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November 6, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 11A More than 700 county students ‘chronically absent’ In some schools, up to a third of students are chronically gone By Edward Stratton EO Media Group More than 700 students K-12 in Clatsop County were reported as chronically absent last year in a recent report from the Oregon Department of Education, out of more than 94,000 chronically ab- sent students statewide. The department of educa- tion de¿nes chronic absenteeism as missing at least 10 percent of scheduled days between the start of the school year and May 1. This is the ¿rst year the state has released detailed attendance data on its own, after the “Emp- ty Desks” series by the Orego- nian last year revealed Oregon, with 17.7 percent of its students chronically absent, had one of the biggest attendance problems in the country in the 2012-13 school year. The situation hasn’t notably improved this year, with 17.4 per- cent statewide considered chron- ically absent this year, while the county’s rate has increased from 13 to 15 percent over two years. Absenteeism starts high in kindergarten, dips as students ad- vance through grades and perks back up among upperclassmen in high school. In Astoria and Sea- side, nearly a quarter of kinder- gartners were chronically absent last year, part of a similar historic trend. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of seniors in Seaside were chronically absent last year at Seaside High School, along with a third of juniors and seniors at Astoria High School. Late start “I think sometimes peo- ple with kindergartners think it doesn’t matter,” said Kate Gohr, principal at John Jacob Astor El- ementary School. Gohr said parents often say “‘Oh, they’re sick,’” about their kids. “But they’re just sick all too often. That’s a lot of sickness.” Improving attendance has been a continuing goal for Gohr, who started last year as principal and said she and staff continue to make phone calls on absent chil- dren and send letters home. “It’s hard to teach them if they’re not here,” she said, citing a study by national policy group Attendance Works showing 17 percent of students who were chronically absent in kindergarten and ¿rst grade were able to read pro¿ciently by third grade, com- pared to 64 percent of students who had good attendance. Read- ing pro¿ciently by third grade, parents and offering assistance. A lesser breakout of sickness, she said, has also led to fewer ab- sences. “The hunting is the same,” Collier said about families’ will- ingness to take their children out for mid-year vacations and hunt- ing trips. “It’s the same families. I think that’s a county thing.” when kids are supposed to stop learning to read and start reading to learn, is a key indicator of how successful they will be education- ally. Setting an example At 9 percent, Warrenton-Ham- mond School District had the second-lowest rate of chronic ab- senteeism last year of any Oregon district with more than 500 stu- dents. Only 7.8 percent of War- renton’s kindergartners last year were chronically absent, a third of the rate of absenteeism in Astoria and Seaside. Robbie Porter, vice principal of Warrenton Grade School, cred- its the district’s focus on reaching out early to parents of preschool- ers. For three years, Warrenton has offered its own preschool inside the elementary school, while also offering full-day kin- dergarten over the past few years, before it became a state mandate this year. “Opening the building early to young children and their families makes it easier for them when they start,” Porter said. She said state law mandating regular attendance for anyone over the age of 5 and enrolled in school has also helped her efforts to ensure parents get their kids to school on time, which can some- times lead to a truancy of¿cer vis- Young adulthood iting homes and imposing ¿nes. Knappa’s Hilda Lahti Ele- mentary School experienced a 10 percent drop in its chronic absen- teeism rate among kindergartners from two years ago, from 24 to 14 percent. “Our feeling is that we made a pretty concerted effort to make connections with families,” Hilda Lahti Principal Leila Collier said, adding the effort involved a pro- active approach of reaching out to High school principals Shei- la Roley from Seaside and Lynn Jackson of Astoria said their stu- dents face a dif¿cult work-home- life balance. Nearly half of students at both schools were considered econom- ically disadvantaged last year. Nearly a ¿fth were considered mobile, enrolling in more than one Oregon school district, en- rolling in the state for the ¿rst time or missing more than two weeks at a time. Jackson said he was just talking to one student who works from 4 to 10 p.m. “And that’s after being at school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.” Roley said some families mov- ing in between districts don’t tell their previous school, leaving staff to count their students as chronically absent and dropouts. “I don’t think it’s that they don’t want to tell us,” Roley said. “They just have different priori- ties.” Housing costs remain out of reach for many area families Private, public partners discuss affordable housing shortfall By Katherine Lacaze EO Media Group Most people agree there is a lack of affordable, fam- ily and workforce housing in Clatsop County. Finding solutions to the nuanced problem must start with a collective effort, according to many who attended a “hous- ing huddle” organized by Clatsop Economic Develop- ment Resources. This collective effort kicked off with a two-hour conversation at Clatsop Community College on Tuesday, Oct. 20, involving about 50 people representing various private and public entities, including Provi- dence Seaside Hospital and the college; state, county and local governments; business- es; building and contracting companies; banks and ¿nanc- ing institutions and numerous other organizations and agen- cies. While the problem is mu- tual, and has been identi¿ed as an economic barrier along the North Coast, each city has its own set of obstacles that has stunted new affordable housing. Cannon Beach is some- what land-locked and the available land is mostly con- sidered oceanfront property, which inÀates its value. Sea- side has high system-devel- opment charges. Gearhart is facing an inÀux of short-term vacation rentals that appeal more to landowners than DANI PALMER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Shorewood Apartments provide sought after affordable housing in Cannon Beach — if there isn’t a list to get past first. long-term rentals. Warrenton is ¿lled with property classi- ¿ed as wetlands; and Astoria presents some topographical and geological challenges to development. The housing shortfall Don Lee, the U.S. Coast Guard’s housing supervisor for Sector Columbia River, said it is increasingly dif¿- cult for him to ¿nd places for Coast Guard families to rent, and that includes the of¿cers, which seems to indicate the housing shortfall “is pretty much across the board.” “There are just not enough multi-family rentals, or single rentals, in this area to accom- modate the need,” he said, adding if private and public partnerships focused on the lower “end of the stick, it would give breathing room.” Some said once more af- fordable housing is available, people staying in cheaper places, who could afford more, would be able to do so, and vice versa. “Our market is not breath- ing,” Lee said. “It’s going up like a rocket.” Ideally, occupancy rates should be at about 95 percent to allow landlords and man- agement companies to do maintenance on rentals, “You have two people waiting for every one that comes open,” Steve Olstedt, president of Olstedt Construction, said. Pinpointing the obstacles The commonly accept- ed standard for affordable housing is families who pay more than 30 percent of their income toward housing are considered cost burdened and may have dif¿culty paying for other necessities, accord- ing to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment. Randy Stemper, a general contractor, said he is involved in a development underway in Seaside that will offer 26 two-bedroom units at a cost of about $1,000 to $1,150 per unit. That is what it takes for developers to make a return on their investment — at least in Seaside, he said. Developers won’t build new facilities at a loss, he said, which leads to the ques- tion, “How do we lower the costs to the investors?” Olst- edt agreed there is land avail- able to develop, particularly in Warrenton, but securing a good interest rate is key because costs are ultimately passed to the end users — the renters. Developers need to be able to “build cheaper, so we can offer (housing) for cheap- er,” said Ben Johnson of Sun- rise Homes. Solutions around the state Richard Krueger, of Krueger Property Manage- ment, shared viable solutions he has found in other Oregon cities. In Pendleton, the state backed a loan for the devel- oper to get a better interest rate and the city helped pro- vide land. For the trade, 30 percent of the units had to be low-income housing, and the rest could be rented at market value, Krueger said. “That’s an example of the state and the city’s involve- ment with the private sector, which I think would be nice to have,” he said. In Tigard, he is work- ing on a 118-unit apartment complex with a 19-year tax abatement that must provide 40 percent of the units for low-income housing. Addi- tionally, 1 percent of the de- velopment must be owned and operated by a nonpro¿t agency. A number of potential solutions were proposed at the meeting, including: • Identifying possible buildable lands on Clatsop Plains, between Seaside and Cannon Beach or Seaside and Warrenton; • Cities offering relief from system-development charges, tax abatement and incremental ¿nancing; • Local governments legislating and enforcing control mechanisms to limit short-term vacation rentals; • Helping homeowners utilize garages and base- ments or build tiny homes to offer for rent; • Institutions and busi- nesses helping to provide housing to their employees; • Increasing mix-use structures, such as libraries or other public buildings that provide housing on up- per stories, which might re- quire cities to grant zoning variances. “There are lots of tools out there,” Astoria Com- munity Development Di- rector Kevin Cronin said. “You just have to agree as a community what those tools are and see if those work. If they don’t work, you go back to the drawing board and try something else.” At the end of the meet- ing, participants were asked to sign up to participate on one of four unof¿cial committees. One commit- tee will take inventory of buildable lands in the re- gion and quantify the need, or determine the true supply and demand. Another will research best practices or solutions being used in oth- er cities, such as the exam- ples Krueger provided. The third will craft a model bud- get of what it would take for a developer to build a multi-family dwelling. The fourth group will research and generate ideas for non- traditional solutions, such as tiny houses or accessory housing. Former principal, Food4Kids cofounder Kemper-Riddock dies at 73 By Katherine Lacaze EO Media Group Earlier this week, Coral Cook was asked if she could help pro- vide food to two school-aged children who recently came into the care of their grandparents. In her mind, she said, she could hear the voice of her recently depart- ed friend and co-founder of Sea- side’s Food4Kids program Rose- mary Kemper-Riddock saying, “Well, of course we’re going to take care of them.” “If she knew someone was hungry, they wouldn’t be hungry for long,” Cook said. “I’m sure she’s going to be looking over my shoulder for now on.” Kemper-Riddock, 73, died as a result of health issues Oct. 19 at St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland. She leaves behind a leg- acy of being a doting grandmother, outstanding jam-maker, longtime educator and gracious person who contributed tirelessly to the people and projects she cared about. Kemper-Riddock lived in the Seaside community about 10 years. From 2007 to 2010, she worked for Seaside School Dis- trict 10 as the director of curric- ulum and the principal of Cannon Beach Elementary School. Cook met her about four years ago, during a meeting to discuss starting a program to feed local students over weekends during the school year. Kemper-Riddock was involved with a backpack program for Cannon Beach Ele- mentary School and Cook previ- ously oversaw a summer lunch program for local students, so they were a natural ¿t to start the program, called Food4Kids. The program started in 2011 with Seaside Heights Elementary School. Gearhart Elementary stu- dents were incorporated in 2012 - the same year Food4Kids re- ceived its nonpro¿t, 501(c)(3) sta- tus — and then Broadway Middle School sixth-graders during the 2013-14 school year. “I know as a retired educator, if kids don’t eat, they can’t con- centrate as well in school and they don’t learn as well,” Kemper-Rid- dock said last December while ‘If she knew someone was hungry, they wouldn’t be hungry for long.’ Coral Cook, cofounder of Food4Kids preparing bags of food to distrib- ute to kids for winter break. Cook said she is determined to keep the Food4Kids program going, even without its co-found- ers and co-chairwoman. Already, several people offered to step up and help. A tireless volunteer “We’re not going to let this program die,” Cook said. Thoughtfulness was character- istic of Kemper-Riddock. She was a “very involved” member of Our Lady of Victory, a Catholic parish, according to Fa- ther Nicholas Nilema. She volun- teered for numerous groups at the church, including the hospitality committee. “She was always there to wel- come new people to the parish,” Nilema said. “She was so gener- ous of her time, her talents and her treasure.” Kemper-Riddock sang with the choir at Our Lady of Victory, along with Cook. Sometimes they would sing at Our Saviour’s Lu- theran Church, as well, Cook said. Kemper-Riddock volunteered at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. She loved to cook and made delicious jam she shared with her friends and other parish members, Cook said. She enjoyed sewing and making quilts. Friends of Kemper-Riddock talk of how compassionate and caring she was. Nilema said she spoke often of joy. When he asked her what joy meant to her, she re- sponded it is putting others before yourself. “She was always thinking of other people,” Nilema said. Cook believes Kemper-Rid- dock was driven by her personal faith to live a life of giving. “She had a tremendous faith, and so that, of course, leads to what we’re supposed to do, and that’s take care of others,” Cook said. “That’s just what she did.” Kemper-Riddock was ¿rst married in 1963 to Nolan Kem- per. They traveled extensively together as schoolteachers for the U.S. Department of Defense and then settled down in Banks, where they raised four children. Kemper died in 1983. A few years later, she met and married Michael Riddock. They married in 1987 and moved to Seaside about 20 years later. Rid- dock died in 2012. She is survived by her four children; her brother and sister- in-law; and six grandchildren. A funeral service for Kem- per-Riddock was held Saturday, Oct. 24 at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church. In lieu of Àow- ers, the family suggests donations in Kemper-Riddock’s name to the Food4Kids program, mailed to PO Box 2611 Gearhart, OR 97138.
