7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018
Grad rates: Knappa’s up by 20 percent Healing: Hospital
Continued from Page 1A
“There’s a 7 percent
discrepancy from my num-
bers to their numbers,” Jack-
son said, estimating his dis-
trict’s four-year graduation
rate at between 70 and 72
percent.
About
five
students
counted by the state as drop-
outs had graduated last year,
while several others had
moved out of the school dis-
trict, Jackson said.
Warrenton-Hammond,
the county’s third-largest and
fastest-growing school dis-
trict, posted a 76.2 percent
four-year graduation rate
last year, continuing a steady
increase stretching back at
least six years.
Warrenton High School
Principal Rod Heyen esti-
mated his graduation rate at
80 percent, equating to two or
three more students than the
state counted, but said over-
all he is pleased with the dis-
trict’s progress.
Warrenton regularly aver-
ages the highest rate of student
homelessness in the county,
with many students forced to
share housing with family and
friends out of economic need.
Heyen credited district staff
and community partners for
providing the necessary sup-
port such as food and cloth-
ing to keep students going to
school.
“I want every kid to grad-
uate and to go through, but
sometimes life gets in the
way,” Heyen said, recounting
one student who quit school to
get a job and help his mother
keep their apartment.
Knappa High School
improved from a 70 percent
four-year graduation rate in
2016 to 90 percent last year,
by far the highest in the
county. The district’s figures
fluctuate significantly with
Clatsop County
graduation rates
School year
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
Four-year graduation rates for the five area
school districts compared to the Oregon
state average for the last five years.
District
Percent graduated
Warrenton-
Hammond
63.8%
66.7
69.1
74.2
76.2
Astoria
69.2
65.6
74.8
74.2
63.3
75.2
76.3
75.4
74.4
66.7
Seaside
64
65.9
66.7
70.3
Knappa
90.6
87.5
100
64.3
Jewell
83.3
75
68.7
72
73.8
74.8
76.7
Oregon
Source: Oregon Dept. of Education
Edward Stratton and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
small class sizes, but have
improved five years in a row
from 64 percent in the 2012-
13 school year. Out of 32
seniors last year, 29 finished
in four years with a diploma.
Knappa High School Prin-
cipal Laurel Smalley said
there’s no one magic bullet,
but that the district has expe-
rienced a culture shift toward
valuing education.
“Last year’s class was
really academically moti-
vated,” she said. “They really
wanted to graduate.”
The graduation figures of
Jewell, a tiny rural school dis-
trict in the southeastern cor-
ner of the county, fluctuate
wildly, with class sizes often
below 15 students. The dis-
trict graduated six out of eight
students last year, according
to the state.
The state also counts stu-
dents who earned extended
diplomas or pass a GED
exam as completers, 10 of
whom bumped the county’s
high school completion rate
slightly above 70 percent,
compared to slightly more
than 80 percent statewide.
For the first time, the state
broke out the graduation rates
of students who participated
in career-technical educa-
tion programs. The hands-on,
industry connected programs
have expanded over recent
years as an educational carrot
to interest students. The grad-
uation rate for such students
was 10 percent higher state-
wide, and even more so in
Astoria, where such students
had an 80 percent graduation
rate.
Career-technical programs
are valuable, but not causal
to the graduation rate, Jack-
son said. “One factor is that
students attracted to those
programs are already very
engaged,” he said.
Voters in 2016 approved
about $800 per student
through Measure 98 to
improve dropout preven-
tion, collegiate offerings and
career-technical programs.
The state Legislature funded
the measure at about $400 per
student.
The measure’s funding has
been used by school districts
for freshmen advising. Fresh-
men who stay on track and
average good grades are dra-
matically more likely to grad-
uate. Schools should start see-
ing significant dividends from
Measure 98 funding by 2020,
Jackson said.
plans to recruit 20
survivors this spring
Dr. Jackie Shannon, a
co-director of the Knight
Cancer Center’s Community
Partnerships Program, said
OHSU was looking for a way
to support community-based
cancer programs after rais-
ing $500 million in pledges
in 2015 to secure an equal
match from Nike founder
Phil Knight.
The program has distrib-
uted more than $2 million
in startup grants to cancer
screening, treatment and sur-
vivorship programs in all 36
Oregon counties. Such pro-
grams are a step toward hav-
ing a cancer treatment pro-
gram certified through the
American Society of Clinical
Oncology.
The long-term vision of
Columbia Memorial’s cancer
survivorship program is to
get cancer patients thinking
earlier about healthy lifestyle
choices that can aid in their
treatment, Cockrum said.
Since her two-month stint
in the survivorship program,
Hurley has been thinking
more about her daily eating
and exercise habits. She eats
more high-protein snacks
after learning she wasn’t get-
ting the proper nutrients.
In addition to outings
with her dog, Chuchi, she
has taken up Nordic walk-
ing, while finding videos
online showing special exer-
cises to help manage her
lymphedema.
“I think the program is
very helpful in giving a sense
of control that you can help
yourself,” she said. “I think
for many of us breast cancer
survivors, it’s always in the
back of our minds, the possi-
bility of recurrence.”
Continued from Page 1A
Overseeing the post-treat-
ment survivorship program
are the hospital’s resource
center coordinator Venus
Fromwiller and nurse Pau-
lina Cockrum, who stress the
importance of healthy life-
style choices on surviving
cancer.
“Survival does depend on
comorbidity,” Cockrum said.
“If you’re a cancer survivor
but you also have heart dis-
ease and diabetes and obe-
sity, the survival may not be
as long as if you didn’t have
those other conditions.”
This spring, Columbia
Memorial will recruit up to 20
survivors with nonmetastatic
breast, lung, colorectal, lym-
phatic, head, neck and pros-
tate cancers. They will par-
ticipate in a six-month-study
similar to Hurley’s, with a
focus on improving diet and
exercise. The post-treatment
focus fits in with the art ther-
apy, yoga, qi gong and other
support the hospital provides
during treatment, Fromwiller
said.
At the end of the year,
the hospital will review the
study’s findings and deter-
mine how to further develop
the program, with the ulti-
mate goal of providing most
patients a comprehensive
survivorship care plan after
treatment.
A 2011 survivorship study
by the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute found that
only 20 percent of oncolo-
gists consistently offer sur-
vivorship care plans for col-
orectal and breast cancer
patients. Time and cost arose
as common challenges.
Rentals: ‘This is the first time we’ll have a short-term rental ordinance’
Continued from Page 1A
“This is, I think, a good
first step. I don’t think it’s per-
fect,” Commissioner Lianne
Thompson said. “I think it’s a
great idea to bring it up, take a
look at it. Let’s see what hap-
pens. Let’s gather data.”
Concerns persist about the
requirement that owners pro-
vide one parking space per
sleeping area plus one more.
Commissioner Sarah Nebeker,
who has been the most vocal
about parking, suggested that
allowing one of the two cars
to be parked on the street
could be a compromise.
Questions about whether
mandatory safety inspec-
tions every five years — with
renewable permits annually
— are adequate will also con-
tinue among commissioners.
“There’s going to be a
wide range of short-term rent-
als. There’s going to be people
that are renting out their house
for once a year. There’s going
to be people that are rent-
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County has moved to regulate vacation rentals.
ing it out every weekend and,
during the summer, during the
week,” said Commissioner
Kathleen Sullivan, who had
proposed a three-year window
for inspections. “When you
are dealing with that number
of people coming and going
from a structure, there’s going
to be things that go wrong.”
To address those specif-
ics, Nebeker and others want
to revisit the issues at some
point after the ordinance goes
into effect.
“This is the first time we’ll
have a short-term rental ordi-
nance. I think the first time
you put anything into place,
you know, we should take
Co-op: Decision headed to City Council
Continued from Page 1A
Pond neighborhood, compared
to the 11,600 square feet worth
of retail space, parking lot and
loading area the Astoria Co-op
plans for its expansion.
“I think the co-op is a won-
derful use there, and I think
they’re as good a neighbor as
you’re going to get,” Commis-
sioner Jan Mitchell said.
Commissioner Sean Fitz-
patrick cited a conflict of inter-
est and abstained from both the
discussion and the vote.
The commission’s decision
now heads to the City Council
for review.
Most of the people who
packed into the meeting room
at City Hall on Wednesday,
including the entire Planning
Commission, are members of
the co-op on Exchange Street
downtown. People who spoke
against the grocery’s applica-
tion emphasized they are in
favor of an expansion. Their
concerns are about the location.
Several Mill Pond res-
idents questioned a traffic
study that predicted the co-
op’s presence would have little
to no impact. They said traffic
snarls on Marine Drive, which
peak during the busy summer
months, would only get worse,
and that the co-op’s proposed
parking lot entrance off a small
street at the north end of the
property could create even
more traffic issues.
The commissioners shared
these concerns, but the major-
ity were in favor of “trying to
work it out.” Commissioner
Jennifer
Cameron-Lattek
pointed to the economic and
social boon of an expanded co-
op. The grocery plans to offer
even more items for sale as
well as open a deli. Matt Stan-
ley, the co-op’s general man-
ager, expects to add around 35
employees to the payroll.
City staff recommended
approval of the zone change,
but commissioners added two
amendments that co-op repre-
sentatives suggested and city
planning staff agreed with: If
substantial construction hasn’t
begun within two years of the
new zoning being enacted,
the zoning will revert back to
mixed use. A second condition
requires a lot line adjustment
to establish the rezoned portion
of the property as its own, sep-
arate lot.
Because of the property’s
location under two of the city’s
overlay zones, the grocery has
a stringent design review pro-
cess ahead.
“The building (design) as it
is — as far as we’re aware —
if it’s not quite there, it’s very
close,” Stanley said. “We’ve
looked at the design crite-
ria, the architectural guide-
lines for the overlays and it
actually hearkens to the his-
torical nature of the buildings
that were there such as the old
mill.”
He believes the grocery still
has some work to do to address
neighborhood concerns. In
pursuing a signoff from the
Mill Pond homeowners asso-
ciation, the co-op is looking at
how it could potentially widen
the narrow street at the back
of the property that residents
identified as a potential traffic
issue.
“We are willing to flex
within reason to make this hap-
pen,” Stanley said. “We want
to be good neighbors.”
a review of this, you know,
within six months, maybe a
year,” County Manager Cam-
eron Moore said. “Let’s find
out how it’s working and
whether it’s causing unin-
tended consequences or
whether it’s working as we
intended.”
County staff estimates
the number of vacation rent-
als has nearly doubled since
2010, when 93 existed. This
type of ordinance is unusual
for unincorporated areas,
said Scott Lee, the board’s
chairman.
Staff began discussing a
potential ordinance more than
1 1/2 years ago after a fire
destroyed a cabin near Cul-
laby Lake. The cabin was
unoccupied at the time, and
inadequate safety precautions
were the suspected cause.
Commissioners received
the first draft of an ordinance
in June and have held three
separate work sessions on the
topic. They tabled the ordi-
nance at a public hearing in
September before considering
it again this month.
In the midst of that process
was a ballot measure in Gear-
hart where some residents,
including Nebeker, tried to
repeal the city’s new vacation
rental regulations. The mea-
sure was rejected 77 percent
to 23 percent.
Over the past few months,
each commissioner — at var-
ious levels — has shared an
appetite to address safety
issues through an ordinance.
Lee made the first motion
Wednesday to adopt the
new regulations. The second
motion came from Nebeker.
“This was a good conver-
sation,” Lee said moments
after the ordinance passed. “I
think it was a good example of
a good way of government.”
Clatsop Post 12
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Friday
Jan. 26 th
4 pm until gone
8. 00
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6PM
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Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
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1132 Exchange Street
325-5771
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