A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018
FROM A1
retained some strategies and
many staff members, the
way special programs oper-
ates is different from the
days before it left the Inter-
Mountain Educational Ser-
vice District (IMESD).
It has been nearly four
years since Hermiston left
the ESD, stating it wanted
to have more control over
funds the ESD gets from
per-student payments from
the state. When Hermis-
ton left, it took control of its
special programs and ser-
vices like assessment and
evaluation, speech language
pathologists (SLPs) and
school psychologists.
Wilson said staffing lev-
els didn’t really change.
There are about 30 staff
members in special pro-
grams. But, he said, the level
of access between schools
and special educators, as
well as the roles of special
programs staff, are different.
The increased focus on
Hermiston let evaluation
specialists tailor assess-
ments more specifically to
each student.
Wilson said they discov-
ered some of their assess-
ments
were
culturally
biased, and a disproportion-
ate number of students were
being identified as special
needs when the issue was
actually related to language
or culture.
“We’ve tried to tailor our
assessments to remove as
much cultural bias as possi-
ble,” he said.
But hiring speech lan-
guage pathologists and
school psychologists is still
a challenge for both entities,
and Wilson said there tends
to be more turnover in those
positions.
He said the district strug-
gled with speech therapy for
a while, but quickly real-
ized that speech therapy by
video, or “teletherapy,” was
not working.
“Parents
resoundingly
said it was not effective,” he
said. The district now uses
an outside agency, called the
Hello Foundation, to pro-
vide speech therapy, which
operates on-site.
IMESD superintendent
Mark Mulvihill said the
ESD still provides several
services to Hermiston.
The ESD funds pro-
grams from a few differ-
ent sources. The majority
of the programs Hermiston
opted out of are covered by
the IMESD’s general fund.
About 95 percent of that
money went to the schools,
based on how many students
they have enrolled, and
about 5 percent goes to the
ESD itself.
Mulvihill said when
Hermiston withdrew, they
received about $2.4 million.
But the ESD also provides
some services that are based
on state and federal grants.
Hermiston still receives sev-
eral services, including for
autism, deaf and hard of
hearing students, vision and
traumatic brain injuries.
“We have to serve the
kids that reside in those
towns, not the districts,”
Mulvihill said.
Debbie and Angelo Her-
rera have a daughter who
is now 15, and has received
special services in Herm-
iston since she was a small
child.
Angelo said there have
been some ups and downs
since the switch from the
ESD.
“The first thing that
comes to mind is the turn-
over,” he said. “It seems like
there’s always an SLP job
open.”
Previously, he said, their
vided a warm place to sleep
for 84 individuals. Addie
Zumwalt, the board’s vice
chair, said she has been vol-
unteering at the shelter for
the last three years because
she believes it provides an
important service to the
community.
“I just like the idea of
giving people a warm, safe
place to stay,” she said.
Board member Steph
Jackson said volunteering
is easy — it’s mostly just
keeping an eye on things
and maybe getting some-
one a glass of water.
“After a while you get in
a routine,” she said.
Zumwalt, Hill and Jack-
son were at the house that
hosts the warming sta-
tion on Monday night,
making preparations for
the season. Zumwalt and
Hill were hand-letter-
ing signs with information
about the warming station,
while Jackson was stapling
together packets of infor-
mation and paperwork for
the upcoming trainings.
They have been work-
ing late into the night
sorting supplies into tote
boxes, setting up rooms and
cleaning.
“Steph and I have been
here until 4 or 5 in the
morning after we get our
kids to bed, getting things
done,” Hill said.
She said some compa-
nies have provided services
such as extermination and
HVAC inspection for free.
They are still looking for
someone willing to grade
the gravel driveway and
parking lot, and need some
volunteers to help finish
deep-cleaning the building.
While the warming sta-
tion serves Hermiston’s
homeless population, it is
also open to others who
temporarily need a warm
place to sleep. Hill said in
the past they have served
people who were traveling
through town, got stranded
and couldn’t afford a hotel.
Families have also shown
up after their heat went out.
Men and women sleep
in separate rooms on thick
pads on the floor. The
ESD
continued from Page A1
thing,” she said. “How to
make friends, solve con-
flicts, how to calm your
body,” she said. “The big-
gest difference between this
and other classes is that we
focus on it every minute of
class, even when math is
happening.”
Though these students
spend some or all of their
academic time in special-
ized classes, they join their
grade-level peers for classes
like P.E., music, and art.
“Whenever we remove
a student to a special class-
room, we always have a plan
to get them back into a tradi-
tional classroom,” said B.J.
Wilson, Hermiston’s Special
Programs director.
Beckley said while their
strategy has largely stayed
the same since she started in
Hermiston 18 years ago, a
growing number of students
need those services.
“We look at it more from
a trauma-informed lens than
before,” she said. “The need
for kids dealing with trauma
has increased. We have an
alarming number of students
in the foster care system.”
Wilson said to be placed
in special programs, a stu-
dent has to go through an
assessment. If a teacher or
parent thinks a child might
need special services, the
district has evaluation spe-
cialists who will determine
what services, if any they
need to receive.
Though Hermiston has
HELP
continued from Page A1
own schedules by signing
up online for shifts they are
willing to cover. They can
work 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., 7
p.m. to midnight, midnight
to 4 a.m. or 4-6:30 a.m. No
one ever works alone, and
the building has doors that
automatically lock when
closed.
Last year, the Hermis-
ton Warming Station pro-
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Educational assistant Lijuan Shen helps sixth-grader Nicole Neustal learn to type Thursday,
Nov. 1, at Sandstone Middle School in Hermiston.
WE HEAR YOU!
daughter had the same SLPs
since she was in elementary
school.
“Now she has a pretty
good rapport with the girls,”
Debbie said. “But it took a
little bit.”
Another parent, Branda-
lynn Gorman, has had some
complaints. She said her son,
who is autistic, had been
violent with another stu-
dent in class, lashing out due
to a sensory disorder. After
suspending him several
times this year, his school
attempted to shorten his day.
But Gorman said they tried
to do so without her permis-
sion. She said she was in the
middle of working through
the situation with the dis-
trict, but so far was dissatis-
fied with the way things had
been going.
Wilson said he could
not comment on the spe-
cific incident. He said some-
times staff will recommend
a shortened day for a stu-
dent if they feel it’s bene-
ficial. But he said they will
not do so without the input
of the parent.
Angelo said he doesn’t
feel that services are vastly
better in Hermiston now, but
said they have the potential
to be.
But he added that some
people expect services to
improve for their child auto-
matically, without advocat-
ing for them.
“We get involved,” he
said. “You can’t just expect
things to happen, there’s got
to be some follow through.”
“But when we talk to spe-
cial programs, they’re usu-
ally listening,” Debbie said.
warming station does not
provide meals but does pro-
vide hot chocolate, coffee
and snacks. The building
is only open in the eve-
nings — guests have to find
somewhere else to spend
their days.
For more information
about volunteering, contact
Hill at 541-289-2150. The
warming station could also
use donations of items such
as cleaning supplies, laun-
dry supplies, gloves, hand
warmers, socks, snacks, hot
chocolate and ear plugs.
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