Author
Oregon joins 18 other states in deploying task force to combat labor trafficking
Ernesto Hernández spent 15 of his last 20 years in the U.S. working with the Mexican Consulate in Portland on human trafficking issues. He visited farms where workers slept 20 to a room, had little to eat. He encountered workers who had wages stolen and hours of overtime go unpaid. He says it’s gotten worse. […]
Tribes in Oregon want bigger role in setting state’s water strategy
Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes want a bigger role in the state’s planning for the next century of water management in Oregon as fisheries continue to dwindle. They are asking Gov. Kate Brown to create a new task force for tribes to work directly with state agencies on critical waters. Oregon officials are developing what […]
Latest state education report shows low participation, progress
The Oregon Department of Education took an incomplete on its yearly report card for schools and districts issued Thursday. Participation in standardized testing for the 2020-21 school year was down 70% across the state, according to Jon Wiens, the department’s director of accountability. In a press conference held in advance of the At-A-Glance Report release, […]
Despite return to in-person classes, many who chose homeschooling during pandemic stay home
By May 2020, Ethan Kemper had all but given up on school. Banks High School, where he was finishing his freshman year, had gone to a pass/no pass grading system after having in-person school derailed by the coronavirus. Jacoba Kemper said her son’s classes felt unplanned, communication between the teachers and Ethan lagged and filling […]
Oregon school districts navigating food shortages, supply chain issues
Not long before a recent nacho lunch day in the Hillsboro School District, Nate Roedel learned that he wouldn’t receive the 120 cases of tortilla chips he’d need to make more than 13,000 meals. Luckily Roedel, executive director of nutrition services for the district, had gotten good at improvising. The last two months of food […]
New plan from Global Warming Commission relies on farms, forests to absorb emissions
Oregon farmers could be recruited to play a crucial role in the state’s climate change efforts under a new plan from the Oregon Global Warming Commission. The Commission, created by the Oregon Legislature in 2007, lays out more than 30 strategies for upping the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by Oregon lands and waters and […]
New emergency substitute teaching license attempts to solve statewide shortages
Hiring substitute teachers has been difficult in Oregon for a number of years, but the pandemic has made it worse. Superintendent Dan Goldman, who coordinates the hiring of substitutes for the Northwest Regional Education Service District, had only 65% of the substitute teachers he needed last week to fill classrooms in the 20 school districts […]