Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM TEST: continued from Page A1 two language arts and two mathematics — and each test will take about about 4 hours to complete. Eighth-graders will also complete a science assessment. At Sandstone, the testing is being presented less as a chore and more as an opportunity, said Principal Larry Usher. “We want to change the perception of testing to make it something to inspire stu- dents to do their best. We’ve told our kids this is their op- portunity to show the state FATE: continued from Page A1 back and take a longer view,” assistant city man- ager Mark Morgan told the city council Monday night. The conference center’s fate came into question in early 2015, when city staff voiced the opinion that it didn’t seem prudent to use the city’s resources to sub- sidize both the Hermiston Conference Center and the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center, which plans to open its event center to the public May 13, with full completion of the surround- ing fair and rodeo grounds in August 2017. The committee’s recom- mendation on Monday was that the city’s top livability priority should be ensuring the completion and success of EOTEC. Once the event center part of the project has WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016 FROM PAGE A1 how good they are and how much they know — just like in athletics,” Usher said. Like a sports season, the school hosted its kickoff par- ty and spirit line and has mo- tivated students through its RZQ ³¿JKW VRQJ´ ² ZULWWHQ and performed by Sandstone choir students. A video of “Sandstone Middle School Testing Theme Song,” written to the tune of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” is available at the school’s website: sms. hermiston.k12.or.us. Usher said the school is fo- cusing on the theme “Be great- er than yesterday” and high- lighting growth rather than been operating for over a year, a consultant should be brought in to study the rela- tionship between the event center and conference center in depth. “Basically, is one canni- balizing the other, or is there actually a complementary relationship?” Morgan said. At that point the city could look at its options with the conference center. In the meantime, the Liv- able Hermiston Committee laid the groundwork for the city to look at what its next big project should be. In 2015 it put out an open-end- ed community survey asking what the top priority should be if the city suddenly had a multi-million dollar windfall for a new project. Morgan said the most popular responses fell into ¿YH FDWHJRULHV $ \HDU round indoor aquatics cen- ter, a youth/family activity center such as a YMCA, straight achievement. As the second year of Smarter Bal- anced assessment, this is the ¿UVW\HDUVWXGHQWVDQGVFKRROV will be able to measure growth on the test. Every Sandstone student also received a handwritten note of encouragement, either from a parent or school staff. “We want to make sure our students who walk in know- ing they aren’t going to hit the benchmark know we’re supporting them just as much as any other student,” Usher STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON said. “If we focus on growth, then achievement will come. Eighth-grader Cheyenne Ruloph moves through a “spirit line” Monday morning We want to keep every student at Sandstone Middle School. The line was one part of the school’s kick off for motivated to do their best.” Smarter Balanced standardized testing. Number of survey respondents who said they “loved” an idea: Indoor aquatic center: 89 percent Downtown revitalization: 86 percent More parks: 83 percent Family/youth activity center: 83 percent Arts and culture center: 64 percent an arts and cultural center, downtown revitalization projects and more parks and trails. More than 1,000 commu- nity members were given a second survey about those ¿YH RSWLRQV DQG PRUH WKDQ 80 people participated in fo- cus groups. In both the survey and the focus groups, an indoor aquatic center had the most support, with 89 percent support in the survey and 93 percent support in the focus groups. Morgan said people made it clear, however, that it was only worth building if it could become a multi-use regional attraction and not simply an indoor lap swim- ming pool. The focus groups’ second priority was a community activity center, while survey respondents’ second choice was downtown revitaliza- tion. An arts and culture center came in last with both groups. The Livable Hermiston Committee recommended that the city begin a feasibili- ty study for an aquatic center, a family activity center or a combination of both housed in the same facility. The city council accept- ed the recommendations to hold off on more studies until 2017. Mayor David Drotzmann commented that it was nice to have commu- nity buy-in on the next steps, and councilor John Kirwan said the committee’s work was helpful in seeing where the city should focus its re- sources after EOTEC is up and running. The plan leaves the con- ference center in limbo for now. A contract with the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce, which is housed in and manages the center, currently runs through the end of 2017. According to information supplied by Morgan in 2015, the city uses money from the transient room tax fund to pay the chamber about $64,000 to run the confer- ence center, plus shells out another $30,000 for insur- ance, utilities and mainte- nance. The center costs about $179,000 a year total to operate but only brings in $130,000 in revenue from events. The city will be on the hook for at least $50,000 a year toward EOTEC’s op- erating costs once the full project is built. A recent insurance ap- praisal valued the conference center building and property at $3.2 million. The conference cen- ter came about in 1994, when the community raised $600,000 and added it to $250,000 from the city and a $300,000 loan from the city’s general fund to reno- vate a former Safeway. T H G I N s l Gir ! k c a b t ou 9 2 Y A M TWO SHOWS! 7PM 10PM Tickets available at the Wildhorse Gift Shop or online at wildhorseresort.com Hurry before they are gone! CASINO • HOTEL • GOLF • CINEPLEX • RV • MUSEUM • DINING • TRAVEL PLAZA 800.654.9453 • PENDLETON, OR • I-84, EXIT 216, wildhorseresort.com. Owned and operated by CTUIR Management reserves all rights to alter, suspend or withdraw promotions/offers at any time.
