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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2015)
ANOTHER OPTION FIRST TIME ONLINE SCHOOLING GIVES AREA STUDENTS ALTERNATIVE ECHO/STANFIELD WRESTLERS HAVE INAUGURAL HOME MEET PAGE A3 SPORTS PAGE A11 SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER HERMISTONHERALD.COM Grad rates Homeless dogs get new leash on life up for area schools BY SEAN HART HERMISTON HERALD BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD High schools across the region saw increases in their graduation rates from the class of 2013-14, but none more so than the smaller districts. The Oregon Department of Education released its annual cohort graduation rate and dropout report this week, and many area schools experienced suc- cess that exceeded the state averages. Unlike past years, students who received mod- L¿HG GLSORPDV ZHUH FRXQW ed in the four-year gradua- WLRQ GDWD IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH which likely contributed to the increases of some of the schools. Echo School District, the smallest district in the Hermiston region, saw the largest jump of all the dis- tricts in the area. Although the high school did not have any students who re- FHLYHG PRGL¿HG GLSORPDV in the graduating in the 2013-14 graduating class, about 94.7 percent of last year’s seniors graduated on time with a four-year di- ploma compared with the 2012-13 graduating class Some homeless dogs at the shelter in Hermiston will soon have a second chance to find a new home. Humane Society of East- ern Oregon Pet Rescue Execu- tive Director Beau Putnam an- nounced Thursday the shelter will begin transferring some dogs that may have otherwise been euthanized to the Oregon Humane Society Second Chance Program, which places the ani- mals up for adoption. Putnam said Pet Rescue has transferred smaller dogs to OHS in the past, but breed restrictions prevented some larger dogs from being accepted. He said he con- tacted OHS Thursday and was informed most dogs would now be accepted, and he set up a time to begin transferring dogs the same day. He said he now plans to transfer dogs on a monthly basis and possibly more often. “Beginning early February, they’re going to make a special trip for us, and they’re going to take about five to 10 dogs for us,” he said. “I’m totally ex- SEE ANIMALS/A16 HERALD FILE PHOTO Humane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue volunteer Saige Borrego, 14, Hermiston, feeds the dogs at the shelter -an. 1. Pet Rescue announced Thurs day it will begin transferring animals the shelter cannot house in February. A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW SEE GRADUATION/A7 TODAY’S WEATHER Mostly sunny High: 44º Low: 32º OUTLOOK • SUNDAY Afternoon showers High: 40º Low: 38º • MONDAY Morning light rain High: 55º Low: 42º Chinese Principal Dong Cai’an has a look at StanÀ eld junior Nathan Hurty’s tool belt this week while visiting the À rst studentbuilt home. Chinese administrator impressed by Hermiston homebuilding programs A complete weather forecast is featured on page A2. BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD Find the Hermiston Herald on Facebook and Twitter and join the conversation. While Chinese Principal Dong Cai’an traveled to Hermiston Thursday to see what a “large” school in the United States is like, it wasn’t the size of the high school that he found most interesting. Because Cai’an’s school in China, Shaanxi Shiquan High School, enrolls about 3,000 students, about twice the size of Hermiston High School, HHS isn’t a large school. Cai’an, however, was most impressed with the career and technical education programs avail- able to the high school stu- FOR LOCAL BREAKING NEWS www.HermistonHerald.com dents. Cai’an said Chinese stu- dents spend their school days studying the tradition- al subjects of math, writ- ing, reading and science, but that is all they do. “They are all studying to prepare for the college entrance test,” he said. Chinese students face a good deal of pressure to do well on their college entrance exams because those who do are admitted into a good college. His school, and many others like it in China, Cai’an said, do not have the op- portunities for career and technical training that they do in Hermiston. The clos- MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Chinese Principal Dong Cai’an looks at blue prints for the Columbia %asin Student Homerbuilders À rst studentbuilt house Thursday. est thing they have to those types of programs, he said, are after-school clubs, but none focus on the same W\SH RI ¿HOGV IHDWXUHG LQ Hermiston’s. On Thursday, Cai’an toured the school’s wood and metal shops and other career and technical class- es with John Day School Board member Mike Cos- grove. At the end of their day, they visited the home MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO students are building through the Columbia Ba- sin Student Homebuilders Program. During the tour of the student home site, a couple of students were working on the siding and showing Cai’an how they were con- necting the wiring, heating and air conditioning sys- WHPV DQG JHQHUDOO\ ¿QLVK ing the rest of the house. Cai’an said he thought the project was a great op- portunity for students. “This is really good,” he said. Cai’an also asked Curt Berger, the teacher over- seeing the project, a num- ber of questions. Berger explained to Cai’an the students were involved in every step of the proj- SEE TOUR/A16 Committee considering landscaping regulations Proposed ordinance would require aesthetic improvements in new developments BY SEAN HART Hermiston Herald $1.00 8 08805 93294 © 2014 EO Media Group HERMISTON HERALD 2 To help improve the aesthetics in Hermiston, the city’s Commu- nity Enhancement Committee has been reviewing proposed land- scaping rules for new develop- ments. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said the committee is working on a proposed ordinance that would require certain por- tions of land being developed be devoted to features that would make the community more visu- ally attractive. Hermiston Chamber of Com- merce CEO and committee mem- ber Debbie Pedro said the land- scaping requirements would not require “a large footprint,” but they would have a large impact on the city. “Any nicer aesthetics on the outside landscaping of buildings is always really nice,” she said. “It just adds a touch of class to Hermiston. When you’re talking about enhancing our industrial and commercial zones within the Hermiston boundaries, I think that is just a part of beautifying Hermiston. When that happens, Hermiston becomes more and more attractive to businesses and industry that are looking to move here.” Morgan said the current docu- ment is only a draft, but the com- mittee members have reached a consensus to recommend the guidelines, which would only apply to new businesses and multi-family residential units. Several minor details still need WREH¿QDOL]HGKHVDLGEHIRUHWKH committee solicits initial feed- back from the Planning Commis- sion. Morgan said the Community Enhancement Committee would seek public comment before SEE RULES/A16