecedented reach across our
region and the addition of Go!
will ensure that our readers con-
tinue to receive the benefit of
our combined newspaper team
strength.
I am especially pleased that
we will be able to give you, the
reader, more resources to make
decisions and to go and see
places and events that are part
of our common heritage.
While it is great that we
are expanding the product to
new areas of the region, none
of it would mean anything if
we didn’t have someone to be
a “champion” for the product,
someone to see it through from
beginning to end week after
week. For us, that someone is
Lisa Britton, who is based at
the Baker City Herald and can
be reached by phone (541-406-
5274) or by email (lbritton@
bakercityherald.com). If you
have an event that you’d like to
let readers know about, she is
the person to contact. We need
information at least a week in
advance of publication, so the
sooner you can submit an event,
the better. We welcome news
about concerts, art shows, festi-
vals, community events, museum
exhibits and more.
Andrew Cutler is the regional
editorial director for the EO
Media Group, overseeing the
content of the Blue Mountain
Eagle and five more newspapers
in Eastern Oregon.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘A new player
in the game of fools’
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-
575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-
1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek
97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-
3075. Email: info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon
97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-
4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City
97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566.
Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873.
Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email:
senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol,
Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax:
503-378-6827. Website: governor.state.or.us/
governor.html.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
To the Editor:
There appears to be a new
player in the game of fools. The
prospective petition to recall
duly elected Grant County
Judge Scott Myers is amateur-
ish and sophomoric in content
and intent. The terms in Mr.
Walker’s petition indicate Judge
Myers has god-like control over
the events of Grant County. The
term “quorum” appears out-
side of his English repertoire
or his mentors’ intellect. One
man does not decide the fate of
Grant County, so why are these
ankle-biting accusations aimed
at only one court member? As
to the lame interpretation of an
oath of office, which is shared
by all members of the court,
it’s not limited to the judge to
indulge in redundant meetings
on demands of one city council’s
incessant badgering for special
financial considerations.
Collaboration, financial issues
and county personnel actions
require a court quorum deci-
sion. “Invest in economic devel-
opment” seems to be reminiscent
of the complaint from John Day
based on the quorum’s denial to
obligate county taxpayer dollars
to the city’s unceasing extrav-
agances and failure to perform
maintenance on streets and util-
ities. The loss of economy
and population decline can be
attributed to the state’s COVID-
19 shutdown, the federal govern-
ment’s bowing before environ-
L
ETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local,
state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No
personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become
property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original
and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they
can be reached for questions. We must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m.
Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to
541-575-1244.
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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send address changes to:
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John Day, OR 97845-1187
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Offi ce Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, offi ce@bmeagle.com
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
mentalists and shutting down of
mills due to lack of timber sales
and the list goes on. Not meeting
with other duly elected officials?
There are three duly elected
county officials. How choosey
are you? Refusal to collaborate,
financial mismanagement, lack
of transparency — who are we
talking about here? Do Walker’s
backers have a mirror?
Folks need to concentrate in
the here and now, not some per-
ceived slight, slander or mistake
in judgement of a quorum in the
past. Consider: the governor can
appoint a replacement judge if
this petition succeeds. The results
can be nasty because she does not
like conservative Grant County.
How about “no”?
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
Phone: 541-575-0710
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