Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 20, 2004 - SEVEN
Teens in the Steens
Written by the lone
Journalism Club
A pre-dawn party o f
16 lone High School juniors
and seniors set out armed
with camping gear, warm
clothes and a notebook for
Southern O regon T he
entourage was chaperoned
by four p aren ts, fo u r
community members, their
principal and their teacher.
The objective of this Natural
Resources field trip was to
o bserve the g eo lo g ical
w onders
o f O regon,
how ever, these stu d en ts
came away with a lot more
Amy Jep sen , 11th
grade, said, “My favorite
part was climbing to the
summit o f the Steens and
seeing such an incredible
view from 10,000 feet high
We could see in all directions
and for miles.”
“It was fun. 1 learned
different terms for geology
like what a gunsight ridge
was People who live out
there are very rural and far
away from civilization 1
could only handle living out
there for a little bit; not all
the time The landscape was
sim ilar to here w hich
su rp rised me w ith the
sagebrush, but it was way
more flat.” Commented Kyle
Palmateer, U pgrade
Tyler B row n, 11th
grade, added, “ I liked it
when we w ent cave
spelunking in the Diamond
Craters. Crawling around
u n d erg ro u n d w as c o o l
collecting lava bombs and
stuff My dad went on the
trip too; I guess that was
cool too ”
“ I think everyone
should view the Kiger Gorge
at some point in their life - it
was absolutely awesome,”
remarks Barbara Holland,
12th Grade.
“ T his
is
an
opportunity to learn about
natural resources in the field,
anything from the new
management policies o f the
S teens
C o o p erativ e
agreem ent to looking at
alpine glaciation features, to
traveling on the highest road
in Oregon The camping and
the camaraderie is fiin also,”
said Duane Neiffer, Natural
Resources teacher
R ecalls
Bryn
B row ning, “ The m ost
amazing part o f this trip were
the students At each stop
they ju m p ed ou t w ith
notebooks and pencils This
group climbed anything and
everything and loved to
throw rocks into any type of
water They were divided
into cook groups, car groups
and camp groups I did bring
extra food, but soon realized
that each student pulled their
own weight and some are
pretty good cooks No one
complained about setting up
and breaking camp three
times and everyone pitched
in to help others. We all
rotated cars so that we could
spend time with the different
chaperones and it seems that
we laughed most o f the trip
My favorite part was the
aspen groves with all the
vibrant oranges, reds and
yellows.”
The group had an
extensive itinerary, which
follows:
Day O n e- lone to
Diamond, OR via Ironside,
Beulah Reservoir, Juntura
and Crane;
Day
T w o-
Diamond, OR to Roaring
Springs Ranch (south o f
French Glen) via lava beds,
Hammond Ranch and the
Malheur Wildlife Refuge,
Day
T hree-
Roaring Springs Ranch to
Inglewood, OR (north o f
Burns) via the sumrnit o f the
Steens M ountain Range,
French Round Barn, The
N arro w s and R oaring
Springs Cave; and
Day
F ou r-
Inglewood, OR to lone via
Pictured from left to right (Front Kim) Austin Arhallo, Kelly Thompson, Taylor McElligott, Bryn Browning, Kyle Palmateer
(Back Row) Duane Neiffer, Ashly Grams, (behind Ashly, Virgil Morgan) Abby Key, TVIer Raible, Tyler Brown, Barbara Holland,
Amy Jepsen, John Walton, Dan Long, James Acock, Sara Peck, Arthur Eckstrom, Jenny Griffith.
John Day Fossil Beds, Cant miles, one show er, cold to unload notebooks full of '^eeting, which will be held
Ranch and Dairy Queen
nights and hot days, the n o tes, soil sam ples and
8 at fum > tne class
A fter alm ost 900 group pulled into lone ready several varieties and sizes o f will present their trip logs
rocks. At the next lone board Please join us if you can
Umatilla-Morrow ESD to take over Union-Baker
contracts worth $9 million M orrow C ounty School be on the students and their
On Friday, October
8,
O regon
School
S u p e rin ten d e n t
Susan
Castillo announced that the
Departm ent o f Education
would be removing almost
$13 m illion w o rth o f
contracts from the troubled
U n io n -B ak er E d u catio n
S ervice D istrict
T his
amount is spread over a two-
year biennium and includes
instructional services for
youth corrections, regional
special education oversight
and early intervention/early
childhood education
The Department also
announced that they would
be searching for alternative
p ro v id ers
for
th o se
contracts
Today,
ODE
fo rm ally n o tified the
Umatilla-Morrow Education
Service District that they are
the recommended contractor
for approximately $9 million
w orth o f those contracts
covering regional special
education management and
early intervention/childhood
e d u catio n
program s.
Regional oversight would
include Umatilla, Morrow,
U nion, Baker, W allow a,
Grant and Malheur counties
As part o f the
contracting process, ODE
will be sending a special
team to Pendleton for an on
site v isita tio n p rio r to
co m p letely tu rn in g the
programs over to the new
c o n tra c to r In ad d itio n ,
Judge Frank Yraguen, who
served as the m ed iato r
b etw een lo n e and the
Preschool students trot through lone
There’s
absolutely
no substitute
for 26 years
judicial
experience.
Cristi Crowell, with help from Penny Krebs, gave the
tudents of Creative Care Preschool in lone pony cart rides.
Front Row L-R): Aaron Smythe, Kristi Crowell and Wyatt
dcNary; (Back Row L-R): Maggie Flynn, Wyatt Steagall,
*enny Krebs and Ivy Sandford.
R e-elect
C h a rlo tte G r a y
mm
fo r J u s tic e o f the P e a c e
Paid for by C harlotte Gray
(Front R om L-R): Leslie Browning, Kristi Crowell and Kaitlin
Garrett; (Back Row L-R): Joey Olsen, Penny Krchs and Morgan
Orem.
Morrow
County
Clerk
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Paid for bv the Committee to Elect Cydc Mane Estes
District, will be facilitating
the contract transfers on
behalf o f ODE.
In learning o f the
new s,
S u p erin ten d en t
G eorge M urdock said he
was extremely pleased that
the
D ep artm en t
is
recommending the Umatilla-
M o rro w ESD for this
responsibility. “More than
half o f the students served by
these programs live in our
ESD and as the largest
regional agency in Eastern
Oregon, I believe that we
have staff and the capacity
to provide the kind o f high
quality m anagem ent that
ODE is seeking.”
He went on to say,
“there are excellent people
already providing direct
services in the other five
counties including Union
and Baker and 1 am looking
forward to the opportunity
o f working closely with them
to help p e rp e tu ate the
outstanding work they are
doing in serving the needs of
children who qualify for
these services.”
“ I know that there
has been c o n sid erab le
consternation on the part of
parents, students and staff at
the grassroots level as these
events have unfolded and we
are anxious to provide
assurances that there will no
b reak s
in
program
continuity. Many o f these
services require licensed staff
m em bers w ith com plex
certification and unusual
skills and we want to make
sure that we can keep them
on-board.”
M urdock w as in
Salem on Oct. 13 and 14
meeting with state officials
and he was in LaGrande on
Oct 18 meeting with staff at
the Union-Baker ESD “It is
our hope,” he said, “to be
able to meld together the
administrators and staff from
our two agencies in order to
be able to capitalize on the
strengths o f all involved
While the issues that have
distracted us during the past
sev eral m onths have
involved adults, we need to
continue to be reminded that
our primary focus needs to
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unique needs.”
ODE has m ade it
very clear that accountability
will be a top priority for their
new contractors and that
they plan to accelerate their
involvem ent in term s o f
program oversight
The
c o n tra c ts
invo lv in g in s tru c tio n a l
p ro g ram s
fo r
y o u th
d e te n tio n and ju v e n ile
corrections will most likely
be turned over to agencies
lo cated
n earer
the
institutions they serve The
U m atilla-M orrow ESD is
not involved in th o se
contracts and also does not
pro v id e
a lte rn ativ e
education programs. Two of
the program s- long-term
care and treatment and the
R iverbend C o rre c tio n s
program , are both in the
LaGrande School District
and could be handled by that
district Should LaGrande
choose not to go that
direction, then the Umatilla-
M orrow ESD considered
option two by ODE
A dded M urdock,
“Our board has long felt that
the regional contracts and
o v ersig h t o f the early
childhood/early intervention
programs ought to be in our
ESD since we have the
majority of the students We
have experience in this area
and it is a natural fit If we
w ere to look at o th er
questions related to Union-
Baker such as alternative
education or a potential
merger, that would require
m ore d iscu ssio n
and
direction from the board.”
T here
are
20
education serv ice districts in
the S tate o f O regon
providing a wide range o f
regional services with the
largest responsibility being
Special E d u c a tio n The
ESDs also provide a wide
array o f services in support
o f the No Child Left Behind
Act including curriculum,
staff development, services
for second language learners
and assessment and testing.
Some ed u ca tio n service
districts also provide a series
o f specialized services such
as information technology,
c o o p erativ e p u rch asin g ,
alternative education, media,
technology in the classroom
and printing
T he
U m a tilla -
M orrow ESD handles a
v ariety o f m an ag em en t
contracts in the areas o f
b u sin ess
serv ice s,
tech n o lo g y ,
hum an
resources, purchasing, and
Special Education The ESD
serves as the business office
for lone. Helix, Ukiah, the
O regon A sso c ia tio n o f
Education Service Districts,
the Oregon Small Schools
A sso ciatio n
and
the
Nixyaawii Charter School