July 13, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
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Kindergartners from the Cannon Beach Academy get ready to take a photo with a flag giving Cannon Beach the destinc-
tion of “Tree City USA” at old Cannon Beach Elementary School as a part of the 12 Days of Earth Day event.
Academy kids make gains
School’s first
year shows
numbers above
national average
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
In its first full school year,
new test results that measure
student progress have come
in for Cannon Beach Acad-
emy significantly above the
national average.
Progress was measured
with AIMSWebPlus, a na-
tional reporting tool used
by Seaside School District
to measure growth in sub-
ject staples like math and
reading for kindergartners to
eighth-graders. Twenty-sev-
en students were graded with
points upon completion of
different skills. An average
point count across the grade
level was then used to mea-
sure progress.
In literacy, kindergartners
improved by 40 points on
CANNON BEACH ACADEMY
The Cannon Beach Acade-
my released its literacy and
math test scores in its annu-
al report.
average compared with the
national of 19 points from
winter to spring. In math, 26
points of growth in compari-
son to nine points across the
country. First-graders gained
72 points on average in the
same time period — 33 points
above the national average —
and in math improved by 32
points in comparison with the
national average of 17 points.
There was also growth list-
ed for one student enrolled in
second grade.
Operating as a new school,
executive director Amy
Moore said she didn’t know
what to expect, especially
with the majority of incoming
kindergartners placed in the
lowest percentile for literacy.
“In my 13 years of edu-
cation, I’ve never really seen
anything like this,” Moore
said. “This is huge.”
The scores show a mark of
progress for a school that has
been saddled with financial
and logistical obstacles. Ear-
ly denials of their charter by
Seaside School District, low
fund balances and difficulties
securing a location left many
in the community — includ-
ing some members of the City
Council — skeptical about
the feasibility and longevity
of the charter school.
But these scores tell Moore
they are doing something
right.
“As a first year adminis-
trator, it just feels like all of
our hard work has finally paid
off,” she said.
Moore attributes high test
scores to the work of her
teachers, small class sizes en-
couraging more one-on-one
attention and the curriculum,
Direct Instruction.
Lessons are designed so
that only 10 percent of the
material is new each time its
taught, which in turn leads to
students being able to practice
skills more frequently and
consistently. Small classes
also allow teachers to identify
students who need extra help
sooner, Moore said.
“There’s instant feed-
back,” she said. “If your big-
gest group is eight kids, you
can see if the kid is making a
mistake instead of getting lost
in the crowd.”
The academy will contin-
ue to have to evolve as class
sizes grows and the number
of grades expand. But for
now, she hopes the scores
will show the community the
academy is on the right track.
“I hope it knocks their
socks off,” Moore said.
Seaside School District celebrates
kickoff of construction project
The $100 million
school project
underway
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
The school bus headed up
the logging trails Monday,
July 2, beyond Beerman Creek
Road and onto the rocky and
rutted hills to the Seaside
School District’s new middle
and high school campus.
“I used to play out here
when I was a child,” Steve
Phillips, chairman of the
school district’s board of direc-
tors, said as excavators nudged
and shuttled soil not far away.
A state Department of En-
vironmental Quality permit,
received last week, triggered
a site permit from the city for
grading, excavation, utility
work and erosion control, proj-
ect manager Jim Henry said.
The campus will bring stu-
dents from three schools locat-
ed in the tsunami inundation
zone to the new location on 89
acres just southeast of Seaside
Heights Elementary School.
Gearhart
Elementary
School students will attend a
renovated and expanded Sea-
side Heights.
A new two-story building
will house middle and high
school students.
R.J. MARX
Breaking ground at the new campus are school board
members Sheila Roley, Hugh Stelson, Steve Phillips, Mark
Truax, Doug Dougherty, Lori Lum, Michelle Wunderlich
and Lynn Ulbricht.
Superintendent Sheila Ro-
ley directed groups of school
board members, administra-
tors, city staff and the con-
struction team for the ground-
breaking, what she described
as a “soft opening,” with a
more formal event planned for
later in the year.
A foundation package was
submitted to the city for per-
mit on Monday, he added.
Construction manager Phil
Broome of Hoffman Con-
struction said stumps will
be pulled and broken into
pieces before being fed to a
tub-grinder and used for land-
scaping or taken away.
About 30,000 yards of the
chips will be used for erosion
control, Henry added.
The hillside will be exca-
vated and dirt transported to
a lower portion of the slope.
“There’s almost a perfect bal-
ance of cut-and-fill on this
site,” Broome said.
Teams are working from
the top and working their way
down, before moving and
transferring the dirt into fill
areas, about a three-month
job. Any earth-moving before
rains hit in October.
Up the hill, visitors could
hear the grinding of gears and
the sounds of metal against
rock and ground as excava-
tors lifted and moved stumps
and logs.
To the west, officials con-
templated the $100 million
views, a panoramic swing
along the distant hubbub of
downtown and a sparkling
Pacific.
Teams of officials from
the school district, city and
construction team posed in
hard-hats and vests as “gold”
shovels hit the dirt.
Former
Superintendent
Doug Dougherty was among
those attending the event.
Dougherty, who retired in 2016,
is widely credited for helping
to bring the project to fruition
through decades of advocacy.
“It’s amazing to finally see
that the project is starting,” he
said.
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503-738-3569
34154 Hwy 26, Seaside, OR
P.O. Box 2845, Gearhart, OR
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FLOORING
CCB# 205283
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C oast G allery and n umismatiCs
“a different kind of gallery”
Flooring
Installation
3470 Hwy 101 Suite 102 • Gearhart, Oregon
503.739.7577 • carpetcornergearhart.com
WEB DESIGN
Coast Gallery and Numismatics is the northwest coast
newest gallery. Opened June 1, 2018, Coast Gallery and
Numismatics exclusively features original oil paintings
and wood fired ceramics by Jeff Whyman MFA University
California Berkeley 1981. Jeff Whyman lived in Cannon
Beach for over 10 years and taught at Clatsop Community
College in Astoria, Oregon. From around the world we
also offer exotic shells and choice world coins. Regards
coins we offer complimentary appraisals on Saturdays.
C oast G allery
and n umismatiCs
239 N. Hemlock • Cannon Beach • 503.436.0208
3350 N Hwy 101 Suite D, Gearhart, Oregon
Wed. thru Sat. 9 am to 4 pm
www.coastgallerynumismatics.com
empty canvas media & design
- music, art, creative, logic
Merle Fenton
tel. (406) 600-6273
fenton.merle@gmail.com
1775 S. Roosevelt Unit C
Seaside, OR, 97146
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