LOCAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Schools await guidance on graduation requirements
By ANTONIO SIERRA
STAFF WRITER
If Oregon’s K-12 stu-
dents return to school April
29, they will have lost a
month and a half’s worth of
instruction time. Those lost
hours are especially criti-
cal to high school seniors,
who need enough credits to
graduate on time.
That fact wasn’t lost
on the region’s superin-
tendents, and according to
InterMountain Education
Service District Super-
intendent Mark Mulvi-
hill, some administrators
wanted to bring seniors
back to school early so
they could make up the
credits they missed.
The state won’t let
schools unlock their doors
for seniors, but the Ore-
gon Department of Edu-
cation plans to address the
issue. The department had
stated it would issue guid-
ance the week of March
23, but failed to do so by
the end of the week.
In an interview March
24, Mulvihill said school
offi cials have focused
on the closure’s impact
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The Hermiston High School parking lot stands empty on Monday as students remain out of
school.
on seniors from the start
of the shutdown, which
Gov. Kate Brown initiated
on March 16 to slow the
spread of COVID-19.
“That’s the top prior-
ity we have, amongst all
of this unknown,” he said.
Mulvihill said Colt
Gill, the state superinten-
dent of public instruction,
is working toward a plan
that would allow the class
of 2020 to graduate this
summer.
Mulvihill anticipates
that the credit requirement
will be lowered and some
of the subject require-
ments like English and
math may also be changed
to match a truncated
EO Media Group announces
layoffs in light of virus fallout
HERMISTON HERALD
EO Media Group, the
parent company of the
Hermiston Herald and 12
other newspapers across
Oregon, announced March
25 that it is reducing its
workforce by 47 employ-
ees, according to a press
release.
Eight jobs are affected
in the Hermiston Her-
ald/East Oregonian news-
rooms in Hermiston and
Pendleton, and the others
are spread across the rest of
the newspaper chain. Over-
all, the company is reduc-
ing its workforce by 18%.
“It’s been an extraor-
dinary few weeks as the
COVID-19 pandemic has
taken over our daily lives
and business operations,”
said Bend Bulletin Pub-
lisher and EOMG Chief
Operating Offi cer Heidi
Wright on March 25. “The
revenue losses due to the
closing of commercial
businesses to prevent the
spread of the virus has cre-
Farm Bureau
extends deadline
for fl ood relief
ated a ripple effect across
the nation, forcing layoffs
in many industries.
“As you can imagine,
the revenue pullback across
the company has been dra-
matic, with many busi-
nesses closing their doors
and events being canceled
throughout the region.
Many of the big box stores
have canceled their adver-
tising, until further notice.
We are taking action now
in order to stabilize our
operations and keep our
staff intact as much as pos-
sible, during this time of
crisis.
“We believe that this
is the best course, but do
not take this action lightly.
While this is painful, it
could be short-lived if, by
some miracle, the econ-
omy bounces back after the
coronavirus runs its course
and we see local retailers
reopen and begin adver-
tising again,” Wright said.
“But there are no promises.
This economic downturn
could be with us for a long
Sen. Hansell hospitalized with blood clots
HERMISTON HERALD
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, was hospitalized over
the weekend for multiple
blood clots in both lungs.
Hansell said he began
to develop “left lung chest
pains” while breathing and
a slight fever on Saturday
morning.
Hansell said by Sunday
evening, his breathing had
worsened, prompting a trip
to the emergency room at
St. Mary’s Hospital in Walla
Walla, Washington. Hansell
said blood work and CAT
scan of his chest revealed
the clots.
“That CAT scan was
the fi rst time I had any
idea there were pulmonary
embolisms in both of my
lungs,” Hansell said.
He said on Saturday he
initially visited an urgent
care clinic in Walla Walla
where an electrocardio-
gram or EKG was done on
his heart and a chest X-ray
was taken but nothing was
found, so he was sent home.
“My breath got pro-
gressively shorter before I
would trigger one of those
pain responses. So (Sat-
urday) evening, I’m get-
ting real shallow in breath-
ing and I’m thinking, ‘I
don’t want to have a crisis
in the middle of the night.’
So, (Hansell’s wife) Marga-
ret drove me back to Walla
Walla.”
Hansell said by Tuesday
afternoon he was feeling
better and was optimistic on
being discharged from the
hospital.
“I feel fi ne. I still have
some pain breathing,” he
said.
During the Saturday visit
to the urgent care clinic,
Hansell said he was tested
for COVID-19. The test
came back negative Tues-
day morning.
“Of course with all of the
lung-related pneumonia and
COVID-19, which certainly
has the medical world’s
focus right now, it never
even dawned on me that it
may be pulmonary embo-
lisms,” he said. “So now I
can start treating it and get
on the road to recovery.”
First-Class Team.
World-Class Treatment You Deserve.
for Umatilla Electric Cooperative District #7 Director
"Thank you for allowing me the honor to serve as
your District #7 Director for the past 12 years. As
your Director, my commitment to you, the member,
is to ensure the Umatilla Electric Cooperative
continues to supply electricity to your home or place
of business in a safe and reliable manner at the
lowest rates possible.“
• Resident of Hermiston,
OR for 49 years
• Member of UEC for 47 years
• United States Army Veteran
• UEC District #7
Director for 12 years
Paid for by John Otis. 1310 SE 7th St., Hermiston, OR 97838
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Emergency Service
announced it would allow
districts to move forward
with educating students
online, a step it had pre-
viously not allowed out
of concerns that students
without internet access
would be left behind.
Hermiston School District
checked out more than
500 Chromebooks to dis-
trict families on Monday,
however, and is working
on coming up with a solu-
tion to internet access.
Umatilla School Dis-
trict Superintendent Heidi
Sipe said in an email the
district will be “unlikely
to have our ceremony as
originally planned in May;
however, we’re commit-
ted to holding some type
of ceremony (possibly an
online event with a fol-
low-up ceremony after
this all clears) later on.”
She said she has been
working “many hours”
with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education to help
the state fi nalize a plan to
allow seniors to still grad-
uate, and the district will
work with students to help
them complete the new
requirements.
RE-ELECT JOHN OTIS
HERMISTON HERALD
The deadline for Umatilla
County farmers and ranchers
to apply for the Farm Bureau
Flood Relief Fund has been
extended until May 1.
Applicants are available
at OregonFB.org/fl ood. For
more information, contact
Umatilla-Morrow County
Farm Bureau Vice President
Phillip Whitmore, pwhit-
more53@gmail.com.
time.”
EO Media CEO Steve
Forrester said, “Our com-
pany is in a survival mode.
While none of us have seen
a pandemic and its eco-
nomic effects, our com-
pany has weathered eco-
nomic challenges, such as
the Great Depression, the
Astoria Fire of 1923 and,
within our lifetimes, the
Great Recession of 2008.”
“Throughout these exis-
tential moments, our mis-
sion has not changed. And
it will not change during
this calamity,” Forrester
said. “Our newspapers and
our digital sites are bea-
cons within our commu-
nities and regions. We are
leaders in gathering infor-
mation and analysis, and
we offer businesses audi-
ences for their messaging.”
The Herald was founded
in 1906 and the EO was
founded in 1875. They
have a combined opera-
tions of about about 43 full-
and part-time employees.
school year.
Depending on future
events, he said superin-
tendents will have plans
for either schools return-
ing in April or the can-
cellation of the rest of
the school year, a step the
Oregon Department of
Education said Monday
may happen.
“It’s crossing our minds
how compromised the
2019-20 school year will
be, and we need to make
sure we don’t compro-
mise any aspect of 2021,”
he said.
As a mother of a senior
herself, Hermiston School
District
Superintendent
Tricia Mooney said she
understands the questions
and concerns parents have
about seniors graduating
on time.
“We’re getting them
ready to leave the nest,”
she said.
But she also wants to
encourage Hermiston par-
ents and students not to
panic while the district
waits for guidance from
the state.
Mooney said the high
school is asking seniors
to put their college ambi-
tions on pause right now,
adding that colleges are
also dealing with the fall-
out from the coronavirus
and may not have the staff
or the resources to pro-
cess all the applications
and queries they usually
receive each spring.
On Monday the state
80489 Hwy 395 N
Hermiston
www.oregontrailvet.com
Due to the
COVID-19
pandemic, animal
shelters need
our help more
than ever. Please
donate to your
local shelter, or
offer to foster an
animal in need.
If interested please go to fuzzballrescue.com and fill out an application.
If you are not able to adopt, but would like to foster or donate, visit fuzzballrescue.com
or you can mail in donations to Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, PO Box 580, Hermiston, OR 97838
Two convenient locations:
600 Northwest 11th Street, Suite E-23
Good Shepherd Medical Center
Hermiston, OR - (509) 783-9894
7350 W. Deschutes Ave.
Kennewick, WA - (509) 783-9894