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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 2017)
12A • September 22, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com CANNON BEACH ACADEMY Long climb to reach final destination After nearly five years of pursuing a charter school, supporters reach their goal By Nancy McCarthy For Cannon Beach Gazette P hil Simmons is a rock climber. He told me once that sometimes, when he climbs a rock, he can’t always see the path to the top. But, he added, others who have been there assure him that a path exists. So he starts his climb, one step at a time. Eventually, he starts to find his way, and the path begins to appear; Sim- mons follows it, until his long, unsure trek is completed, and he reaches his destination. The Cannon Beach Acad- emy opened for the first time last week. Parents, their chil- dren in tow, rang the buzzer, and school Director Amy Moore opened the doors to the new school. It was such an inauspicious beginning to an effort that be- gan nearly five years ago and took so many twists and turns that anyone following the sto- ry could get dizzy trying to keep up. In a Seaside School Board budget meeting in April 2013, then-Superintendent Doug Dougherty announced that the Cannon Beach Grade School — which had been the vil- lage’s educational and com- munity center for 100 years — would close in two months. The reason was clear, he said: The district had a budget shortfall of $1.5 million, and the cost to teach each student at Cannon Beach was $2,500 more than the cost to teach PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY Sampling some juice before class begins on the first day at Cannon Beach Academy are, from left, Jayden Ahlstrom-Woody, Rian Dewey and Hallie Kropf. Theresa Dennis, first/sec- ond-grade teacher, starts her class on the first day of school at Cannon Beach Academy. Volunteers are needed to assist with a va- riety of functions at the school. members needed more funds. A campaign was mounted to collect financial pledges from the community. Another $10,000 came from donation jars placed in local businesses. And every time the school district denied their proposal for a charter school — be- cause they didn’t have an adequate budget, or they still hadn’t pinned down a build- ing, or their educational plans weren’t entirely complete, or their enrollment was insuffi- cient — the charter school’s supporters insisted that, even- tually, the Cannon Beach Academy would be a reality. Plans to open in the fall of 2015, then 2016, fell through. Those who weren’t active with the charter school doubt- ed it ever would open. Finally, though, persever- ance paid off. Last October, the Seaside School Board approved the school’s plan to offer classes from kindergar- ten through second grade. In March, the school received a $100,000 federal grant. Sim- mons thanked the Seaside School Board for its assis- tance in securing the grant. But before the academy could open, it needed a build- ing. The academy board set- tled on the former Cannon Beach Athletic Club space and put aside money for reno- vations. But the estimate came in at $240,000, and that was too much, especially when the building lacked an adequate playground and was still in a tsunami zone. The board turned to the Cannon Beach City Council (full disclosure: This report- er is a city councilor) and requested the use of the city- owned building that, until last year, housed the Cannon Beach Preschool and Chil- dren’s Center. The city leased the building to the academy and granted the school a tem- porary occupancy permit until November. When the academy se- cured the building, volunteers rushed to help in the month the academy had left to ful- PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY students at Seaside Heights or Gearhart elementary schools. Cannon Beach had 80 stu- dents, far fewer than the other two schools. But Phil Simmons, who was already leading an ef- fort to build a school outside the tsunami zone, had some- thing to say when the school board agreed to close Cannon Beach. “You’re sacrificing our local school, and it frustrates me,” he said. “We had this plan,” Sim- mons added. “It really feels the rug was pulled out from under us. Whether you like it or not, there will be a charter school. I’m confident of that.” That June, hundreds of former students, teachers and community members bid farewell to the school during a barbecue on the school’s playground. They shared many memories: Debbie Nel- son, who runs a florist shop in town, recalled all of the plays the students staged. Her father, Jim Webb, class of ’44, remembered being in a one-room schoolhouse be- fore the current campus was built in 1951. Marlene Laws, who attended the school from 1945 to 1953, said she had re- mained friends with several of her Cannon Beach classmates. The push to replace the village school continued in earnest. Parents filled the city council chambers sever- al times to urge the Cannon Beach City Council to support the creation of a new char- ter school. They formed task forces to search for buildings to house the school. They examined educational plans, they researched state and fed- eral laws governing charter schools, and they met with officials from the state De- partment of Education and the Seaside School District. Although they knew that, by law, the school district would have to reimburse the charter school the amount it would cost to educate each student at Seaside Heights, the charter school board Alaina Giguiere Marty Giguiere Owner/Principal Broker c: 503.440.3202 f: 877.812.1126 e: alainagiguiere@mac.com Owner/Broker c: 503.440.7676 o: 503.436.1777 e: mr007@pacifier.com Coastal Advantage 503.436.1777 • CoastalAdvantage.com Egrane Brown Susan Tone Broker c: 503.440.1648 e: egranebrown@gmail.com Broker c: 503.354.4072 e: suanetone@nehalemtel.net Maryann Sinkler Andrea Mace Geri Lane Broker c. 503.440.9280 e: maryanns@remax.net Broker c. 503-440-4024 e: Andrea.k.mace@remax.net Broker c: 503.480.9846 e: gerilane@remax.net Hilary Herman Shelley Parker Broker c: 503-791-4718 e: HilaryHerman@hotmail.com Broker c: 503-739-1977 e: Shelley.Parker@mail.com NOW WITH 2 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU! 219 N. 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Moore is optimistic that more students will enroll once word gets out that the public, tuition-free school is open. Academy board President Kellye Dewey has worked alongside Simmons ever since parents began meeting at the fire station in Cannon Beach to discuss the possibility of a charter school. Her daughter, Rian, 8, will attend second grade there, and Dewey hopes that Rian will benefit from the same small classes and good teachers that Dewey experi- enced as a student at Cannon Beach Grade School. The academy, Dewey said, is the “heartbeat of the com- munity.” “We’ve seen a change since our school shut down,” Dewey said. “Families have moved away, and we’re hop- ing that bringing a school back will revive that part of the town that’s been missing.” Phil Simmons wasn’t at the Cannon Beach Acade- my the morning of the first day of school. He has said he wants to pull back, now that the path has been cleared for Cannon Beach Academy, and the community has reached its destination. 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