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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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