Letters to the Editor 09/03/2008

To the Editor:

David Perkins could not be more right about the importance of Mandarin.

A recent report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace forecast that China's economy will be as large as the US economy in 2035 and twice as large in 2050.

Currently less than 1 percent of Oregon's public school students study Mandarin.

There will be proposals before the 2009 legislative session to expand Mandarin and study abroad in China programs for Oregon students. One proposal will be of interest to Mr. Perkin's students. Called a "High School Study Abroad Scholarship Program," it would permit local school districts to use public funds, state and local, to send students to study Mandarin in China (and to other countries for other languages).

It could cost no more to send a student to China for an academic year than the in-district per-pupil cost. Maybe one of Mr. Perkins' students would want to go to China, attend a Chinese high school and live with a Chinese family for an academic year. That's how to really learn the language.

Dave Porter, Portland

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To the Editor:

The way our community came together to help the kids at Sisters Elementary School (SES) with improvements for their playground is what we love about living in Sisters, Oregon.

Come see what teamwork made happen: a safe, fun, imaginative play structure in place of an old, unsafe structure, a new set of four swings, and a spruced-up playground with new bark everywhere.

We thank students for working hard at product sales and the creative art that is sold at our annual school auction, as well as helping us spread the mountains of bark! We thank families for leading the way with this project and all Sisters Parent Teacher Community (SPTC) endeavors.

We thank staff for guiding our kids and helping SPTC be an effective voice for SES - and for sitting in all those playground committee meetings! We thank many Central Oregon businesses for their contributions of materials and money through our annual auction (see "Sisters salutes..." page 19).

We thank Sisters Schools Foundation for the matching grant of $10,000 that brought the dream to reality this year, instead of at least another year into the future.

For photos of the playground ribbon cutting on August 28 and news about SPTC, go to http://sptc-sisters.blogspot.com. Come to our next meeting on Tuesday, September 16, at 8:15 a.m. in the SES Commons if you want to help SES kids with curriculum materials, special assemblies, art programs, technology, and more!

Sisters Parent Teacher Community Steering Committee:

Elaine Avery; Daiya Dillman-Owen; Laura Gentry; Peyton Griffin; Dave Huni; Julia Huni; Winter Lewis; Miki McFadden; Melanie Petterson; Rose Salomone; Cheryl Stewart

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To the Editor:

Whoa! Just got the copy of The Nugget today..looked at the so called design for the newly intended development (Black Butte Crossing) and almost threw up.

What it looks like is this: It's a spitting image of the Orenco Station in Hillsboro, just West of Portland, which is a stop for the Max Line train.

This is the worst design I've seen for a town with a Western motif and atmosphere.

Plus we don't need any more of this type of development. We're already being called the Cannon Beach of Central Oregon that used to belong to Sunriver.

Jeff Miller