3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
Jewell to consider shorter school week
Four-day week
might help
reduce absences
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
JEWELL — Jewell School
District is exploring the pos-
sibility of a four-day school
week.
Superintendent Alice Hun-
saker introduced the idea at
Monday night’s school board
meeting on behalf of numer-
ous families and staff who
inquired about the option.
Some in the district are
advocating for a shorter week
as a way to help reduce both
student and teacher absences,
Hunsaker said.
“After doing the research,
I thought it was worth bring-
ing up for your consideration,”
she said to the board.
It’s a move many rural
school districts have made.
The benefits of a shortened
week mostly revolve around
travel. Due to Jewell’s rela-
tively remote location, stu-
dent athletes and musicians
often have to miss more class
than their centrally-located
counterparts when traveling
long distances to games and
competitions. Staff members
struggle to attend professional
development courses with-
out racking up sub days. Par-
ents also have mentioned that
having a day off to make the
hourlong drive into town for
things like doctor and dentist
appointments could alleviate
stress, Hunsaker said.
“We struggle for staff to get
the professional development
they need,” she said. “If staff
were all available on a Friday,
then we could bring the train-
ing here rather than taking
the time and expense to send
a handful of people out. The
bottom line is we can’t educate
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
The Jewell School District is exploring a four-day school week.
well if our kids aren’t here and
our teachers aren’t here.”
In general, shortening the
week would unlikely be a
cost-saving mechanism.
“Any savings would be
minimal. That would not be
a reason for me to make that
kind of change, personally,”
she said.
Some board members
were skeptical, however, and
requested more data about
the number of absences cor-
related with student travel and
personal development. There
were also concerns about how
a day off in the week could be
a burden to working parents
with small children.
“The other part of the con-
versation here is about child
care. What about families
with younger kids? They may
have to find someone to watch
their child another day of the
week,” board member Ginger
Kaczenski said.
Hunsaker said while that
has been a sticking point
in the past when the idea
was proposed, demograph-
ics in Jewell have changed.
With less than 150 stu-
dents enrolled in the kinder-
garten-through-12th-grade
school, more than 90 percent
of families have a parent or
relative who is home full time,
or parents who do not work
hours that conflict with regular
school hours.
But board member Brian
Meier saw a shortened school
week leading to overall less
time in the classroom.
“All I see is your in-class
time being less than what we
have now, and teachers are
already saying they don’t have
enough time,” Meier said. “We
love providing field trips to
show kids experiences outside
of Jewel. If you’re going to
shorten educational time, how
are you going to fit in things
like field trips? What happens
to the benefits kids get?”
Hunsaker said there are
“creative ways to recapture
time” throughout the school
day. Days could be longer, and
late-start Wednesdays could
be restored to a regular school
day.
The school district plans to
send out a community survey
this month to gauge the com-
munity’s reception to a modi-
fied schedule. It will include a
basic list of pros and cons, as
well as a few mock-up sched-
ules of what a school day
would look like. Results of
the survey will help determine
whether the board continues to
pursue the schedule change for
next school year.
“I believe this is a commu-
nity decision,” Hunsaker said.
Hotel: It would employ 25 people full time, and up to 35 seasonally
Continued from Page 1A
setbacks, to help protect views.
The hotel would include bal-
conies on the middle two
floors, with the top floor set
back without decks. The build-
ing is also slightly smaller than
the 30,000-square-foot limit
allowed in the zone.
“I’m not going to tell you
that at certain points along
Marine Drive that this building
would not block your views,”
said Michelle Black, an archi-
tect on the project. “Certainly,
as you progress down, you will
have more and less of a view
… regardless of what building
is blocking your view.”
The height of the build-
ing includes digging down 3
feet into the site, as far as the
company could go, said Sam
Mullen, an asset and develop-
ment manager for Hollander
Investments.
Some people also took
issue with the exterior of the
hotel — which would include
synthetic wood siding, corru-
gated metal, rust coloring and
other aesthetic nods to nearby
buildings — calling it out of
character with the surrounding
city and the site.
The boiler in front of the
proposed hotel, from the for-
mer White Star cannery, was
designated a historical land-
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Sam Mullen, left, an asset and development manager for Hollander Investments, and architect Michelle Black with Carleton
Hart Architecture took questions Monday from the public on a proposed Fairfield Inn and Suites on the Astoria waterfront.
mark in 2015 by the city’s His-
toric Landmarks Commission,
along with surrounding pilings
and ballast rock. As opposed
to historic districts with pre-
scribed looks for homes, The
Ship Inn site requires interpret-
ing the look of several dispa-
rate elements, Mullen said.
“In some ways, it’s kind of
like, ‘take your best shot,’” he
said.
The historic criteria for the
area is more broad than pre-
scriptive, and the building
design tries to pull colors and
elements from the surround-
ing site, rather than mimicking
an old cannery building, Black
said.
“We were really trying to
go for a more modern take,
using elements and materials
— metal railing, rust-colored
siding — things that would not
detract from the site,” she said.
The proposed hotel must
go through the Astoria Design
Review Committee and the
Historic Landmarks Commis-
sion. The hope is those public
meetings will come in March
or April, Mullen said, adding
his company is open to another
public vetting of the hotel sim-
ilar to Monday’s meeting.
“We want you to like the
building,” Mullen said.
The hotel would employ 25
people full time and up to 35
seasonally, Mullen said. Asked
about the challenge of hous-
ing for employees, he said the
hope is that aside from five
or six managerial positions,
many of the workers would
be local youths starting out in
their first job.
Hollander
Investments,
which had originally competed
for the operation of the Astoria
Riverwalk Inn, has also leased
a strip of land from the Port of
Astoria near Maritime Memo-
rial Park. Near the end of the
meeting, Mullen was asked
about a rumor that his com-
pany wants to develop five
Marriotts in the region. Part of
the reason for the outreach to
the community was to dispel
such misinformation, he said.
“We don’t even know how
successful we’re going to be
on this first one, just from a
city standpoint,” Mullen said.
“We truly don’t. That’s why
I told Marriott today, ‘I’ll tell
you when I know stuff.’ We
want to deliver a good prod-
uct. We want to do a good job.
We would love to develop a
second hotel at some point, but
we’re not even remotely close
to planning anything because,
we just don’t know.”
Kujala: ‘Dismayed’ by the partisanship in recent county commission elections
Continued from Page 1A
Even as a city commis-
sioner and mayor, Kujala imag-
ined potentially serving on the
county commission.
“I’ve been thinking about
it for a long time,” he said. “I
thought it’s a natural fit.”
Kujala, 47, graduated from
Warrenton High School and
has a business degree from
Oregon State University. In
the past, he has served on the
boards of Liberty Restoration,
the Clatsop County Commu-
nity College Foundation, Clat-
sop Economic Development
Resources and the Way to
Wellville committee. He has
also been a Warrenton Rotary
Club president and an Astoria
Regatta admiral and admiral’s
aide.
Prior to stepping down as
mayor, the Skipanon Brand
Seafood owner said he wanted
to focus more time on his
business. Kujala is now the
membership coordinator for
the Astoria-Warrenton Area
Chamber of Commerce.
“I had some issues with our
business, so I had to step down,
restructure things and get a
new job. So that’s what I did,”
he said.
Jobs, economic develop-
ment, public safety, urban
renewal and levee certification
were some of the focuses of his
time as mayor. He also oversaw
tense disputes such as Oregon
LNG’s attempts to build a pipe-
line and terminal in the area, as
well as a debate between the
city and the Skipanon Water
Control District over control of
the Eighth Street Dam.
Scott Lee, the county
board’s chairman, holds
the District 1 position but
announced last year that he
would not seek re-election.
Kujala said he would like
to see the commission work
closer with other local bodies.
“I would’ve liked to have
had more input from him and
to have given more input,”
Kujala said of Lee and the
county while he was mayor.
“I’d want to have more of that
with the commission, and I
think I’d be effective at that.”
Kujala also said he has been
“dismayed” by the partisanship
he has seen in recent county
commission elections.
“I see political parties
becoming more involved in
counties in general,” Kujala
said, while differentiating from
his time as a Warrenton com-
missioner. “We didn’t care
about Ds and Rs. We cared
about ideas. I just would hate
to see a hardening of positions
based on what your political
party is.”
County
commissioners
have been divided in the past
year over the scope of their
roles. Commissioners Lianne
Thompson and Kathleen Sul-
livan have called for the board
to play a more active role in
county operations. Kujala,
meanwhile, said he would
work collaboratively with
county staff but that daily deci-
sions are not within the com-
mission’s purview.
“I think the county charter
is where you decide the role,”
Kujala said. “The charter says
the county manager is in charge
of day-to-day operations.”
George McCartin — a
retired attorney and regular
presence at public meetings —
and Andrew Davis — a medi-
cal data analyst — have also
filed for the seat. The district
covers Warrenton, Hammond
and the west end of Astoria.
Two other positions on the
board will be up for election in
the May 15 primary.
Peter Roscoe — a former
Astoria city councilor and
Fulio’s Pastaria owner — and
Pamela Wev — an Astoria land
use consultant — have filed
for the District 3 seat. That
seat is currently held by Lisa
Clement, a co-owner of Cle-
mente’s Seafood who has not
announced whether she will
seek re-election.
The District 5 position is
held by Thompson, who will
campaign for a second term.
Susana Gladwin, a Jewell
farmer, has also filed for the
seat.
The filing deadline for the
primary is today.
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