Hermiston
Herald
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
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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
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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.