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LG enrollment up slightly after years of decline |
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Friday, 10 October 2008 07:16 |
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After years of sharp declines, enrollment in the La Grande School District has stabilized according to the latest numbers released by Superintendant Larry Glaze. Speaking to the school board Wednesday night, Glaze showed that there were 2,915 students in the district in the 1991-1992 school year. But the number of students since has dropped to 2,186- 729 students less or about equal to the total number of students at La Grande High School. And, that translates to a loss of $4.3 million in state funds. But, as predicted, there was a slight increase in the overall student numbers this year, mostly at the elementary school level. There were 987 students at the k-6 level last year and this year there are 1,018 students, an increase of thirty-one kids. Birth rate trends at Grande Ronde Hospital shows that increase is likely to continue in the near future. |
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PERS accounts doing better than most investments |
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Friday, 10 October 2008 07:12 |
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With the stock market at its lowest level in nearly a decade, many people are worried about their retirement funds. But, if your funds are in the Public Employees Retirement System, State Treasurer Randall Edwards says you don’t have anything to be worried about. Changes made in 2003 to shore up PERS meant investing in real estate and private equity, and while the states holdings have seen a drop, it’s been much less than what the rest of the market is seeing. But other personal investments which rely heavily on stocks, especially 529 college savings accounts, are seeing a huge drop in value. And, Edwards says it’s going to get worse because the U.S. economy has slipped into a recession: ***/Economy/Randall Edwards/…Oregonians are hurting. I am actually using the “r” word- recession. We are definitely in a recession, it’s getting deeper and longer as a country and as a state…/*** He says that, with the stock market dropping with no end in sight, many people are wondering if they should be pulling their money out to save it. Edwards says that is the wrong thing to do right now. He also says the state as a whole is in a better position to weather this recession than the last one. |
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High school sports schedules this weekend |
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Friday, 10 October 2008 07:06 |
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After picking up their first win of the season on the road last Friday night, the La Grande Tigers will again take a long road trip this week as they travel to Spokane, Washington to take on Lakeside high school. The 3-2 Eagles are a perennial playoff team. It’s the last non-conference game for La Grande before they start Greater Oregon League play next Friday night. Catch all of the action tonight starting with the Les Schwab tire pregame show at 6:40 on 999. The Baker Bulldogs will take this week off before they start league play at home next Friday against Ontario. Mac Hi also has the weekend off and Ontario will travel to Lakeland, Idaho. In the Blue Mountain League, Elgin will play at Enterprise tonight at 7:30 and Union will host Stanfield at 7:00. In the Old Oregon League, top ranked Imbler will travel across the Valley to Cove for a 1:00 game, Joseph will play at Pine Eagle and Wallowa is at Powder Valley tonight at 7:00. In high school volleyball, the La Grande team will play in the Marist tournament in Eugene this weekend. In the Blue Mountain League, Elgin will host Irrigon tonight. Tomorrow Elgin will travel to Heppner and Union will host Pilot Rock. In Old Oregon League volleyball action tonight, Imbler will play at Cove, Joseph is at Pine Eagle and Wallowa is at Powder Valley. Tomorrow Powder Valley will travel to Cove and Imbler makes the trip to Joseph. The La Grande boys soccer team will have their work cut out for them as they travel to top ranked Mac Hi for a Greater Oregon League game tomorrow at noon. In girls soccer action, the undefeated Baker girls travel to Umatilla for a league game starting at noon. The La Grande cross country team will be at the Pendleton invitational meet today. |
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EOU football on the road at Montana Tech |
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Friday, 10 October 2008 06:53 |
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The Eastern Oregon University football team is back on the road this weekend as they travel to Montana Tech. The Orediggers started the season ranked in the top 25, but they have struggled so far this season and start the second half of the Frontier Conference season with a 1-4 record. Eastern is 2-3 and ranked third in the Frontier Conference standings. They opened their season with an impressive 38-28 win over Montana Tech. Freshman quarterback Chris Ware threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns as he won the first of his two conference player of the week awards. Head coach Tim Camp says he expects a much different game this week now that Montana Tech has had time to pick the Mountaineers new offense apart on film. Coach Camp says the key to this game, however, is the Eastern players ability to limit their mistakes. The Mountaineers have been showing steady improvement each game, and coach Camp says he expects to score at least 40 points on Montana Tech. On the defensive side of the ball, Eastern will get several injured players back this week, including Ulysis Trejo who was a key part of the first win against Montana Tech this season. You can catch all of the action this weekend starting with the pregame show Saturday at 11:45, kickoff at noon on 104.7 KCMB. In other Frontier Conference games, Western is at Carroll and Rocky Mountain is at Northern. In other Eastern action this weekend, the volleyball team will be on the road at Warner Pacific tonight and Cascade College tomorrow night. The Lady Mountaineers are tied for third place with the College of Idaho. The Eastern soccer team will also be on the road this weekend as they travel to Corban College today and Warner Pacific tomorrow. |
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School report cards show decline over last year |
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Thursday, 09 October 2008 08:05 |
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Schools across the state of Oregon got their report cards on Tuesday, and Gene Evans with the Oregon Department of Education says the number of schools ending up in the top two rankings of exceptional or strong has dropped. Statewide, only 6% of schools achieved those ratings this year. Evans says there are several reasons for the drop: ***/Report cards/Gene Evans/…Test scores last year were not as strong, especially at middle and high school as they had been, and I think that explains some of that slide…/*** Seventy-one fewer schools this year achieved one of the two highest levels compared to last year, and the number of schools ranked as unacceptable, the lowest catergory, rose from nine last year to twelve this year. Only one school in Union or Baker county- the Cove School- ranked below the satisfactory level and one- Haines elementary- achieved an exceptional ranking. The report cards are based on student test performance, school improvement, attendance, dropout rates class size, sat scores, teacher education and experience. |
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