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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
Hermiston Herald WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016 HermistonHerald.com HOME & GARDEN Special section inside $1.00 ABOUT TOWN Take the clean water challenge By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer. STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON Eighth-grader Andros Mendez moves through a “spirit line” Monday morning at Sandstone Middle School. The line was one part of the school’s kick off for Smarter Balanced standardized testing. SANDSTONE CELEBRATES 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 School takes pep-rally approach to Smarter Balanced testing By JENNIFER COLTON Staff Writer S tandardized testing is something to celebrate at Sandstone Middle School. Monday, parents, staff and teachers celebrated a “kick- off” rally for the school’s 505 students, including a “spirit line” where all students received a high-¿ ves or hand- shakes and were cheered as they entered school. For about 33 percent of those students, the school day after the kickoff began with 00 minutes of testing. For the ¿ rst 00 min- utes of the day each day now through May, students will work through the tests to gauge skills and progress in language arts, math and science. *iven for the ¿ rst time in Hermiston last year, the Smarter Balanced assessment replaces the OAKS — Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills — test and measures how well stu- dents are doing under the Common Core standards. Students in grades three through eight, as well as 11th-graders, will take the test once. Students who receive a score of 3 or 4 are considered pro¿ cient and on track to graduate high school “college and ca- reer-ready.” All Hermiston elementary schools, as well as Sandstone and Armand Larive Middle School, will complete Smarter Balanced testing this year. Part of the challenge for educators with the new test is that results will not be available immediately. With OAKS, schools received almost immediate feedback. With Smarter Balanced, test results will not be available until this summer, even though students began testing this week. Every sixth and seventh grader will complete four tests — See TEST, A16 STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON Staff and parents from Sandstone Middle School made a spirit line for students on Monday morning to celebrate the kick off of the Smarter Balanced testing this week. The school is working on increasing student pride and motivation for standardized testing. Conference center’s fate unsettled Decision pushed to 2017 after EOTEC is operational By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer The city hasn’t decided what it will do with the Hermiston Conference Center or what its role will be once the Eastern Ore- gon Trade and Event Center opens. The Livable Hermiston Committee was formed to answer that particular question but it is recommending the city wait and ask again late next year. The committee also came back with a report on where residents want to see the city’s money spent overall — including a pos- sible indoor aquatic center and family/ youth activity center. “They recommended that the city step See FATE, A16 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS The Hermiston Conference Center is a heavily used facility, but what its future will be after the main building of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center is still uncertain. City ofÀ cials plan to re-evaluate the Conference Center and its À nancial contributions to it ne[t year. The Hermiston Altrusa Club is issuing a two-week challenge, asking Hermis- ton residents to only drink tap water during that time, then give the money they would have spent on sodas, coffee, tea or alcohol to the :ater 3roMect, a nonpro¿ t that digs wells in Africa. The point is to allow people to donate without having to stretch their budget, and help people be more aware of just how prevalent clean drinking wa- ter is in their lives. “For us, it just comes out of the tap. We don’t even have to Hughes think about it here,” Stephanie Hughes, chair of Altrusa’s International Relations Committee said. But in Africa, young wom- en much trudge miles every day carrying a heavy jug of water. “These kids are risking their lives for it,” Hughes said. The idea for the chal- lenge started after a mem- ber of the committee read “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park. Hughes said it was ironic that drink- ing only water would be a sacri¿ ce for Hermiston residents, while drinking that same water would be a huge blessing for people in other parts of the world. To kick off the chal- lenge, Altrusa International is hosting an event from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at McKenzie Park with re- freshments, giveaways and a water-carrying obstacle course. Participants will be given a Water Project wrist- band and a chart to track the money they are saving. A second event will also be held at the park on April 30 to celebrate everyone’s achievements and collect donations. People can also donate to Hermiston’s chal- lenge page online at thewa- terproject.org and search for Hermiston under “Find a fundraising page.” Elementary school stu- dents in Hermiston are also being given the op- portunity to participate in the challenge via an essay contest about the need for clean water in Africa, due April 22. They can get in- formation about the essay prompts and word mini- mums from their school library. Stanfi eld principal leaving district Stan¿ eld Secondary School will need a new principal next fall. Current principal Bryan Johnson has accepted a po- sition as assistant principal/ athletic director at Ephrata High School in Washington state and will serve his last day in Stan¿ eld on June 30, 2016. Johnson calls Ephra- ta his hometown. “It is a job that I feel I am ¿ t for and will enjoy. It may not open again for another 20 to 30 years, so it was go- ing to be now or never pos- sibly. We have had a great experience in Stan¿ eld and we’ll truly miss the students, staff and community,” John- son said in a press release. Johnson served six years at the district as a teacher/ athletic director, then four years as school principal.
