Back to the future:
Reflections on the past
area golf course’s retro redesign
Mobile studio lets folks record their memories • BUSINESS, B1
SPORTS, D1
WEATHER TODAY
WEDNESDAY
Overcast skies, scattered rain showers High 60, Low 36 Page C6
• May 26, 2010 50¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
EARTH20 CEO VISITS WHITE HOUSE
Graduation rates Obama’s small-business plan gets mixed review lagging at some area high schools
By Keith Chu The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — Steve Emery’s first visit to the White House was “pretty cool,” but the CEO and president of Culver’s Earth20 said he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by the brief visit. There was no tour, for one thing, and — more substantively — a set of proposals by President Barack Obama to help small businesses seemed tailored to new companies rather than more established
firms such as the Culver bottled water company. “I think for an emerging startup, that would work well for them,” Emery said. “For the midsize company it does very little.” Obama promoted his proposals to boost small businesses in a speech in the White House Rose Garden, before an audience of small-business owners, including Emery, who had won state or regional awards. See Emery / A4
Steve Emery, CEO of Culver’s Earth20, attended President Barack Obama’s speech on small-business growth at the White House on Tuesday. Keith Chu he Bulletin
Juniper Swim & Fitness Center gets ready for summer
Dropout rate rises in nearly every district in Central Oregon
By Sheila G. Miller
By Sheila G. Miller
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
Students in Redmond, Crook County and Jefferson County high schools are less likely than their peers statewide to graduate within four years, according to information released Tuesday by the Oregon Department of Education. The state has adopted a new measurement to determine high school graduation rates, called “cohort graduation rates.” The 2008-09 data show the percentage of students who started as freshmen at each high school and finished four years later with regular diplomas. Statewide in 2008-09, about 66 percent of Oregon students graduated within four years of entering high school. Central Oregon districts varied widely in the new graduation rates. Culver School District topped the list with 82.5 percent of its graduates finishing with regular diplomas within four years, while Redmond School District lagged below other districts, graduating just 47 percent of its students in the four-year period. See Graduation / A5
While Oregon’s dropout rate fell to its lowest ever in the 200809 school year, nearly every Central Oregon school district saw its number of dropouts increase slightly. According to information released by the Oregon Department of Education on Tuesday, 3.4 percent of Oregon students dropped out of high schools last year. Meanwhile, while four area districts’ dropout rates are below the state average, all but Culver School District saw a greater percentage of students leaving school without graduating. The state tabulates dropout rates differently than graduation rates, which were also released on Tuesday. Dropout rates are based on one year, calculating the number of students who started out the 2008-09 school year and did not finish, transfer, graduate or earn a GED. Bend-La Pine Schools, Central Oregon’s largest school district, saw a slight uptick in its dropout rate, from 122 students to 128, or 2.41 percent. See Dropout / A5
Graduation rates, 2008-09
Dropout rates, 2008-2009
The Oregon Department of Education has released district and high school graduation rates for the 2008-09 school year. This year, the state changed the way it measures graduation rates. It moved from a single-year graduation rate to a four-year, cohort graduation rate that determines how many of the students who started out at a particular high school finished at that school within four years with a regular diploma.
The Oregon Department of Education has released district and high school dropout rates for the 2008-09 school year. Statewide the dropout rate is 3.4 percent. The dropout rate is a one-year rate that calculates how many students have left school without graduating or getting a GED or other alternative diploma.
School district / school
Four-year grad %
2007-2008 dropout %
2008-09 dropout %
Bend-La Pine Schools
68.6%
2.28%
2.41%
Bend Senior High
72.5%
1.68%
1.28%
La Pine Senior High
67.7%
4.18%
1.58%
Marshall High School
34.9%
8.99%
5.43%
Mountain View High
70.5%
1.27%
1.15%
Summit High
75.5%
2.07%
1.07%
Memorial Day weekend. Mike Dolan, operations supervisor with Bend Park & Recreation Dis-
Crook County School District
64.4%
1.21%
1.92%
trict, said park staff members were able to work quickly and remove the tent in three days. “It was
Crook County High
80%
0.66%
0.22%
just a good year, and we had a good team,” he said.
Pioneer Secondary Alternative High
22.8%
2.61%
8.17%
Culver School District
82.5%
3.48%
2.23%
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Water meets sky A
swimmer does laps as a section of the tent cover over the Olympic-sized pool at Juniper Swim & Fitness Center is removed Tuesday morning in preparation for warmer weather. Crews are sealing the outdoor children’s swimming pool and expect to be finished by
Vending machines move beyond soda and smokes By Stephanie Rosenbloom New York Times News Service
Vending machines in neonsplashed Tokyo have electronic eyes that evaluate customers’ skin and wrinkles to determine whether they are old enough to buy tobacco. In bathrooms at upscale Canadian bars, vending machines with flat irons enable women to defrizz their locks.
We use recycled newsprint
MON-SAT
Redmond, Jefferson, Crook counties fall behind state average
U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
In Abu Dhabi, the lobby of a luxury hotel has a vending machine that dispenses gold bars and coins at more than $1,000 an ounce. A new breed of vending machine is proliferating -— and while the United States is coming late to the party, Dr Pepper and Mike and Ike are already feeling sidelined. See Vending / A4
Social media may have role during hurricane season By Ken Kaye (South Florida) Sun Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Social media are no longer just for gossiping. When an overflowing river flooded Nashville in early May, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter allowed survivors to appeal for help from rescuers. In regard to the Gulf oil spill, Facebook and Twitter allowed
Vol. 107, No. 146, 40 pages, 6 sections
Abby
E2
Business
B1-6
Classified
F1-10
Comics Crossword Local
E4-5 E5, F2 C1-6
Movies
E3
Sports
D1-6
Obituaries
C5
Stocks
B4-5
Shopping
82.5%
3.48%
Jefferson County School District
60.9%
3.32%*
5.84%
Madras High School
60.9%
3.22%
5.84%
Redmond School District
47.2%
3.48%
3.77%
Edwin Brown High
25.9%
4.95%
14.69%
International School of the Cascades
94.7%
0.53%
0%
Redmond High
50.1%
2.29%
1.5%
Sisters School District
74.6%
1.3%
2.72%*
Sisters High
86.1%
1.3%
0.38%
State
66%
3.66%
3.4%
*Some totals do not add up because dropouts were attending alternative programs. Source: Oregon Department of Education
TOP NEWS INSIDE
INDEX
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
environmentalists to vent, ecologists to find oil-soaked animals, and residents to follow the progression of the spill. With hurricane season starting June 1, everyone from emergency managers to hurricane forecasters to traditional media plan to take advantage of Twitter, Facebook and the like to increase their reach. See Storms / A4
Culver High
E1-6
Weather
C6
KOREAS: North moves to cut all ties with the South, Page A3
JAMAICA: Violence flares amid search for drug suspect, Page A6