“Northwest News: Vancouver parents frosty at Evergreen schools for not announcing schools would open as usual ...”

Northwest News: Vancouver parents frosty at Evergreen schools for not announcing schools would open as usual ...

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 07:38 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 7:36 AM Updated: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 7:43 AM

One more day until Thanksgiving! If we forget to say it later, we're feeling especially thankful this year. On the long list of people and things, we're thankful for the readers of Pacific Northwest News.

And to show it, we have two great close-to-home stories to share with you, one about a Vancouver-area school district feeling the heat from parents who wanted a straightforward announcement to make it clear that schools would be open amid Tuesday's brutally cold weather. And another about Bethany Storro.

But first, a Pacific Northwest News disclaimer: we scour newspapers, television networks, and online magazines for articles of interest to folks around the Pacific Northwest. Then we collect snippets of articles (below in italics) from our fellow reporters for you to enjoy. So read up, click over and then come back and share your thoughts with your community here on OregonLive. Stay in your lane: we appreciate remarks that are relate directly to the subjects at hand and that use logic and tact in equal measure.

Enough of that.

We've got good news for Good Samaritans who contributed to a $20,000 Riverview Community Bank fund for Bethany Storro, a 28-year-old deli clerk accused of burning her face with a caustic substance in August and then claiming she was splashed with acid by a stranger, can get their money back.

The Oregonian's own Elliot Njus had the story last night:

The Vancouver bank said cash donations will be returned to donors who can show a receipt within 30 days. The bank has a record of people who donated by check and will return the money to them directly.

Money donated at Safeway stores will be handled by the company.

More good news: any unclaimed donations will be given to the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center to help rehabilitate actual burn victims.

From Storro, we're shifting gears to the Evergreen School District, which is under fire from irritated parents of students who never learned that school was on its usual schedule Tuesday. Because, as The Columbian reports, the district's policy seems to be unless we tell you otherwise, school is on:

No, much of Tuesday's grief from several parents who phoned, e-mailed or posted comments on Evergreen's Facebook page instead centered on this: Why hadn't the district put out any affirmative message that, Yes, schools will open at the usual time?

The district's answer: "No news is no news" — a mantra parents and students would be wise to consign to memory.

Meaning that, families should expect the status quo, that school buses and buildings will operate as normal — unless they hear otherwise.

Said Carol Fenstermacher, an Evergreen district spokeswoman, "We don't put anything up, if we're open."

And there you go. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Check out more news with a Northwest focus:

» Front pages from 18 newspapers in Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Washington and British Columbia.

» More of our headline picks from Northwest news sources.

-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson

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Thursday, November 25, 2010