SCHOOLS
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
herMIsTOnheraLd.cOM • A9
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Christy Meyers, office assistant at West Park Elementary,
Hermiston, opens her school’s new book vending machine on
Friday, March 25, 2022.
Book vending machine
a hit at West Park
By ERICK PETERSON
hermiston herald
A new vending machine
in Hermiston contains
something that will strike
some people as a surprise.
Instead of candy or soda,
West Park Elementary
now has a book vending
machine inside its library.
“I really like it,” fourth
grader Kaitlyn Solorio said.
“It’s really pretty, and I like
how they decorated it.”
The vending machine
is decorated in school col-
ors and logos, it contains
250 books and it stands
near the checkout desk in
the school’s library. Kait-
lyn said she has looked the
machine over several times,
and she already has picked
out the books she would
like to own from it.
According to school
office assistant Christy
Meyers, the machine is gen-
erating a buzz among stu-
dents, even though the
machine is not now work-
ing. The school is waiting
on a repair; still, students
are regularly asking about it.
“They’re
really
so
excited, so excited,” she
said.
The books, Meyers
said, are not for checkout.
Rather, they are intended
as prizes for students, who
earn tokens for achiev-
ing reading goals. Then,
they drop the coins in the
machine’s slot, select their
desired books and wait for
books to drop into a drawer,
where they can be retrieved.
Meyers said she first
heard of the machines from
a friend on Facebook. She
then started talking about
it to school administration
and members of the Par-
ent-Teacher Organization.
The PTO, she said, loved the
idea and offered to pay for it.
The PTO purchased the
machine for around $6,000,
which includes service.
There was no cost to the
school or the Hermiston
School District, according
to Meyers.
“There was a lot of work
for it,” she said. “Carnivals,
fundraisers, popcorn sales,
all sorts of things have been
done. Kid Bank was huge,
and there were so many
other things where people
worked really hard.”
She said the idea has
been implemented by other
schools, which have found
success. In ordinary reading
programs, such as the one
at West Park, students meet
their goals and are handed
books. But, she said, there is
more excitement with some-
thing new. By giving coins
and allowing students to
select their own book from
a machine, they are enjoy-
ing something different.
Where this has been
done, Meyers said, students
have liked it, which encour-
ages them to read more,
earn more coins and obtain
more books.
This machine is not, and
could never, replace the
school’s librarian, as it does
not check out books, Mey-
ers said. Also, she added, it
does not perform the many
other tasks of the library
staff.
This came as good news
to Amy Cooper, West Park
Elementary library assis-
tant, who was looking over
the vending machine with
Meyers on March 25.
“I’m not threatened by
it at all,” Cooper said. “It’s
fun. It’s exciting. Kids talk
about it every time they
come in, and they check
it out three or four times
a day, and they’ll still talk
about it. They’re super
excited.”
As a book lover, Coo-
per said she feels happy
about any project such as
this that encourages read-
ing. She is not alone in this
enthusiasm.
CONGRATULATIONS
GOES OUT TO THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY MEMBERS:
52nd Distinguished Citizens Awards
MAN OF THE YEAR
Steve Williams
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Alberta Wilkerson
BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Midway Bar & Grill
To the following businesses that recently held a ribbon cutting
Mooney named to state
building task force
hermiston herald
Tricia Mooney, super-
intendent of the Hermis-
ton School District, has been
appointed to the newly cre-
ated Joint Task Force on
Resilient Efficient Buildings
to guide the development
of the state’s building code
policies.
The pur-
pose of the
task force is
to consider
the impact
of
build-
ing codes on
Mooney
energy effi-
ciency, air
quality, and public health
while reducing the amount
of taxpayer income spent on
energy costs.
The task force comprises
27 members charged with
helping Oregon address long-
term economic and envi-
ronmental savings and ben-
efits by evaluating code
policy adjustments for new
and existing residential, com-
mercial, and industrial build-
ings and making recom-
mendations to legislative
committees prior to the 2023
Session.
Mooney was selected to
represent building owners
and managers, as the Herm-
iston School District includes
10 publicly owned school and
administrative buildings of
varying ages. The school dis-
trict is also the largest in East-
ern Oregon and has among
the fastest-growing student
populations in the state.
“In Hermiston, our facili-
ties are tested year-round by
summers in the triple digits,
winters well below freezing,
and wildfire smoke that cre-
ates health impacts for kids
with asthma and other respi-
ratory illnesses,” Mooney
said. “Rural school districts
and local governments have
needs that far surpass our
local tax base. We need the
state to invest in our local
communities. If we work
together, we can promote
cleaner air while lowering
energy costs for local taxpay-
ers and build public facilities
that are healthier for the peo-
ple who use them.”
Mooney is the only mem-
ber of the task force rep-
resenting education. State
Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Vale)
and Rep. Mark Owens
(R-Crane) are the legislative
representatives from East-
ern Oregon. Other mem-
bers represent construction
trades, residential and com-
mercial builders, utilities,
local governments, environ-
mental justice advocates,
public health and more.
The first meeting of the
Joint Task Force on Resilient
Efficient Buildings is Tues-
day, April 5 and live streams
of all meetings are available
at olis.oregonleglislature.gov.
KEEP IT
LOCAL