July 1, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
District to feed
elementary school
kids for free
Middle- and
high-school
students could
see slight
increase
By Nancy McCarthy
For EO Media Group
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/FILE PHOTO
Seaside School District Superintendent Doug Dougherty
and geologist Tom Horning at Seaside Heights Elementa-
ry School in April. he Weyerhaeuser land site can be seen
behind them.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Map indicating donated portions of land to the Seaside
School District from Weyerhaeuser Co.
Building new school could take four years
Git from Page 1A
A 2013 bond to move the Sea-
side schools out of the inun-
dation zone failed at the polls
when voters rejected a $128.8
million bond proposal.
According to Dougherty,
there are only four public
K-12 schools in Oregon within
the tsunami inundation zone.
“Weyerhaeuser understands
that Seaside School District
has three of these four schools
and that there is no other suit-
able land available,” Dough-
erty said. “A Cascadia earth-
quake off of our coast will
cause large portions of these
three antiquated schools to col-
lapse and then be submerged
by the Paciic Ocean. The av-
erage age of these schools is
over 63 years and they have
outlived their useful lives.”
Seaside School District
commissioned state research-
ers to conduct a comprehen-
sive research study to verify a
safe elevation to relocate the
schools. Researchers recom-
mended schools be relocat-
ed to stable land that would
not liquefy during an earth-
quake. Since tsunami waves
could rise as high as 90 feet,
researchers recommended a
term monitoring equipment.
After analysis, engineers de-
termined that the property di-
rectly east of Seaside Heights
Elementary School contains
land that best meets the state
‘We have had many geotechs
evaluating that hillside. They
strongly believe that is the
very best piece of property to
relocate the school district.’
Doug Dougherty
Seaside School District superintendent
site at least 80 to 100 feet in
elevation.
According to Dougherty,
Weyerhaeuser allowed Sea-
side School District to study
approximately 1,000 acres of
hillside to the east and south
of Seaside. Geotechnical engi-
neers evaluated potential slide
issues, conducted site core
drillings and installed long-
recommendations. Weyerhae-
user Company owns the only
suitable property in Seaside,
Gearhart or Cannon Beach.
“We have had many ge-
otechs evaluating that hill-
side,” Dougherty said in April.
“They strongly believe that is
the very best piece of property
to relocate the school district.”
“We are a part of the coast-
al communities in which we
operate. Helping the school
district keep its students safe
and out of harm’s way is the
right thing to do,” said Jim
Bunker, senior manager of
Weyerhaeuser Co. said in the
district statement.
The school district will
now consider asking residents
to support relocating its three
schools out of the tsunami in-
undation zone through a bond
measure. The district is gath-
ering community feedback
as they develop the proposal,
Dougherty said.
In April, he said the pro-
cess of building a new school
could take four years. Costs
and whether students would be
transferred at one time or year
by year were not determined.
The district will gather
community feedback, Dough-
erty said Friday. “We will be
conducting polling to inform
the price and components of
the bond.”
A vote would take place
Nov. 8.
McKirdy to retire from Broadway Middle School
Teacher
brought history
to life for three
decades
By Katherine Lacaze
EO Media Group
What could students ex-
pect when they took a class
with Broadway Middle
School social studies teacher
Kelly McKirdy?
Mock elections, out-of-
state and overseas trips, in-
terviewing a grandparent and
learning strange facts, igures
and tidbits not often found in
conventional history books, to
name a few.
“I always try bringing in
things that are sort of differ-
ent,” said McKirdy, who is
retiring this month after 30
years at Broadway Middle
School. “I try to, if I can, re-
late it to something in their
life. Anything, even if it’s a
small thing, so they can make
a connection somehow.”
For instance, when teach-
ing local history, he shared
about the 1960s riots that oc-
curred in Seaside and were, in
fact, one of his irst introduc-
tions to the town.
McKirdy started his teach-
ing career straight out of col-
lege — where he majored in
political science — at Can-
yonville Christian Academy,
previously Canyonville Bible
Academy. He spent ive years
there, took a temporary job in
Brookings for a year and then
landed his job in Seaside. He
said when he told people where
he was moving, they often re-
sponded, “That’s where they
had the riots.”
Not to be deterred, McKirdy
still took the job and incorpo-
rated information about the in-
cidents into his curriculum for
students.
Using old newspaper clip-
pings and images from the
Oregon Historical Society, he
put together a slideshow and
collages about the riots, which
involved “a bunch of college
kids going crazy, doing all
sorts of things,” McKirdy
said. They took place Labor
Day weekend and lasted three
years, before the U.S. Nation-
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Broadway Middle School
social studies teacher Kelly
McKirdy.
al Guard was dispatched to
dispel the problem.
McKirdy invited a former
policeman who served during
the riots to present for the stu-
dents.
McKirdy also led a project
during which students selected
a state and gathered informa-
tion such as the state capital,
population and when they
might want to visit. This year,
he “jazzed up” the project by
giving students the route he
intends to follow during a 22-
week road trip with his wife
that starts the day after classes
are over. The route includes
New England, Tennessee,
Georgia, California, Arizona
and many states in between.
McKirdy also introduced his
students to the world of politics,
voting and persuasive debate.
Since the 1980s, McKirdy held
mock elections each year that
varied based on current events
and what races and topics were
on the ballot at the time. Over
the years, eighth-grade Amer-
ican history students debated
about and voted on congressio-
nal races, presidential prima-
ries, the U.S. general election
and major measures, such as
those regarding marijuana and
gay marriage laws. “We’ve had
some pretty hot topics on the
ballot over the years,” McKirdy
said. Generally, the students’
voting results mirrored the ac-
tual results from each election.
For instance, presidential can-
didate Sen. Bernie Sanders re-
ceived the most votes from stu-
dents and also won the Oregon
Democratic primary.
“Sometimes I think they
end up knowing more than
their parents do,” he added.
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There’s a saying that
there’s no such thing as a
free lunch, but for Seaside
students in kindergarten
through ifth grade, both
breakfast and lunch will be
free next year.
Students at Broadway
and Seaside High schools,
however, will see a slight in-
crease for meals. Breakfast
prices will rise by 5 cents,
and lunch will be 10 cents
higher, unless the meals are
bought by students in the
federal free and reduced
meal program.
The Seaside School
Board voted unanimously
June 21 to participate in a
new provision offered by
the federal School Break-
fast Program and National
School Lunch Program. The
provision is meant to simpli-
fy the district’s paperwork,
decrease food service costs,
streamline meal service and
increase the number of stu-
dents eating school meals,
according to Justine Hill, the
district’s business manager.
During the irst year of
the provision’s four-year cy-
cle, the district will offer free
breakfasts and lunches to all
elementary students. Usu-
ally, free and reduced-cost
lunches were provided only
to students meeting federal
economic requirements.
At least 70 percent of
Seaside Heights Elementary
students and 50 percent of
Gearhart Elementary stu-
dents were receiving free
and reduced-cost meals.
By following the provi-
sion and providing free meals
to all elementary students,
a “signiicant” decrease in
labor costs to collect, track
and record applications, veri-
ications, payments and meal
categories is expected.
However, the district
must make up the differ-
ence between the federal
reimbursement and the meal
costs. The increases in the
prices at the middle and high
school could offset that dif-
ference, Hill said.
In other business at the
June 21 meeting:
• The school board re-
newed the district’s contract
with Chartwell’s food ser-
vice company. Hill said that
since the district contracted
with Chartwell’s ive years
ago, the district has made
“great strides” in reducing
its deicit in inancing school
lunches. The company also
is making changes to in-
crease eficiencies, she said.
• Dougherty told the
board that the district, if
it pursues a bond measure
to move its schools out of
the tsunami zone, could be
eligible to participate in a
drawing for state funding
toward seismic upgrading.
About $4 million, which
became available after the
last legislative session, will
be spread among districts
selected from the drawing,
Dougherty said. So far, he
added, federal funding isn’t
available.
• Dougherty also told the
board that a new propos-
al will be submitted from
the Cannon Beach Acade-
my board to start a charter
school in Cannon Beach.
After hearing an appeal
from the academy’s board,
the state Department of Ed-
ucation asked the school dis-
trict and the academy board
to discuss the issue again.
Dougherty said the state de-
partment questioned wheth-
er it could act as a sponsor
of the charter school since
the Seaside School District
receives no state funding;
the district is inanced by
property taxes and timber
revenues.
The Seaside School
Board several months ago
turned down the academy’s
proposal, citing concerns
about the charter school’s
budget and curriculum.
Dougherty said the district
will assist the charter school
in applying for state funds
that recently became avail-
able for charter schools,
and the academy board will
work with the state educa-
tion department to align its
curriculum with state educa-
tion standards. The charter
school must show it com-
plies with state and district
requirements by next March
if it plans to open in Septem-
ber 2017.
• The board approved a
request by Dougherty, who
is retiring as district super-
intendent July 1, to work
full time until Dec. 31 to
oversee a bond measure to
be submitted to voters in the
Nov. 8 general election. The
bond would inance the relo-
cation of Seaside’s schools
to a hillside east of Seaside
Heights Elementary School.
The amount of the bond
measure has not yet been
announced.
Wine appreciation
workshop in Tolovana
Destiny Dudley presents
Wine Tasting and Appreci-
ation 101, Saturday, July 9,
7 to 8:30 p.m. at Tolovana
Hall in Cannon Beach. Dud-
ley, a certiied sommelier
and longtime wine-educa-
tor, will lead a small group
through an informational
tasting session. Wine and
palate-cleansing snacks will
be provided. Dudley works
as sommelier for Jonathan
Hoffman, two-time defend-
ing champion of Iron Chef
Goes Coastal. As well as
a sommelier, Dudley is a
certiied wine educator by
the Society of Wine Educa-
tors. Tickets are $45; RSVP
to tolovanaartscolony.org,
email:
tolovanaartscolo-
ny@gmail.com; 541-215-
4445.
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