L'
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VOL. 114
NO. 43
R F S S [ F.
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Parents upset about class size
R r. i :
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& 7 4
8 Pages Wednesday, October 11, 1995,
By April Hilton-Sykes
A group of parents is deman­
ding that changes be made in
their children's first grade class
at Heppner Elementary School.
Enrollment in the class has
climbed to 33 students and the
parents are upset. Several of
the parents, represented by Dr.
Ed Berretta, the father of an
HES first grader, appeared at
the Monday night meeting of
the Morrow County School
Board Oct. 9, to voice their
concern.
According to HES Principal
Bill Karwacki, the large first
grade class was not anticipated,
with only 22 children expected
to enter first grade at the end
of the kindergarten year. That
number dropped to 20 in the
summer and administration
decided that only one first
grade teacher was needed.
When school started however,
30 children registered and
another three have joined the
class since then.
Dr. Berretta told the assembly
that the classroom numbers
were "unacceptable" and that
the parents want another first
grade teacher hired. He also
said that the parent group
would "take further action"
i and will continue coming back
to the board until the situation
was rectified. "T h e first grade
is no place to skim p," he said.
Dr. Jeanne Berretta, Ed's wife,
commented that the teacher-
student ratio in the HES first
grade is "above the ratio of
what inner city schools a re ."
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
The parents said, in a letter
to the board, that they felt the
first graders were already at a
disadvantage because they had
only two days of kindergarten
per week last year. "...P lacing
these sudents in a small class
room with one teacher is again,
placing them, as well as Ms.
Webber (the first grade teacher)
in an unfair position," read the
letter.
The Morrow County School
Board earlier indicated that
they would not hire an addi­
tional teacher, but instead hired
an educational assistant to
work with the teacher and
students.
The parents, however, main­
tain that the teacher's aide is
Enoch Hickey and Joe Harwood not in the classroom enough,
since she is responsible for
The Hickey family also in­ supervising recesses and the
cludes grandaughter Kyanne, lunch room, which necessitates
three, whom the Hickeys are her taking breaks during stu­
raising. The Hickeys, both 60, dent contact time and class
have six children, Cara, who preparation time. They also say
lives in A thena with her that the room is too small and
children, David, 14, Kevin, 12, the large number of students in
and Rachel, three; Dana and the class creates an unaccep-
her children, Joe, Jay, 14,
Zachary, seven, Daniel, five, all
Pendleton, and, Jeremy, 20,
Roseburg; Jay, with Ricki, 17,
The Bank of Eastern Oregon
and Sunni, 15, and Jacob, five;
has
once again received a five-
April (Jay's twin), Pendleton,
star
rating from Bauer Financial
with Shane, 14, Nick, 12, and
Reports,
Inc., bank president
Kyanne; Judy, Portland; and
George
Koffler
has announced.
Steve, with children Amy, 15,
The
Coral
Gables,
Florida,
Angela, 13, Whitney, seven,
company
evaluates
financial
and Jessica, two, Portland.
data submitted by institutions
to federal regulators. According
to a letter to the bank from Paul
A. Bauer, president of the firm,
this is the 26th quarter that the
five-star rating has been award­
ed to banks and that BEO has
earned the five-star rating each
Pendleton couple buys service station
By April Hilton-Sykes
A long-time Pendleton cou­
ple, quite familiar with the
iexington-H eppner area, have
leased the Le^hgton Service
Station.
Enoch and Bernita Hickey,
Pendleton residents since 1959,
started leasing the station from
owners Buck and Joanne Mor­
ris on Sept. 25.
Enoch, who has had the rural
mail route contract in the area
for the past 18 years, says that
he often stopped in at the sta­
tion to visit with Buck. "I'd
been looking at it (the station)
for quite some tim e," says
Enoch. "It just came at the
right tim e."
In addition to the Heppner-
Fossil mail route, Hickey has
also had the Pendleton-Pasco
route express run since 1981.
The couple also operates the
garbage route in Fossil.
Buck has had 10 years as a
trailer truck driver and nine
years as a Pendleton Police of­
ficer under his belt. He also is
familiar with the service station
business, having worked in one
since he was 15 years old.
L-R: Josh Clark, Sherri Stahl,
years old.
Buck says he plans to be in
the station as much as possible
and wants to get acquainted
with people in the community.
The Hickeys' grandson, Joe
Harwood, 18, will be the sta­
tion manager until the Hickeys
are able to move to Lexington.
Joe grew up in Pendleton and
worked for Quicky Lube as
well as a Pendleton wheat
ranch, McCormick Ranches.
Joe will be commuting until he
is able to find a place to live in
the area. Assistant manager is
Sherri Stahl. Josh Clark is also
employed at the station.
OTPR Court announced
The 1995-96 Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro
Rodeo Court was announced Sunday, Oct. 8, after interviews
and tryouts. Representing this year’s court are (from left):
princesses Dawn Boor, lone: Beth Hermanns, Irrigon; Stor­
my Howard, Heppner; and queen Brenda Holtz, lone.
table level of noise and confu­
sion. Karwacki said that a plan
to move the class to the much
larger m ultipurpose room
would not be feasible because
the room is too cold and a com­
bination of acoustics and high
ceilings would not help lessen
the noise.
The parents are also concern­
ed about the first grade's lop­
sided division, the class has 25
boys and only eight girls.
Both Superintendent Chuck
Starr and Karwacki said that
Heppner Elementary would
pursue multi-age grouping
with the first and second grade
cla sses to help ease the
crowding. Starr said HES is the
only school in the county that
hasn't yet implemented some
kind of multi-age grouping.
Multi-age grouping places a
student in a classroom based on
abilities rather than age.
Karwacki told the Gazette-
Times that classroom size is an
important issue in learning.
"H aving a good ratio of adults
to children in the classroom is
helpful. However, with shrink­
ing budgets and money tight,
this may be a thing of the past.
You've got to live within a
budget and realistically. Our ef­
fort is to try to make the best
situation we c a n ."
Karwacki said that they have
reduced the student/adult ratio
in the class by adding the full
time teacher's aide and another
aide who is in the classroom an
hour a day. He also said that 15
first grade parents have volun­
teered to help out during var­
ious times. Additionally, Kar­
wacki said that he would ex­
plore the parents' suggestion
that the full time aide be in the
classroom at all times except for
her lunch and breaks and that
the class be divided into two
rooms as much as possible.
However, he added, "fust and
foremost, I want to do what the
classroom teacher wants. We're
going to develop the classroom
program largely around the
classroom teacher's recommen­
dations."
N orth M orrow C ounty
schools have traditionally had
larger classrooms than in south
county. Extreme growth there
has prompted the additional of
classrooms in Boardman and Ir­
rigon. Sam Boardman Elemen­
tary School Principal Susan
Tolar said "28, 29, 30" students
per class are typical at SBE.
Their largest class this year is
a kindergarten class with 28.
"T h e district has traditionally
looked at the younger grades
with a great deal of care," said
Bank of EO receives five-star rating
Wheat League
schedules
fall meeting
The Morrow County Wheat
League fall meeting is schedul­
ed for Monday, Oct. 23, at 3
p.m. at Beecher's Cafe in lone.
A social hour is planned at
5:30 p.m ., hosted by Morrow
County Grain Growers, with
dinner, hosted by the Morrow
County Oregon Wheat Grow­
ers League (OWGL), to get
underway at 6:30 p.m.
Topics include an update on
developments for the 1995
Farm Bill by the OWGL staff;
the latest on CRP contracts by
Skip Matthews; new export
market developments by Stan
Timmerman; and the history of
the OWGL by Allan Pinkerton.
The evening will also include
a door prize of a weekend on
the Oregon Coast or a night at
Skamania Lodge, sponsored by
the Bank of Eastern Oregon.
Morrow County OWGL Pre­
sident Judy Rea asks that those
interested in attending RSVP
by October 18.
quarter.
"T o earn our five-star rating,
the highest on a scale from
0-stars to 5-stars, your bank's
tangible capital ratio and or
total risk-based capital ratio ex­
ceeded twice the level required
by federal regulators. Delin­
quencies and repossessed
assets were manageable and
your bank was soundly in­
vested and profitable at March
31, 1995," the letter from Bauer
stated.
County unemployment falls in Aug.
The unemployment rate for
August in Morrow County fell
to 4.6 percent largely on the
strength of seasonal agricultur­
al work. The August level rep­
resents a decline of more than
three percentage points com­
pared with the rate for July.
Compared with the same per­
iod last year, Morrow County's
unemployment rate is more
than one percentage point
lower. The number of unem-
ployed m easured 190 in
August, while the revised level
for July was 310.
Manufacturing employment
increased by 210 jobs in
August. All of the month's gain
was posted by food products,
as employment elsewhere in
manufacturing was unchang­
ed. Small gains posted by the
construction and mining and
trade sectors were canceled out
by losses in services and
government.
Tolar. "W hen the numbers get
high, then we search for
various stra te g ie s." While
many parents remember class
rooms of 30 or more students,
Tolar said that not only is
teaching different, but so are
the students.
Total school enrollment is as
follows: Heppner Elementary,
kindergarten through sixth
grade, 264; Sam Boardman
E lem entary,
Boardm an,
K -5-sligh tly
over
400;
A.C.Houghton Elementary, Ir­
rigon, K-5, 303; Columbia
Junior High, Irrigon, sixth-
eighth grades, 364 to 369;
Heppner Junior High/High
School, ninth-12th, 238; and
lone Schools, K-5, 65, sixth-
eighth, 40, and ninth-12th, 57.
In other business, the board:
-approved a resignation from
Bob French from a three-hour
per day assistant custodial posi­
tion at C olum bia M iddle
School; a medical leave request
from Geneva Mathews, from
her music teaching position for
lone and Heppner schools. The
district will hire a substitute to
fill Mathews' position and will
advertise for a teacher to
replace her until the end of the
year. Mathews' leave is effec­
tive Oct. 23.
-approved maternity leave for
Brenda Newport from her
north end bus driving position;
a transfer for Donna Roy from
her one-on-one special educa­
tion assistant at Heppner High
School to the new temporary
education assistant position at
HES;
-approved employment for
Kellie Adams-Morgan and
Robin McCord, both north end
bus drivers; Donna Bond and
Tracy Gordanier, both one-on-
one special education assistants
at Columbia Middle School;
Kathy Eyster, Amanda Gilbert­
son and Jodi May, temporary
educational assistants at SBE;
Dale Peters and Benn Houk,
extra duty contracts as assistant
football coaches, CMS;
-approved attendance vari­
ances for the Robins family
children (lone attendance area)
to attend Arlington Elementary
School, and Jose Zumidio
(Riverside High attendance
area) to continue attending
Umatilla High School;
-accepted donations of a com­
puter from PGE to Riverside
High School; and a field lining
machine from the Heppner
Booster Club to HHS;
-heard comments from the
OSEA representative concern­
ing negotiations with school
bus drivers;
-heard a curriculum report
from HJH/HHS teacher A1 Beck
on his law class;
-heard reports from district
principals. F1HS Principal Steve
Dickenson reported that four
people have been interviewed
and another will be interview­
ed next week for the vo-ag
teacher's position vacated mid
term by Bill Umbarger, who
resigned. Dickenson added,
however, that none of those in­
terviewed is licensed, so it may
be two to four weeks before a
qualified teacher is in the
classroom;
-heard the first readings of
revisions of student records
policies and administrative
regulations, revisions to site
council policy and administra­
tive regulations and proposed
budget calendar for 1996-97
budget;
-heard announcements of the
following events: Oct. 13,
statewide inservice day, Oct 20,
mediation session, Oct. 26, end
of first nine weeks, Nov. 1 and
2, motivational speaker Dan
Clark who will present pro­
grams for students and par­
ents, Nov. 2,3, parent-teacher
conferences, Nov. 10, Veter­
an's Day holiday.
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