BULLDOGS EDGE PASCO IN OT NAILBITER » PAGE A8
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
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INSIDE
VIOLATION
The DEQ fi ned Lamb Weston
for wastewater violations at
their Hermiston plant.
Page » A3
DANCE
Veterans and Gold Star fam-
ilies are invited to share the
love at a Valentine’s dance.
Page » A4
TOPS
A Hermiston club helps
members lose weight and
keep it off .
Page » A13
BY THE WAY
Meet the
Boardman
fi re chief
candidates
Community
mem-
bers are invited to meet
candidates for Board-
man Rural Fire Protec-
tion District’s chief on
Sunday.
The meet and greet
event will run from noon
to 3 p.m. at the SAGE
Center, 101 Olsen Road
in Boardman. The can-
didates will be formally
introduced at 12:30 p.m.
Finalists are Dale Brit-
ton, Hal Bumgarner,
John Clark, Adam Cole
and Michael Hughes.
Britton has 27 years of
fi re experience and served
as a lieutenant in the Tum-
water, Washington, fi re
department for 13 years.
He has an associate’s
degree in fi re science.
Bumgarner has 28
years in the fi re service
and is currently a chief
offi cer for the Pottawato-
mie, Kansas, fi re district.
He has a master’s degree
in security administration.
Clark has 40 years in
the fi re service, with a
master’s degree in safety
administration. He is cur-
rently the fi re chief in
Baker City, where he has
served since 2018.
Cole has 13 years of
experience in the fi re ser-
vice and an associate’s
degree in fi re science. He
is the captain and training
For Hermiston,
increased graduation
rates are a long game
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
A
rising tide doesn’t always lift all
boats.
The Oregon Department of Edu-
cation announced last week that the state’s
80% graduation rate for the 2018-19 school
year was the highest ever, and although most
Umatilla County schools grew along with
the state, Hermiston High School remains
behind the average for on-time graduations.
Administrators at Eastern Oregon’s big-
gest district know they have their work cut
out for them.
At 74.37%, the district saw less than a
one-percentage point increase in its overall
graduation rate during the 2018-19 school
year. But Scott Depew, director of second-
ary instruction, is not surprised.
“We had an 8% increase the year before,
and that was huge,” he said. “Everything this
time held to our projections.”
Depew said the previous year’s big jump
came from a few fast-acting interventions.
A few years back, the district dissolved its
alternative school and merged those students
to the high school. Graduation rates saw a
drop as a result.
The addition of a graduation coach,
increased monitoring of early warning indi-
cators and the heightened tracking of atten-
dance data in recent years played a big help
2018-19
GRADUATION
RATES
State of Oregon:
80%
Hermiston:
74.4%
Pendleton:
79.8%
Morrow County:
88%
Milton-Freewater:
79.9%
Umatilla:
87%
Athena-Weston:
87.8%
Stanfi eld:
94.4%
Pilot Rock:
75%
Echo:
87%
Ione:
100%
Helix:
93.8%
Ukiah:
100%
in boosting the numbers, Depew said.
And now, the district is turning to inter-
vention methods administrators say need
longer to take hold.
“What we’re trying to do is build a sys-
tem that’s sustainable,” Depew said. “An
increase in graduation rates is not going to
happen overnight.”
Among those interventions, Depew lists
the district’s recent adoption of the supple-
mental Read 180 and Math 180 programs
and the individualization of the newcomer
center programs across elementary, middle
and high schools.
“I’ll be honest, we’ve got work to do,”
he said. “We’re going to start to see some of
these numbers rise.”
Student populations that received fewer
four-year diplomas during the last school
year included the migrant student popula-
tion, which saw a more than a 10% drop,
and the white student population, which saw
a 6% drop.
Depew said last year, there was a dis-
tinct number of white students who were
unsuccessful in graduating with diplomas
or attaining their GEDs. He added the grad-
uation rate of the migrant student popula-
tion, which was 40% last year, is prone to
fl uctuation.
“A lot of our kids weren’t graduating
See Grad, Page A14
HH fi le photo
Hermiston High School graduates walk out on to the fl oor at the Toyota Center for their commencement ceremony on June
6, 2019, in Kennewick, Wash.
See BTW, Page A14
‘Dynamic duo’ Gay and Alice Newman
named 2020 fair grand marshals
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
8
08805 93294
2
Gay and Alice Newman smile at the crowd after being named 2020 grand
marshals at Saturday’s Umatilla County Fair Appreciation Dinner.
Gay and Alice Newman fi rst came
to Umatilla County 47 years ago look-
ing for job opportunities. The two
were newly married and parents to a
2-month-old child, and the Umatilla
County Fair was just two weeks away.
The Newmans didn’t just attend the
fair that year, they got involved and
helped out right away.
In the 47 years since, the New-
mans never left Umatilla County and
they’ve never missed a fair.
That won’t change this year after
Gay and Alice Newman were named
the 2020 Umatilla County Fair grand
marshals at Saturday night’s annual
appreciation dinner held at the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event Center in
Hermiston.
“It’s a special honor,” Gay said.
“The fair has been a part of our fam-
ily for a very long time, and it’s a priv-
ilege to be able to give back to it.”
The Newmans have served as lead-
ers for the fair’s 4-H and Future Farm-
ers of America programs for 38 years,
and on a variety of fair committees.
Alice has worked as the fair court
chaperone and helped develop the fair
court program altogether. The couple
have been key in helping secure fair
donations and sponsorships as well.
According to Alice, her husband
See Duo, Page A14