WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 237
$1.50
Astoria eliminates
student activity fees
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Astoria will eliminate or reduce most
extracurricular activity fees to increase
student participation in sports and
music.
The Astoria School Board on
State takes on
oversight of
developmental
disability
Wednesday night approved a $21.5 mil-
lion operating budget for the next school
year , a $1.5 million increase from this
year’s budget. The budget eliminates
most student fees, including $125 per
student for high school sports.
See Fees, Page A9
Astoria delves into housing study
New contract in July
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Astorian
Clatsop County will no longer have
an oversight role over intellectual and
developmental disabilities, as the respon-
sibility for people with autism, cerebral
palsy, Down syndrome and epilepsy shifts
entirely to the state.
The state Department of Human Ser-
vices will contract with Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, a private nonprofi t, to
provide services and work with adult fos-
ter homes, group homes and supported liv-
ing to help about 230 people in need.
The shift, which takes effect in July,
will come a few months after Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare completed a cor-
rective action plan to improve monitoring.
The state will issue the new contract
under an emergency procurement pro-
cess. Sherryll Hoar, a spokeswoman for
the Department of Human Services, said it
is too early to know whether or when the
state will put the contract up for competi-
tive bid.
“We have had conversations with Clat-
sop County about problems with its Com-
munity Developmental Disabilities Pro-
gram,” Hoar said in an email. “As part of
those discussions we noted our ability to
have more control over the quality of the
programs we contract with directly and did
suggest that the county had the option to
not be the state contractor.”
Michael Shipley, the communications
and quality metrics coordinator for Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare, said the agency
is awaiting details of the new contract.
“We’re committed to continuing to pro-
vide services in the community, and ensur-
ing that there’s not going to be an interrup-
tion of the services,” he said.
The Astorian reported in February that
the state nearly pulled the $1.7 million con-
tract last fall. Investigations into abuse and
neglect at adult foster homes had uncov-
ered a troubling lack of oversight. The
newspaper, using the state’s public records
law, obtained documents that detailed the
state’s concern over management of the
program and the agency’s response. The
program’s manager was removed last year.
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
City leaders are looking at their options after discussing the results of a countywide housing study.
Need for affordable and
workforce housing
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
T
hough Astoria has plenty of
places for people to live, the
city’s housing stock is not fully
serving residents, a county wide hous-
ing study concluded.
The city remains short of afford-
able and workforce housing, as well
as land that’s open and available to
build new houses and apartments .
At a City Council work session
Thursday, consultants recommended
a number of strategies, such as code
and zoning changes the city could
implement to encourage diverse types
of development. There are also incen-
tives Astoria could consider to coax
developers into building the kind of
housing city leaders want to see.
The city is already in the process of
reviewing codes dealing with acces-
sory dwelling units — separate struc-
tures on the same lots as single-fam-
ily homes that can be rented out. The
‘THERE IS NO SILVER
BULLET. WE NEED TO
LOOK AT A WHOLE
PACKAGE OF OPTIONS
TO INCREASE
THE NUMBER OF
RESIDENTIAL UNITS
AND MINIMIZE THE
USE OF THESE
AS SECOND HOMES
FOR NON PERMANENT
RESIDENTS.’
Bruce Jones | Astoria mayor
city is also curbing illegal vacation
rentals. Other refi nements are in the
works.
But there is more that could be
done, city councilors believe. And
they believe they may have to make
some diffi cult decisions down the
road, especially in neighborhoods that
have resisted apartment or townhouse
projects.
During his campaign for mayor
last year, Bruce Jones talked about the
need to create more fl exibility in city
codes and fi nd areas for higher-den-
sity housing .
Following Thursday’s meeting, the
mayor reaffi rmed his desire to “con-
sider what incentives the city can
offer to encourage development of
these areas for housing and particu-
larly affordable housing.”
“There is no silver bullet,” Jones
added. “We need to look at a whole
package of options to increase the
number of residential units and mini-
mize the use of these as second homes
for non permanent residents.”
Mapped out
On Thursday, consultants dis-
played a map of the vacant and par-
tially vacant acres available in Asto-
ria. These sections were lit up in pale
yellow and electric green, while devel-
oped areas were colored gray. Non res-
idential zones were a dusty pink.
See Housing, Page A10
See Oversight, Page A9
Seaside fi ghts chronic absenteeism
School attendance
tied to success
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — The numbers were
startling: 35% of Seaside High
School students were identifi ed last
year as chronically absent, or miss-
ing more than 18 days in a school
year.
“T hat was a jaw-dropper,” said
Jason Boyd, the assistant principal.
“I had no idea. Right now we’re sit-
ting at 25%, 30%. Our goal is all
kids will attend 95% of school days
by 2024.”
For students, there’s a correlation
between attendance and success in
school . “Kids who miss school
more regularly are more likely to
struggle, ” he said.
Boyd, speaking at the Chamber
of Commerce this month , said he
plans to get attendance rates up “in
the same way you would eat an ele-
phant — one bite at a time.”
Boyd, a former teacher and ath-
letic director who became assistant
principal in September, said schools
are taking a new approach to absen-
teeism. “As assistant principal, how
am I going to improve attendance in
school so that kids will leave here
with the skills they need to enter the
workforce?” he said.
Detention and suspension are
giving way to positive reinforce-
ment and personalized attention for
students, “fi nding creative ways to
keep them in the building and keep
them here.”
Transportation is key — provid-
ing options before and after school.
Absenteeism is an issue state-
wide . Poverty, homelessness and
other forms of trauma can lead to
stress that can cause students to miss
classes .
With 1 in 6 students in Ore-
gon chronically absent in the 2015-
2016 school year, the state created
t he Every Day Matters program to
address the root causes of absentee-
ism , with a focus on local context.
I n Seaside , a “keep track of time”
chart offers a way for students to
track missed days. Counselors work
with students one-on-one and in
groups to build confi dence .
The Astorian
See Absenteeism, Page A9
Assistant principal Jason Boyd aims to improve student attendance.