Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2005)
School board deals with concerns of Hispanic community 11111111111111 > 111 11 il I ■ 111 The Morrow County School Board struggled to keep a lid on proceedings as a sim m erin g stew o f d issa tisfa c tio n am ong m em bers o f the Irrig o n L atin o co m m u n ity threatened to boil over at the b o a rd ’s reg u lar m eeting Monday night in Irrigon. Complaints ranged from concerns over student safety, to perceived unfair treatment of Hispanic kids, to parents feeling intimidated by school officials, to the perhaps torturously slow pace o f the d is tr ic t’s complaint procedure. “Something’s going on with the teachers and p rin c ip a l,” said R uben Calvillo, a member of the B oardm an H ispanic community, whose parents and siblings live in Irrigon. “When something happens, we report it, but nothing gets done.” “ W e’re not doing secret th in g s ,” in sisted M orrow C ounty School D istric t S u p e rin ten d e n t M ark B urrow s. “ We investigate.” “I assure you I w ant to lis te n ,” added Burrows. “Every incident has been investigated... You haven’t called me. If there are issues, we want to solve Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon them.” B urrow s said that each incident of possible abuse is reported to the district’s Risk Management Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 VOL. 124 NO. 50 8 Pages Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Giving Tree goes up at Murray’s Team, the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, the Teacher S tan d ard s and P ractices C o m m ittee and the D ep artm en t o f H um an Services. Burrows reiterated the d is tr ic t’s co m p lain t procedure, which lays out the chain of authority with the complainant first talking to the teacher, if applicable, then the school principal, then the superintendent and finally the school board. If no results are seen with the in itia l step s then the com plainant is advised to move up to the next level w ith his com plaint. The superintendent and board ack n o w led g ed that resolution of problems could take some time, but stressed that each complaint will be acted upon. Burrows and board C h air C raig M iles also reminded the audience that the district is prevented by law from d iscu ssin g particular students and staff members in public meetings and has rules and procedures that have to be adhered to. D arlene R oa, a m em ber o f the Irrigon Hispanic community, said that H ispanics are often in tim id ate d by school officials and many do not know their rights. “We’re not to be shuffled around. Something has to be done. We’re losing our kids,” she said. She also voiced St. Patrick’s Senior Center needs new roof Blair Keithley stands behind Murray’s Drug is the site of the Giving Tree for children in Morrow County who live in Foster Homes, Area shoppers are asked to take a gift tag from the tree Giving Tree at M urray’s Drug. that displays each child's w ish for the C h ristm as season. Purchase the gift requested, wrap it and place back under the tree with the identifying tag attached, Gifts need to be under the tree by Dec. 17 in order to insure that the child receives their gift by Christmas, Baby grand piano arrives at St. Patrick’s senior center The St. Patrick’s Senior Center in Heppner needs a new roof and it could cost between $30,000 and $50,000, the city council was told Monday night. New City Manger David DeMayo told the council he had met with a contractor and looked over the condition of the roof, which has been leaking, and it was determined a new roof is needed. One of the rooms in the Senior Center is unusable because of the leaking roof, and a tenant had to be shifted to another room. The Heppner Housing Authority, which operates the Sr. Center, does not have enough money in its reserve fund to pay for the roof, so the council discussed other methods of funding the new roof. In the meantime repairs would be made to Fix the leak, DeMayo said. Council Member Judy Buschke of the Housing Authority said there are currently three apartments vacant at the center; however, one of them is not usable because of the leaks. She also reported that the meal held every Wednesday had improved “greatly” since John Gochnauer of Heppner had been contracted to provide the meals. The council also discussed the city’s franchise agreement with David Green owner of Heppner Garbage Disposal. The council agreed in principal to a proposed rate increase for garbage pickup as follows: Current price $9.00 13.9 (2 cans) 18.80 (3 cans) 45.50 ( 1.5 cy dumpster) 57.52 (2 cy dumpster ) Increase $1.80 2.78 3.76 9.10 11.45 Propos« $10.80 16.68 22.56 54.60 68.70 Green said he currently has about 600 accounts in the city even though fuel, insurance and other costs have increased over the past 10 years; prices have not been increased during that time. The council also agreed that the new franchise agreement would be for five years instead of 10. Green agreed that he would make more of an effort to notify customers if he would be unable to pick up garbage on time, possibly with notices at the post office and on TV channel 3. City manager Dave DeMayo (right) along with city crewmembers Roger Ehrmantraut (front), Randy Sample (back right), Brian Harman (back), and also Mike Meligan (left) install piano at Sr. Center. St. Patrick's senior center now has a baby grand piano. It is a mahogany 1920 Baby G rand A m pico Symphonique belonging to Kathy Turner, a new resident o f the center. The piano traveled over 1.000 miles to its new home at the center. At first five men tried setting up the piano, but without success. A cherry picker was brought from Lexington to assist. They needed straps to hold the piano up and sent a city worker (Chad Doherty) to get them . The new city manager, Dave DeM ayo, and crew Randy Sample, Roger Ehrmantraut. Brian Harman and Mike Meligan a nephew of Ms. Turner set the piano on its legs without the use of the cherry picker. K athy hopes to involve the community in playing the piano. Several people have stopped by with family members to play the piano. If anyone knows of som eone who w ould be willing to tune the piano, please contact Kathy at the senior center. The council also heard a report from city Fire Chief Rusty Estes. Estes said it was a “very slow year" for the Fire department in 2005. He said there were a total of four Fires in town, one car fire, one dumpster fire, a couple of flue Fires, and only nine motor vehicle accidents. rv ti concern about the pregnancy rate among Hispanic teens in Irrigon, which she claims is one of the highest in the state. Roa also alleged that Hispanic students were told that they could not speak Spanish at school because the teach ers co u ld not understand them, a charge that was adamantly denied by Burrows. Burrows and board members stressed that the board has been working to engage all members of the community, but reminded the audience that they can’t fix problems they are not aw are of. “ We have phones,” said Miles. “That’s what w e’re here fo r.. .We’re here to hear from you, so p lease call. The superintendent and board handed out phone numbers and in v ited th o se w ith concerns to call them and sch ed u le c o n fid e n tia l appointments, if appropriate, to resolve their issues. Roa stressed that many Hispanic parents are laborers, who are working long hours and money is tight. W hen they are not w orking, said Roa, they want to be home with their kids. Board member Berto Hernandez, a member of the B oardm an H ispanic community, chastised those who do not get involved in the schools, suggesting that they were “lazy”. “I was one of those parents who didn’t want to get involved,” said H ern an d ez. “ Now I'm making the time.” “So you w ere la zy ,” c o u n tered C alv illo , to w hich Hernandez replied “yes.” C ipriano Vera, an Hispanic parent of Irrigon students, said that he felt his c h ild ren w ere tre a ted d ifferen tly from w hite students. He said that his kids have “little problems" at school, but were sent to the alternative school, while white students who got into m ore tro u b le w ere not kicked out of school. He also said that one of his children was sent home from school for wearing red, a supposed gang color, but that white students who wore red were not sent home. “I want my kids in the school, I don’t want them in the street,” said Vera. A fter the m eeting Calvillo’s brother, Jose, who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, also told the G azette that he believed Hispanic kids were being kicked out of school for wearing red, while white kids were not. The board is p lan n in g to in v estig ate requiring students to wear u n ifo rm s, w hich w ould possibly eliminate “gang” c o lo rs, baggy pants, inappropriate outfits, etc., and would ideally give each child an equal footing. At the meeting the district provided headsets for English-Spanish translations provided by Joel Chavez, English Language Learner d ire c to r. and Alma Rodriguez, school liaison. The Morrow County School District prides itself on its English Language continued page two CHRISTMAS SALE! ’""’ A U CL0THIN6 10% OFF M orrow C ounty G rain G rowers Lexington 989*8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For fa rm rq u ip v n rn t. v M t our wob »it« a t WWW men M t
