LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
20th Century schools unfit
for 21st Century students
I urge the voters in the Hermiston
School District to join me and Janet
in voting for the upcoming school
bond election. We live in a vibrant,
dynamic, growing community
that brings significant population
growth, including many youngsters
of school age. This alone necessi-
tates the need for more classroom
space. In addition, schools built in
the 20th Century are not equipped
for the needs of the 21st Centu-
ry. Briefly let me enumerate a few
items to consider.
1.) Schools for today need to be
energy efficient. Our old buildings
that have classrooms with exterior
doors do not meet today’s standards.
2.) In the same manner, schools
must be more enclosed to allow for
the security needed in these times.
3.) The schools being replaced
were built before anyone knew of
a thing called the Internet and few
of us understood what the comput-
er age was all about.
Students of the 21st Century are
required to be very technologically
savvy and our schools need to be
equipped to provide this knowledge.
The jobs will be for those who de-
sign, control, and use technology.
Automation and robotics will do
much of the work that was previous-
ly done manually. Vote for 21st Cen-
tury schools for students who will
live and work in this century.
JOHN AND JANET SPOMER
HERMISTON
Replacing aging schools
make fiscal sense
Is there wisdom in the Hermiston
school bond that would tear down
Highland Hills and build a new one?
The bond would replace Rocky
Heights Elementary, fix infrastruc-
ture problems at Sandstone Middle
School, add onto the high school,
and replace Highland Hills Elemen-
tary. I recognize that Rocky is a relic
and needs replacing, Sandstone has
major structural and safety concerns,
and the high school is bursting at the
seams. But why replace Highland
Hills when most of us remember
when it was built?
Because tearing it down and
building an entirely new building
is the financially prudent decision
over the long-term. It gives us more
bang for our buck. The building is
structurally unsound, regular main-
tenance costs are high, the design is
not safe for the children or staff, and
the capacity is smaller than every
other grade school.
Tearing it down and building a
new, higher-capacity school with
better, longer-lasting materials is
the prudent choice and will save our
community far more dollars than
continually patching up the current
building.
Join me in voting yes for the
Hermiston school bond.
SALLY ANDERSON HANSELL
HERMISTON
New schools facilitate
continuing job growth
As lead County Commissioner
for economic development matters
in Umatilla County, let me add some
perspective to the discussion re-
garding the 2017 Hermiston School
Bond Measure.
Schools are an important consid-
eration for new companies in their
consideration of siting in our com-
munities. Potential employers are
concerned because schools affect
quality of life for families of work-
ers they will employ. Aging facilities
with overcrowded classrooms are a
negative in the siting process.
No one likes paying higher taxes.
My efforts in economic development
are to help bring economic growth to
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
our communities to help ‘flatten’ tax
increases. Businesses pay property
taxes on their business property; their
employees live in homes that gen-
erate property taxes; both produce
‘spin-off’ prosperity to a community.
Growth means more tax payers to
help absorb the cost of services pro-
vided by taxes including schools.
I support growth; I support the
2017 Hermiston School Bond.
BILL ELFERING
HERMISTON
Bond benefit student
learning for years
We are writing in support of the
Hermiston School District bond pro-
posal that will be presented to vot-
ers in May. As long-time Hermiston
residents, our five children were
raised in this community and edu-
cated in Hermiston School District
schools from kindergarten through
grade 12. From the time our oldest
child entered first grade through the
graduation of our youngest — a 27-
year span — we joined many other
parents and community members
and proudly volunteered alongside
teachers, staff and Hermiston School
District officials as they worked to
ensure that the community’s expec-
tation of quality education would
be fulfilled. And, when faced with
harsh realities of failing infrastruc-
ture in old facilities and exploding
student populations, the Hermiston
community has stepped-up, passing
bonds that built new schools and
modernized other existing schools
to extend their years of useful life.
Hermiston, now the largest
community in Eastern Oregon,
continues to grow — in jobs, new
businesses, and record enrollment
numbers. Since 2008, when the last
bond passed, enrollment of more
than 600 new students has pushed
existing Hermiston facilities to ca-
pacity and necessitated the use of
more and more modular classrooms
at elementary school campuses.
The proposed HSD bond will
deal with these enrollment growth
issues as well as addressing aging
infrastructure and safety and secu-
rity needs. In 2015, an independent
safety audit of HSD schools by the
Hermiston Police Department found
that the district’s two oldest facili-
ties, Rocky Heights (built in 1962)
and Highland Hills Elementary
(built in 1980), failed to meet current
safety standards. The horrors of San-
dy Hook and other school tragedies
closer to home highlight the impor-
tance of making our schools as safe
as they can be. This bond allows for
replacement of Rocky Heights and
Highland Hills and construction of
a new elementary school on dis-
trict-owned property. Building de-
signs will incorporate elements that
better control access to campus and
classrooms and limit numbers of
doors to outside for greater safety of
students, faculty, and staff.
The bond will also address de-
ferred maintenance and replacement
of failing heating and cooling sys-
tems at Sandstone Middle School
and fund expansion and safety/access
project at Hermiston High School.
This school bond is an invest-
ment in the future of our growing
community and will provide safer
and more accommodating learning
environments for Hermiston stu-
dents for years to come. Please join
us in voting “YES” for Hermiston
School District Bond this May.
STEVE AND KATHY ELDRIGE
HERMISTON
Approving bond will
accommodate growth
Voters in Hermiston will have
an opportunity to vote on May 16,
2017, to authorize a $104 million
school capital improvement bond. I
am writing today to encourage read-
ers to vote in favor of this bond.
Hermiston School District has
been dealing with significant en-
rollment growth for the past several
years. Predictions from the Portland
State University population study
commissioned by the district sug-
gest that enrollment in Hermiston’s
schools could increase by as much
as 24 percent, or 1,100 students,
in the next seven years. In schools
where capacity is already a signifi-
cant concern at current levels, add-
ing this number of students would
create significant challenges for ed-
ucators and students alike.
Adding even more temporary
classroom space in the form of mod-
ular buildings is not a sustainable
way to accommodate this enroll-
ment growth. Based on the PSU
estimates, an additional 56 mod-
ular classrooms would be needed
to accommodate anticipated stu-
dent growth. The infrastructure at
our oldest schools is not designed
to handle the additional students
housed in modular classrooms. Caf-
eterias, libraries, and other common
spaces in schools are not equipped to
handle the additional number of stu-
dents above and beyond the original
designed capacity in each building.
Additionally, funds to either pur-
chase or lease modular buildings
and install them at each location
come directly out of the district’s
general fund. Adding more modular
classrooms could directly impact the
educational program of the district,
potentially leading to staffing reduc-
tions, delaying important curriculum
adoptions, and possibly leading to
the reduction or elimination of im-
portant programs that enhance stu-
dent achievement.
Please join me in voting yes
for the Hermiston School Bond
on May 16.
JOSH GOLLER
MEMBER, HERMISTON SCHOOL
BOARD
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