A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, JuLy 29, 2020
Soroptimists install officers
Philanthropic group
invites new members
to join their efforts
HERMISTON HERALD
Soroptimist International
of the Greater Hermiston
Area recently installed offi-
cers for the 2020-2021 club
year.
According to a news
release from the organiza-
tion, new officers installed
during the meeting at McK-
enzie Park are Victoria Hor-
neck, president; Dawn
Moreland, president-elect;
Lisa Hagerman, vice presi-
dent; Ateusa Salemi, secre-
tary; June Mills, treasurer;
and Sharone McCann and
Michel Abney, directors.
Each new officer was pre-
sented with a mask person-
ally made for them by trea-
surer June Mills.
The news release stated
the theme of their instal-
lation was “Be Kind,” to
highlight the efforts of the
club working to fulfill their
organization’s mission to
provide women and girls
with access to the education
and training they need to
achieve economic empow-
erment through two main
federation programs, the
“Live Your Dream” pro-
gram and the “Dream It, Be
It” program.
Through the “Live Your
Dream” program, the local
chapter presents two women
from the area grants of
$1,000 and $500. These
women must be the head
of their household and have
Contributed photo
Soroptimist International of the Greater Hermiston Area recently installed officers for the 2020-
21 club year, including (from left) director Michel Abney, president Vicki Horneck, president-
elect Dawn Moreland, secretary Ateusa Salemi and treasurer June Mills.
been accepted into or be cur-
rently enrolled in a voca-
tional training program or a
post-high school educational
degree program. Applica-
tions for these awards are
available by emailing the
local club at sigreaterherm-
istonarea@soroptimist.net
or on the Soroptimist Inter-
national of the Americas
website at www.soroptimist.
org. Applications will be
available beginning August
1 and are due on November
15.
The “Dream It, Be It”
program offers career edu-
cation to young women ages
14-17. The curriculum for
this program was developed
by Soroptimist International
of the Americas. The Herm-
iston-area club is in the pro-
cess of setting up the pro-
gram locally.
Other local activities and
programs the club has been
involved with since their
chartering in 2001 include
The Breakfast of Champi-
ons, the Festival of Trees
and the Festival of Trees
Family Day, support for the
local Domestic Violence
Services, the SANE (Sexual
Assault Nurse Examiner)
program at Good Shepherd
Medical Center, and sup-
ply drives for area school
districts and the Hermiston
Warming Station, as well as
supporting other needs of
the local community.
At the international level,
each year the club raises
money to support the bien-
nial “President’s Appeal” of
Soroptimist International.
The 2019-21 program is the
“Road to Equality”: a trip to
find and empower women
and girls who have been left
behind. It will raise aware-
ness of human rights chal-
lenges that prevent women
and girls from reaching their
full potential.
Members of the commu-
nity interested in becom-
ing a member of the club
can contact Sally Peatow
at 541-571-0736, email the
club at sigreaterhermiston@
soroptimist.net or visit the
Soroptimist International of
the Greater Hermiston Area
Facebook page for more
information.
ADJUST:
Continued from Page A1
for sure,” he said. “ I think
everyone knows in order
to do this, in order to stay
open, everyone knows they
need to follow the gover-
nor’s mandate.”
Adams said for the
most part, though, every-
one has been semi-support-
ive. He said some people
are unsure why they still
have to wear a mask while
working out if they remain
socially distanced and 6
feet apart.
“I definitely had people
say it’s overkill,” he said.
“That’s the biggest push
back we’re getting, but
we’re going to follow the
rules and do what we can
to keep people safe inside
the facility.”
Adams said his concern
is that a lot of businesses
are shutting down and the
health and fitness industry
is one that has taken a hit
in general.
Neighborhood Books
& Gifts is among the busi-
nesses that were shut down
for three and a half months
at the start of the pandemic.
Since then, co-owner Judy
Gormley said the company
was able to make some
changes for safety pur-
poses, such as installing a
shield at the counter and
enforcing social distancing.
The new restrictions didn’t
affect her store much, but
she said that business has
been slower.
“[New restrictions] hav-
en’t affected us too much,
but the number of custom-
ers have been limited,”
Gormley said. “But we’re
doing OK.”
Other restrictions under
Phase 2 include reduc-
ing private indoor gath-
erings from 50 people
to 10. Recreational ven-
ues, such as movie the-
aters, public pools, places
of worship and arcades,
are now capped at 100 peo-
ple instead of 250. Chil-
dren 5 and older are now
mandated to wear face
coverings.
During the Hermis-
ton City Council’s July
27 meeting, Al Davis, the
manager of the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center, said so far EOTEC
has been able to host some
outdoor events, but they
have also had more than
40 cancellations for indoor
bookings since the pan-
demic started.
“It’s not good, but
there’s not much we can
do about that,” he said, not-
ing that once October hits,
the revenue from outdoor
events would dry up.
He said there have been
a few entities, such as the
Port of Umatilla’s board
of directors, that have
been holding meetings at
EOTEC because they can
sit much farther apart than
they would be able to in
their own board rooms.
Davis said barrel racing
has been a popular event at
EOTEC’s large rodeo arena
this summer, as people
can sit far apart outdoors
to watch. He said people
who come to those events
have been “very open” to
requirements about hav-
ing their temperature taken
and leaving their infor-
mation for contact tracing
purposes.
SCHOOLS: Umatilla School District students also will have distance learning, rather than the hybrid model that had been planned
Continued from Page A1
“There is a lot to do, but
I know our staff will rise
to the challenge,” Mooney
said. “This will be different
than anything we’ve done
before.”
Shifting the calendar
would also mean pushing
semester breaks and the end
of the school year forward to
June 14, 2021.
As for course offerings,
Mooney said it is part of the
district’s plan to maintain the
same course offerings that
adhere to the curriculum.
“It’s still our plan to offer
the same courses, but some
things will look very differ-
ent,” she said.
In terms of what day-to-
day distance learning will
look like for primary and
secondary schools, Mooney
said the district will try
and maintain as much of a
schedule as possible.
For secondary schools,
distance learning will look
more like a full school day
that follows a “bell sched-
ule” in terms of structured
class times and courses. At
the secondary level, atten-
dance also will be taken for
each period.
In
the
elementary
schools, schedule devel-
opment is still in process.
Although students will be
working remotely, teachers
will be instructing via video
from their classrooms.
Grading practices will
return to the district’s usual
practices, unlike spring
term when the district
switched to a complete/
incomplete model.
The move to distance
learning for fall does not
affect staff size. As of now,
the district plans on retain-
ing staff. Mooney said at
this point it is the district’s
plan to not implement fur-
loughs or cuts in force.
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Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Classrooms will remain empty when school resumes this fall as students in the Hermiston
School District will be distance learning.
“IT’S STILL OUR PLAN TO OFFER THE SAME
COURSES, BUT SOME THINGS WILL LOOK
VERY DIFFERENT.”
Tricia Mooney, Hermiston School District Superintendent
However, positions may
change in terms of duties.
The district is still
required to provide lunches,
but details on what that sys-
tem will look like is still
underway. As for sports
programs and extracurric-
ulars, the district is still
awaiting guidance from the
state on how to proceed, but
it is likely that the season
will be pushed back. The
Washington Interscholastic
Activities Association, of
which Hermiston is a part,
has tentatively planned to
move football to March.
In June, the state issued
guidance for early learn-
ing and child care programs
that included three possi-
ble instruction methods —
on-site, hybrid and distance
learning — for the 2020-21
school year. Each school
district will make their own
decisions regarding which
instruction methods to uti-
lize, depending on the pro-
gression of COVID-19 and
guidance released by the
Department of Education.
“With heightened con-
cern related to the COVID-
19 virus and indoor gath-
erings, Hermiston School
District will begin the year
with a comprehensive dis-
tance learning model, with
the intent of moving to a
hybrid model when it is
safe to return students to
the classroom,” Mooney
said.
Mooney stated it is the
district’s goal to have stu-
dents return to face-to-face
instruction as soon as possi-
ble, if it can be done safely.
“We have a large per-
centage of staff that want
to be in school and with our
students,” Mooney said.
“But it is not an option right
now to plan for face-to-face
instruction.”
The decision comes fol-
lowing the guidance of
the Oregon Department of
Education and the Oregon
Health Authority. Mooney
said when the most recent
rounds of guidance were
released by the Depart-
ment of Education, the dis-
trict realized they needed
to move to comprehensive
distance learning.
What tipped the scale,
according to Mooney, is the
guidance stated that within
the coming weeks a set of
guideposts, protocols and
public health indicators
will help determine the best
instructional model for a
given ZIP code or county.
Since COVID-19 rates in
a given county will help
inform school decisions
regarding distance learn-
ing, Mooney said it was
clear that Hermiston was
not ready to move to face-
to-face learning.
“That language in light
of the fact that Umatilla
County is a hot spot in Ore-
gon, and Hermiston being
the largest community in
Umatilla County and hav-
ing the most cases, we felt
it is pretty clear that our
model to begin school is to
be comprehensive distant
learning,” she said.
The guidance, which
includes protocols for daily
health checks, group sizes,
Personal Protective Equip-
ment for children and adults,
daily activities, cleaning
and response protocols for
possible and confirmed
COVID-19 cases, will be
applied statewide once it is
finalized on Friday, Aug. 14.
“Much
like
K-12
schools, we know that our
early childhood programs
won’t look the same this
fall. But, one thing is clear:
We know that kids need
safe, caring, quality envi-
ronments while their par-
ents are at work,” stated
Gov. Kate Brown in a July
23 press release.
Umatilla School District
Umatilla School District
had been planning a hybrid
model of instruction for
the fall, giving students the
option to attend in-person
classes four days a week if
desired.
In an email after the
state’s
announcement,
Superintendent Heidi Sipe
released an outline of what
the district’s online-only
learning will look like until
Umatilla County schools
are allowed to have stu-
dents in the classroom.
Elementary school stu-
dents will remain with the
teacher they have already
been assigned, and will be
given a schedule of times
to check in online for video
learning. They can partici-
pate in the video sessions
with their teacher live, or
watch a recording of the
session at their conve-
nience. Teachers will have
times available on Friday
to help students individu-
ally or in smaller groups as
needed.
Students in grades six
through 12 will function
similarly, but with multi-
ple teachers for the various
core classes and electives
they signed up for. They
will turn in homework
through Google Classroom
and other online tools, and
have scheduled check-ins
with their teachers.
“Some lessons may
be modified, but fami-
lies should expect rigor
and expectations equal to
the on-site classroom,” the
plan stated.