August 22, 2011 01:49 pm
|
Train whistles
blow for safety
To the editor:
This letter is in response to the recent run of complaints pertaining to the excessive horn use at railroad crossings in Baker City at late hours.
As a Union Pacific employee, I would like to clarify national railroad crossing policy. We are mandated by the Department of Transportation document number FRA-2007-27285, established by the Federal Railway Administration, to provide ample warning for public safety.
|
August 19, 2011 02:32 pm
I don’t hate train whistles.
Not all of them, anyway.
In the depths of an overnight blizzard, for instance, when the
curtain of snow muffles outside sound and the furnace hums softly
inside, the warning sirens from a passing locomotive seem distant and
unimportant.
Even, I daresay, pleasant, rather like the frantic yodels of coyotes heard at dusk from a desert camp.
The piercing blast from a passing freight at 2 a.m. in August, on
the other hand, with the windows open to invite the breeze, and the
only competing noise-makers an anemic cricket and a couple of
diminutive frogs, strikes me (and my cochlear region) as an altogether
different matter.
|
August 17, 2011 10:42 am
|
Silence is golden to sleepers
To the editor:
I agree with the writer of a recent letter to the editor concerning
loud, disruptive horns from trains passing through Baker City.
|
August 16, 2011 03:38 pm
|
By Walt Wegener
To publicly accuse students of cheating with support from the schools is intolerable. We take this complaint seriously and we are investigating thoroughly.
The report in the Herald is both premature and not aligned with typical definitions of cheating. Atlanta cheated: 44 school staffs actually changed student records and test papers to help the performance reports. We are told the anonymous complaint contends that the Oregon Assessment
of Knowledge and Skills did not predict student performance well enough
to accurately place students in classes so the OAKS results must be
false. The OAKS is not a strong diagnostic tool.
The OAKS is a pass/fail test. Students either meet or do not meet a
level. The questions are randomly generated so predicting them to
“cheat” is improbable.
When a district publicly reports OAKS scores we report a number of
students who succeeded using percentage. All the schools and districts
in the state use the same format. Thus, 73 percent of 140 are 102
students passed, formally “Met Standard.” Which also means 38 students
did not pass, or formally “Did Not Meet Standard”. These are single
numbers not averages.
Reporting of cheating in the Herald was potentially a violation of
federal law because (FERPA, (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99),
“easily identifiable” student records) were published. The Baker School
District did not provide the data. The Herald reports the Department of
Education did not release the data. The law makes it clear that
information about groups of less than 42 students is protected if
students would potentially be “easily identifiable.”
There is no “lack of transparency” by use of “averages.” Each family knows their scores. Who else needs to know?
We are dealing with students. They are bored with testing. They see no
advantage in the testing. Some blow the test off. These required tests
are of limited value.
Our staffs work hard to increase literacy skills in the schools. We are
successful. Our teachers have built relationships with children so that
most of the children will try. When they make the effort our children
do well. The paper reported the evidence that effort matters but spun
it negatively.
Currently there is no evidence of any tampering with questions or
tests. We do think we may have some minor issues to fix and additional
training to tighten up the process.
No cheating in the sense of Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore or Pennsylvania.
Walt Wegener is superintendent Baker School District.
|
August 16, 2011 03:34 pm
The day that parents dread is less than three weeks away.
Friday.
It’s no longer a school day in Baker City.
The Baker School District’s new four-day schedule debuts Aug. 29. Sept. 2 is the first non-school Friday.
Fortunately, local groups have an array of events that not only
disqualify the excuse that students don’t have anything to do on
Fridays, but also help parents ensure their kids have safe, healthy
activities to keep them busy.
The Baker County Family YMCA, for instance, has designed “Plugged In,”
a program that will run at North Baker School, 2725 Seventh St., on
Friday and other weekdays when school’s out.
The program, for students in kindergarten through Grade 6, includes physical fitness, pajama parties and field trips.
Volunteers will help kids with homework, too.
Two free options: the Lutheran Church’s Kids Club, which remains a
Friday staple; and the Baker County Library, which opens at 8 a.m.
every Friday.
Crossroads Carnegie Art Center offers a variety of classes throughout the year.
And in a pinch, you could volunteer at a local nonprofit organization.
|
August 12, 2011 10:43 am
|
The word “crisis” pretty well was worn out during discussions this
winter and spring about Oregon’s two-year budget cycle, which started
July 1.
Turns out we could have just let that word relax.
Considering what state officials have done — and what they haven’t
done — in the past six months, describing the state’s fiscal situation
as a crisis seems at best exaggerated, and at worst grossly misleading.
First, the Legislature failed to do anything to curb the cost of Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement System.
More recently, Gov. John Kitzhaber, who wasn’t averse to dire
predictions about the budget after he was elected last November,
negotiated contracts with the two unions that combined represent most
state workers.
Those deals, which have yet to be ratified by union members, look a
lot more like the status quo than they do the result of a financial
emergency.
|
August 12, 2011 10:41 am
|
Another wonderful home restored
To the editor:
The article, “A house that deserved to be loved” in the Herald on Aug.
5 was extremely interesting. This opulent Italianate Victorian
structure has so many ornate and unique details. We commend Jack and
Kari Waldhaus for restoring one of Baker City’s treasures.
John Fuzi is also restoring the historic Geiser home which was
severely damaged in a fire. Baker City has a wonderful heritage of
historic architecture. It is great to know that it is being preserved.
Frances Burgess
Baker City
|
August 12, 2011 10:34 am
By Jayson Jacoby
I keep trying to whip myself into firm political fighting trim yet I
can’t seem to escape the flabby state of ambivalence in which I have
long ossified.
It must be pleasant to confront the great legislative matters that
affect hundreds of millions of people and conclude, with the absolute
certainty of the zealot, which is the only correct and righteous course.
I’m convinced, at any rate, that dispatching weighty topics with such conviction is a lot more fun.
My allegiance in college athletics, for instance, is as stolid as a granite monolith.
I’m an Oregon Duck.
On any autumn Saturday, then, my outlook is crystalline: I yearn for
the Ducks to win. And this desire is not sullied by even the slightest
wonder about whether, just maybe, an Oregon loss might be beneficial.
This ability to distill any situation to two answers, whether those be win and lose, or right and wrong, is quite liberating.
|
August 10, 2011 12:19 pm
In the decade since President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, schools across the nation have amassed reams of results from the standardized tests that the federal law requires.
Education officials emphasize how important it is that schools make those results readily accessible to the public.
Susan Castillo, Oregon’s superintendent of public instruction, made just that point during an interview with the Baker City Herald’s editorial board a couple weeks ago.
Castillo’s department makes available through its website the test results from every public school in Oregon.
Castillo describes this as “transparency.”
But the view seems rather murky to us.
|
August 08, 2011 02:09 pm
|
Gates good enough at train crossings
To the editor:
I have to agree with Larry Smith’s letter in the Baker City Herald, “Horn Happy Trains Make Me Mad.” I know the engineers are just doing their job, but some are a little ridiculous!
We live just a block from the railroad tracks and yes, like Mr. Smith, this time of year we have our windows open. It’s a little ridiculous that these engineers are pulling on that horn before they approach Baker City and not letting go until they are out of Baker City.
|
|