FALL SPORTS: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE 2018 SEASON
FALL SPORTS
A complete guide to
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018
the 2018 season
$1.00
HermistonHerald.com
INSIDE
GUN PLEA
Tyree Houfmuse pleads
to a single count of felon
in possession of a firearm
in connection to the 2017
shooting death of James
Cragun.
PAGE A3
FOOD TRUCKS
The city of Hermiston opens
up more licenses for mobile
food vending, relaxes rules.
PAGE A3
MEMORIES
Hermiston is seeking
more contributions for a
time capsule to be buried
in honor of the new
Harkenrider Senior Activity
Center.
PAGE A7
BY THE WAY
Pep rally set for
Friday
In honor of the foot-
ball team’s season opener
this Friday, Hermiston
High School students can
get up bright and early
for a pep rally the morn-
ing before the big game.
KEPR, The TV station
from Pasco (whom the
Hermiston Bulldogs will
play that night) will be at
the school to film the rally.
Maple bars, gift cards and
a pizza delivery to that
night’s game will be given
away. The rally is open
to the public and starts at
6 a.m. in the Hermiston
High School gym, at 600
S. 1st St., Hermiston.
Kick-off for Friday’s
game is at 7 p.m. at Ken-
nison Field.
• • •
The city of Hermiston
has been chosen to partici-
pate in an affordable hous-
ing pilot program for the
state.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann said during Mon-
day’s city council meeting
that the opportunity will
include some dollars to
explore new ways to solve
affordable housing short-
ages in the city, with the
hopes that those ideas can
then be applied to other
parts of the state.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Teacher Theresa Stangel reads instructions for students to write a short biography about themselves in a Bulldog catering class Monday at Hermiston
High School. For more first day of school photos from around the district, see A15.
New teachers hope to give students
marketable skills
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
H
ermiston’s youngest group of students start school today,
joining schools that are bigger and busier than ever.
Two days after the rest of the district’s students began,
Hermiston’s kindergarteners arrive Wednesday.
Hermiston superintendent Tricia Mooney said they wel-
comed about 5,000 students on Monday, and anticipate about
450 more from the kindergarten class.
At the elementary and middle levels, students streamed
through the doors on Monday and hugged their teachers and
friends, eager to start school — a feeling mixed with apprehen-
sion for their parents.
“I said hello to a mom and a child, and asked how they slept
last night,” said board chair Karen Sherman when greeting stu-
dents at Sunset Elementary on Monday. “The kid said he slept
great. The mom said she got one hour of sleep.”
Students at the high school are getting ready to jump into
classes, and in some case, real-world experience.
Hermiston High School welcomed several new teachers this
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Teacher Brent Parks gives a walk though of the shop to new
students during the first day of class Monday at Hermiston High
School.
year, including some in three career-focused subjects: family
and consumer sciences, welding and woods, and health services.
Brent Parks, the new welding and woods teacher, is stepping
See TEACHERS, Page A16
See BTW, Page A16
Superintendent resigns on first day
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
The Hermiston School Board
has voted unanimously to accept
the resignation of its superinten-
dent, Dr. Fred Maiocco.
The board will pay Maiocco
$281,346 as part of a separation
agreement. The majority of that
money, $243,368.30, will be paid
in a lump sum. The district will
pay him $27,456 in PERS con-
tributions, and $10,521.70 in a
health benefit account.
Maiocco is currently on active
military leave, serving with the
U.S. Army Reserves in Europe,
Africa and the Middle East.
The decision came after the
board said they were informed in
June that Maiocco’s deployment
had been extended until January
2020. Previously, he was sched-
uled to return to his job as super-
intendent in January 2019.
The board approved a separa-
tion agreement at a meeting on
Monday, which stated that they
appreciated Maiocco’s service
to the district and with the mili-
tary, but that both parties recog-
nized the negative effects Maioc-
co’s prolonged leave was having
on the district. The official date
of Maiocco’s resignation in the
agreement is June 30, 2018, the
end of the last fiscal year.
“We started having the con-
versation shortly after Dr. Maioc-
co’s deployment,” said board
vice-chair Josh Goller. “We knew
there was a possibility it could
be extended — and then we
received word his deployment
was extended.”
Goller said the board received
a letter dated May 26 about
Maiocco’s deployment extension
in early June.
Board chair Karen Sher-
man read out a brief resignation
statement from Maiocco, which
thanks the board and praises the
staff and students.
“The current world situa-
tion demands that I remain in
uniformed active military ser-
vice beyond the term which we
originally contemplated when
the board granted me a leave of
See MAIOCCO, Page A16
Fred Maiocco