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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018
Jeffery: Spent much
of his career in smaller,
rural school districts
Continued from Page 1A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The tide rolls in near a neighborhood in Cannon Beach.
Study: No definitive solution offered
Continued from Page 1A
Different approaches solved dif-
ferent problems. Policies that include
“strategic retreat” — intentionally
moving buildings out of a danger-
ous area — would see up to 1,800
buildings relocated and preserve the
most beach access. But it comes at a
price: moving buildings could cost
$300 million after accounting for the
money it would take to renourish the
beach and create new environmental
easements.
The “laissez-faire” approach,
where restrictions about where to
build and whether riprap is allowed
are stripped, actually resulted in
almost no buildings being impacted
by erosion in comparison to the status
quo. Predictions show there would
be a spike in homeowners fortifying
properties that they currently cannot
do under state law. Current planning
policies would see about 20 build-
ings a year be affected by erosion by
2100.
But it, too, was costly, incurring
about $2.5 million a year regionally
for costs associated with fortifying
coastal properties. The policy also
massively impacts beach accessibil-
ity by interfering with sand produc-
tion, which would also increase total
water levels and lead to more flood-
ing hazards. Currently, about 80 per-
cent of the coastline is walkable.
In the worst climate scenario, that
would drop to about 40 percent by
2100 under this approach.
Though the study doesn’t offer a
definitive solution, Corcoran said he
hopes the information can be used to
make long-term decisions.
“We’re so used to shooting down
ideas,” he said. “I find it useful for
electeds and others to play through
alternative policies through the end.”
Local impact
While the study focused on chal-
lenges unique to Tillamook County,
the broader lesson of considering
development hazards is something
that can be applied across the North
Coast.
Studies like this could be a model
for cities to rethink the development
process in the tsunami inundation
zone.
“(Planning is) project driven and
opportunity driven,” Corcoran said.
“There’s no sense of altering devel-
opment for hazards”
Such policies could force plan-
ners to “tick some kind of box”
about whether vulnerable popula-
tions should be put in areas known to
be historically inundated after a tsu-
nami, Corcoran said.
Think of the Shooting Stars Child
Development Center in Astoria as an
example, he said, which moved into
a building the Oregon State Police
left in Uniontown because of tsunami
danger. It falls into the 3 percent of
land considered to be at most risk for
a tsunami in Astoria, and has been
inundated 17 out of the last 19 major
historical events.
“If that kind of thinking went
through the Planning Commission
as a factor, there might have been an
incentive to find another location,” he
said.
No decision will be perfect, but it
should at least be informed.
“Can we, through strategic deci-
sion, at least make the project less
bad?” Corcoran said.
Tom and Robbie, the administra-
tive team has built them. They’re
their programs, not mine, so I knew
I could step out, and we wouldn’t
miss a beat.”
Jeffery has spent much of his
career in smaller, rural school
districts.
Before Warrenton, he was super-
intendent of Willamina in the Willa-
mette Valley for two years and the
rural Eastern Oregon town of Pais-
ley for eight years. He taught for 12
years in nearby Lakeview.
Before becoming an educa-
tor, Jeffery worked in lumber mills
and restaurants, and served in the
Air Force and Army. He decided to
become an educator in the 1980s
while training drill sergeants at
Camp Rilea near Warrenton.
Jeffery plans to retire in either
Redmond or Prineville to be closer
to his siblings and father in central
Oregon. His wife, Judith, lives in
Warrenton but works from a distance
for Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, a
Christian camp near Bend that res-
cues domesticated horses and links
them with troubled young people for
therapy.
When arriving in Warrenton, Jef-
fery said he had heard from some-
one buying a house that while it was
seen as a good community, Warren-
ton was the school district where you
didn’t want to send your kids.
“That was a stunner for me, and
that … has been really the bench-
mark off of which I work,” he said.
“That, and in my first year, just hav-
ing folks come in and not satisfied
with what we were doing.”
The school district needed
changes in the staff culture, educa-
tional approach and how it interfaced
with the community, particularly at
the grade school, Jeffery said.
Jan Schock, principal at the grade
school for 15 years, was transferred
in 2012 to South Jetty High School,
the campus the district operated for
inmates at the North Coast Youth
Correctional Facility. Robbie Porter,
the previous principal at South Jetty,
was brought in as vice principal at
the grade school to help improve the
behavior of students.
Rogozinski, a former principal at
St. Mary, Star of the Sea School in
Astoria, was hired the same year as
principal of the grade school to help
advance the school’s academic rigor.
Heyen, principal at the high school
for 12 years, helped smooth the tran-
sition by pulling double duty at the
grade school.
“One of the three could step right
in and do a great job,” Jeffery said.
“They’re all ready for it.”
The school district has established
a reputation for high marks on state
assessments and other indicators of
success, such as attendance and grad-
uation. Jeffery gave the credit to his
staff for improving students’ access
to technology and using it effec-
tively to support English and math
instruction. The district also changed
schedules to add more math instruc-
tion, ensured eighth graders tran-
sition smoothly to high school and
expanded high school-level offer-
ings to middle schoolers to provide
a head start.
“When I started, my overarching
goal was to make this the best district
in the state,” Jeffery said. “I’m cer-
tain it could be done. It’s just every-
thing takes longer than I want, as I’ve
said before. We knew in order to do
that, every department had to be the
best.”
The school district recently fin-
ished a successful campaign to pass
a $38.5 million bond to buy a mas-
ter campus out of the tsunami inun-
dation zone and build a new middle
school. The bond is the first of three
the district hopes to pass by 2032 to
relocate all of its schools uphill and
east of the Skipanon River.
The bond was not a deciding fac-
tor in his retirement, Jeffery said, but
made the decision to retire and let
someone younger handle the proj-
ect easier. The school district hopes
to buy the property on Dolphin Ave-
nue from Warrenton Fiber sometime
next month, and hire a project man-
ager, design firm and general con-
tractor shortly thereafter.
“I think all of that will occur
before I’m out the door,” Jeffery said.
Homeless: ‘You can’t punish homelessness, you can’t punish it away’
Continued from Page 1A
Mary Docherty, the director
of Riverfolk, a local organiza-
tion that works with homeless
people to secure state identi-
fication cards and birth certif-
icates, approached Spalding
a while back about fines her
homeless clients face. She is
wary of community service as
a catch-all solution.
Instead, Docherty would
like to see forgiveness of cita-
tions and associated fines and
fees — especially citations she
argues criminalize people for
being homeless.
Speaking for her clients,
she said, “The reason they
don’t appear (in court) is
because they feel hopeless. It’s
like, why bother? Nothing is
going to change.
“It just adds to the barri-
ers that they’re up against,”
she added. “And it really does
affect them emotionally. That’s
a big chunk of money to worry
about.”
Spalding, who leads the
homelessness solutions task
force with Mayor Arline
LaMear, is interested at look-
ing into creative options,
but he foresees other issues
with a “clean slate pro-
gram,”
including
argu-
ments about equal treatment.
If two people — one of them
homeless and one with hous-
ing — both get cited for drink-
ing in public, do they both get
the option to work off their
fines through community
service?
City Councilor Cindy Price
noted that many people strug-
gle financially and receiving a
ticket or citation can be a sig-
IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR!!!
nificant setback whether they
have housing or not.
“The equity issue goes
well beyond people who are
unhomed,” she said.
Spalding still needs to
speak with the Clatsop County
Circuit Court to see if the court
would accept community ser-
vice in lieu of fines for homeless
offenders. Astoria’s Municipal
Court does not have the staff-
ing to offer an official com-
munity service program, but
believes the court could work
with the police department.
Right now, if a person who is
homeless does show up to their
court hearing and explains
their situation, Municipal
Court Judge Kris Kaino says
he is likely to be lenient. In the
past, he has worked with peo-
ple to do community service
with a local nonprofit instead
of paying fines. In other cases,
the fine might be reduced or
eliminated if the person has no
ability to pay.
“I’m not saying there’s
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never a fine imposed, but very
seldom,” Kaino said. “And we
talk about different options
with them.”
The city needs to ensure
people are not violating city
rules, but in cases involv-
ing the homeless, it often just
makes matters worse to impose
a fine, Kaino added. Also, peo-
ple who have nowhere to live,
nowhere to receive mail, can-
not receive notices about accu-
mulating fines if they miss
their first scheduled court
appearance.
“I think the challenge is
that you can’t punish home-
lessness, you can’t punish it
away,” Amy Baker, the execu-
tive director of Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, said at the
task force meeting Tuesday.
“That approach isn’t going
to work. Really it has to be a
long-term strategy around per-
sistently and consistently get-
ting people into help and get-
ting them what they need in
order to not be homeless.”
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