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