WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021
149TH YEAR, NO. 32
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
Deaths
tied to
care
homes
Six deaths detailed
in state outbreak report
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Photos by Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
A student picks out his locker at the new Astoria Middle School building during an open house on Wednesday.
Back to school in
another abnormal year
Parents struggle to decide
what’s best for children
A
See Back to school, Page A7
See Deaths, Page A7
Knappa
preschool
shuts down
over virus
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
t the last minute, Tania Regier’s daughter decided
her desire to see her friends outweighed her dislike
of wearing a mask to school.
Regier’s three children spent much of the last school
year enrolled in the Warrenton-Hammond School Dis-
trict’s online academy. For her family, it felt safer and
— as shifting coronavirus case metrics dictated how and
when schools were able to open for in-person classes —
more predictable.
This year, two of Regier’s children will return to classes
in Warrenton school buildings.
It’s a decision Regier left largely up them, but it was an
uncomfortable call — a discomfort she knows she shares
with other parents who debated whether to send their kids
back to in-person school.
Virus c ase numbers rose sharply in Clatsop County
over the summer with the arrival of the highly contagious
delta variant, and the number of COVID-related hospi-
talizations and deaths ticked upward . At the same time,
parents and educators grappled with growing concerns
about the students left behind in online classrooms, the
diffi culty in teaching young students from behind a mask,
and other issues associated with trying to educate during
a pandemic.
“As parents, our general consensus is we don’t know,”
Regier said. “We don’t know what we don’t know. We’re
all hoping we made the best decision, but we don’t know.”
Six of the coronavirus deaths recorded
in Clatsop County this summer were tied
to care homes, which were identifi ed early
in the pandemic as among the most vul-
nerable to the spread of the virus.
Five of the deaths were residents at
Clatsop Care Memory Community in
Warrenton, where 37 virus cases have
been reported since early August. The
other death was a resident at Neawanna
By The Sea in Seaside, where there have
been four virus cases since mid-August.
New program closed
until Sept. 20
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Eighth grader Eva Henley checks in and tours the new
Astoria Middle School building on Wednesday ahead of the
fi rst day of school.
‘AS PARENTS, OUR GENERAL CONSENSUS IS WE DON’T KNOW. WE
DON’T KNOW WHAT WE DON’T KNOW. WE’RE ALL HOPING WE MADE
THE BEST DECISION, BUT WE DON’T KNOW.’
A new preschool program at the Knappa
School District has shut down until Sept.
20 after a student tested positive for the
coronavirus.
The school dis-
trict was also told
MORE
another preschool
INSIDE
student was con-
Astoria
sidered a close
Aquatic Center
contact in a sepa-
temporarily
rate virus case.
closes after
The preschool
virus case • A7
closure impacts
18 children who
were enrolled in
the Knappa Early Learning program,
which launched on Sept. 1.
Precise contact tracing would have
been diffi cult. With the way the program
is run and given how preschoolers inter-
act with each other, anybody could have
been in contact with anybody else, Super-
intendent Bill Fritz noted.
Tania Regier | parent of Warrenton students
See Preschool, Page A7
County looks to improve broadband in Jewell
A three-phase plan to
expand internet access
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Clatsop County may partner
with Jewell School District to bring
broadband to a rural region of the
county where internet service is
slow, spotty and often nonexistent.
At Wednesday’s county Board
of Commissioners work session,
Steve Phillips, the Jewell superin-
tendent , proposed hiring the fi rm
Oregon Coast Wireless, which
upgraded internet service in Tilla-
mook County.
Before Phillips took a lead role
in addressing the inferior inter-
net in Jewell and Elsie , the county
had worked with a consultant on
the issue and stakeholders had
weighed in.
Tillamook and Clatsop counties
both have sparsely populated areas
with weak internet service, Phil-
lips noted , and he argued that what
worked in Tillamook could work
in Clatsop.
Jewell’s main internet provider
is CenturyLink, which won’t accept
new customers in the area, Phillips
said. “Frankly, the service they do
provide is hit-and-miss because
they’re so maxed out,” he said.
Less than 40% of people in that
part of the county enjoy reliable
internet, according to a 2020 sur-
vey of Jewell School District fam-
ilies. “It’s tough out here,” Phillips
said.
He estimates that, if the commu-
nity follows Tillamook’s model,
the cost of internet per home will
fall in the $65-a-month range. R es-
idents in Jewell and Elsie typi-
cally pay between $80 and $120 a
month , he said.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
See Broadband, Page A7
Rural areas in Clatsop County often suff er from the lack of reliable internet.