September 21, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
‘A great day for Seaside!’
Community
enjoys
celebration of
new campus
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
Visitors flocked to the
Heights Elementary School
in Seaside Saturday, Sept. 15,
for a groundbreaking and cel-
ebration of the new campus
construction project.
“What a great day for Sea-
side!” State Sen. Betsy John-
son said. “You guys have laid
down an example not only for
this town, but Clatsop County
and this state in preparedness
and visionary determination
to bring this to a conclusion.
Today’s the start. We’ll be
back when we open the doors
and cut the ribbon.”
Johnson, U.S. Rep. Su-
zanne Bonamici, Seaside May-
or Jay Barber and others re-
ceived welcome from Seaside
School District Superintendent
Sheila Roley in the public
groundbreaking for the project,
designed to move endangered
schools out of the tsunami in-
undation zone and to a safe site
in the Southeast Hills.
Access to the construction site for visitors at the school dis-
trict’s public groundbreaking.
PHOTOS BY R.J. MARX
Seaside School District Sheila Roley at the groundbreaking
for the new campus. From left, in rear, Mark Truax, Dan
Hess, Suzanne Bonamici, Betsy Johnson and Jay Barber.
“A community that cares
for its children is where I want
to live,” Barber said. “And
this is a testament of how we
care for our children.”
Representatives of the de-
sign and construction team,
BRIC Architecture, Hoffman
Construction and project
managers DAY/CPM joined
the event and hosted equip-
ment tours.
Everything is falling into
place, according to architect
Dan Hess.
“We’ve spent so many years
on these plans and now it’s
coming into place,” Hess said.
The steep site and soils
make it “technically challeng-
ing, but nothing insurmount-
able.”
Project Manager Jim
Henry agreed that this was a
“challenging project.”
“There are a lot of things
that happen on a day-to-day
basis, and it’s important to
have a great team,” Henry
said.
Former school district Su-
perintendent Doug Dougherty
received credit from speakers
including Roley and school
board member Mark Truax
for Dougherty’s nearly two
decades of advocacy for the
relocation.
After an initial $128 mil-
lion bond was defeated in
2013, voters approved $99.7
million for a revised plan in
November 2016.
The campus will bring
students from three schools
located in the tsunami inunda-
tion zone to the new location
on 89 acres just southeast of
Seaside Heights Elementary
School.
A new two-story building
will house middle and high
school students.
Gearhart
Elementary
School students will attend a
renovated and expanded Sea-
side Heights.
Bonamici recounted her
own advocacy for the new
schools, inspired by a stu-
dent-produced video demon-
Academy welcomes the school year
Academy from Page 1A
Leticia Campos, who
teaches Spanish, is “thrilled
we’re going to have Spanish
five days a week,” in addition
to a new Spanish curriculum.
Her goal is for students to
know short phrases, as well as
sets of words like the months
of the year and days of the
week, by the end of the year.
Introducing the students to a
second language at a young-
er age, and giving them more
practice, makes it easier for
them to absorb the informa-
tion and learn the language.
“I’m really happy the par-
ents in the community are
very visionary, you could say,
toward their children’s edu-
cation,” Campos said. “From
what I’ve seen from last year
and what I’m seeing this year,
it’s a wonderful community.”
Building blocks
Dawn Jay and Ryan Hull,
who teach the kindergarten
through first-grade class and
second- through third-grade
class, respectively, are also
looking forward to potential
developments in their areas of
instruction.
During the first week, the
school conducts placement
tests for all students that are
precise and show to what lev-
el the students have mastered
the material. Hull described
the academy’s program as
“very much like steps in a
house.”
“You have to accomplish
the first step to get to the next
step,” he said. “And if you
have holes, you fall through.
So if a child has not mastered
the material, we remediate
and retest.”
They also are introducing
the students to a new program
called Rocket Math, a curricu-
lum that teaches math fact and
math fluency. Hull used the
curriculum for about a decade
while teaching in Portland. If
implemented properly, he said,
it takes only 15 minutes per
day, but it keeps students ac-
tively engaged during that time
and allows each one to advance
at an individualized pace.
“When they meet their
mark, they get to the next
step,” he said. “No one gets
frustrated that it’s too hard,
no one gets frustrated that it’s
too easy. It’s right at their own
pace, so it pushes them, but it
keeps them busy.”
Jay, who taught only kin-
dergartens last year, is looking
forward to her young students
growing and learning. She
feels confident about the team
assembled by the academy
and the cohesive environment
they provide.
“We work well togeth-
er and we have each other’s
back,” she said.
A different option
As the academy moves
forward, the board and ad-
ministration are looking at
ways to increase enrollment,
as well as draw in more vol-
unteers.
Each class is capped at a
maximum of 25 students, but
with the current attendance
levels, there is room to grow
while still maintaining small-
group instruction.
“I love small groups and
small class sizes, but we need
to get our enrollment up,”
Frederickson said. “Even
with 25, if we had full class-
es, that’s smaller than many
of the other schools in the
area.”
She added, “It provides a
more well-rounded social in-
teraction for students when
there are more kids their age
around.”
Last year, the academy
had grant money to advertise
on a billboard at the southern
end of Seaside, and that was
successful, Dewey said. They
also focus on maintaining a
strong social media presence
and promoting their events
and activities through news-
papers and other media. Some
people remain unaware the
charter school is tuition-free
and offers free breakfasts and
lunches to students regardless
of income, so the school is
trying to clear up that confu-
sion, Dewey said.
Jay and Hull feel they also
have a role to play as teach-
ers in promoting the academy
through word of mouth, espe-
cially because it’s located in a
small community.
“I think it’s vitally import-
ant for us to always be talking
and being ambassadors for
the school,” Hull said. “Being
a public charter school, we
have a different option than
what you’d get at a tradition-
al public school, and we’re
proud of that.”
Because of small class siz-
es and the ability of teachers
to assume supportive respon-
sibilities — such as providing
technological assistance or
lunch duty when they lack
volunteers — in addition to
instruction, the students get
to experience consistency and
closeness.
“I think it’s beneficial for
the kids to have that environ-
ment constant,” Hull said.
“That connectivity of prox-
imity, that togetherness, is a
huge benefit.”
strated that students didn’t
have enough time to evacuate
to safer, higher ground in case
of an earthquake and sub-
sequent tsunami. The video
prompted Bonamici to sup-
port the efforts of students,
staff and community.
“I early on understood
the need to move this to saf-
er higher ground,” Bonamici
said. “It’s all about these kids
in school and the kids in school
for generations to come.”
Shovels hit the ground in
June with grading, clearing,
excavation and erosion control.
Phil Broome of Hoffman
Construction said the project
was making good headway
and “we should be on target.”
The opening for the new
campus is scheduled for 2020.
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