On this day, May 5, 1903, James Beard, US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), was born in Portland, Ore.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, Bly minister Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from Mitchell's Sunday school class were on a Saturday morning picnic. Thirteen miles northeast of Bly, or about sixty miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Mitchell parked the car, and Elsie and the children headed to Leonard Creek. Mitchell later remembered: "As I got out of the car to bring the lunch, the others were not far away and called to me they had found something that looked like a balloon. I heard of Japanese balloons so I shouted a warning not to touch it. But just then there was a big explosion. I ran up there--and they were all dead." It was a Japanese balloon bomb. They were 70 feet tall with a 33-foot diameter paper canopy connected to the main device by shroud lines. Balloons inflated with hydrogen followed the jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
If you can’t teach ’em, lower the bar.
After voting to cut school funding by $300 million, today House Democrats voted in favor of
SB 744 which lowers graduation standards in Oregon.
“I worry that by adopting this bill we’re giving up on our kids,†said House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby). “This proposal abandons students who fell behind last year because of government-mandated distanced learning and does nothing to give them an
opportunity to recover.â€
Section three of the bill describes the removal of a requirement of proficiency in Essential Learning Skills:
Notwithstanding any rules adopted by the State Board of Education, a student may not be required to show proficiency in Essential Learning Skills as a condition of receiving a high school diploma during the 2021-2022, 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school year.
The bill has no sponsor, but it was introduced as a committee bill by the Senate Committee on Education, which is chaired by Senator Michael Dembrow (D-Portland). It passed the House mostly along party lines, with most Republicans voting no.
In March, President Biden’s Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, said that student data obtained from standardized tests was important to help education officials create policy and target resources where they are most needed. Lowering graduation standards now will make it even harder to improve the quality of Oregon’s education for the future.
The gap between public school students and private school students will be even wider, as most private schools operated uninterrupted during the COVID-19 epidemic.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-06-14 14:51:09 | |
