4A • November 2, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Schools prepare as shelters
State pushes
school resiliency
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
With construction under-
way in Seaside to build schools
outside the tsunami inundation
zone and a bond on the ballot
in Warrenton in November to
do the same, preparing schools
for a disaster is in the limelight.
But as schools look for op-
portunities to relocate to higher
ground to be safer in an earth-
quake and tsunami, administra-
tors will face a new task: how
to prepare to be a community’s
default shelter when disaster
strikes.
Schools are at the center of
the state’s emergency planning
strategy. The state has empha-
sized making aging school
buildings more earthquake re-
silient, with programs like the
seismic retrofit grant, which
has awarded more than $225
million to bring schools up to
building code standards.
While schools are tradition-
ally expected to serve as shel-
ters, an analysis by the Oregon
Seismic Safety Policy Adviso-
ry Commission found there has
been little to no planning by
school districts for how schools
would be used following a Cas-
cadia Subduction Zone quake.
“People have a lot of as-
sumptions that schools would
be good shelters,” said Tiffa-
ny Brown, the Clatsop Coun-
ty emergency manager, who
helped author the report. “They
are buildings that accommo-
date large numbers of people,
but that’s where it stops. That’s
where our planning has kind of
stopped.”
For schools to be ready,
more needs to be done to ed-
ucate staff on what it takes
to run a shelter, as well as the
importance of planning for
necessities like food, water,
communication and medical
supplies. Preparing a school to
serve the mass care needs of a
community takes planning well
outside the scope of the typical
responsibilities of educators,
the report states, but because
Seaside School District Roundup
With permit,
construction
picks up steam
the regional labor shortage
is one of the biggest barriers
they face. It is the most chal-
lenging, as well, she added,
“because that also affects
price.”
Long-awaited
permit drives
‘catch-up’ plans
By Katherine Lacaze
COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Construction crews work on the new school campus in Seaside.
gions like the Oregon Coast can
become so isolated, agencies
like the Red Cross can’t get ac-
cess to run shelters.
“Having new schools be
seismically sound and out of
the inundation zone will change
the conversation,” Brown said.
“But we have to build them,
plan for them, with shelters in
mind. Then we can use them
that way after.”
Thinking about the school
district’s community role in
an emergency has been on the
mind of Seaside School District
Superintendent Sheila Roley
ever since the $99.7 million
bond was passed by voters in
2016.
“We will have the physical
site, but we can’t on our own
provide the extended resources
the community could possibili-
ty need,” Roley said.
In some avenues, the school
district has started to plan
ahead. Every administrator has
been trained to use ham radios
to help communicate if phone
lines go down. The district is
coordinating with the city to
install a water reservoir at the
new campus that will be seis-
mically safe and 400 feet above
sea level. Plans have been dis-
cussed to establish cache sites
filled with food.
But school districts don’t
necessarily have large budget
line items or staff for emergen-
there is no state mandate re-
quiring it, little to no coordina-
tion between schools and other
agencies has occurred.
That’s why the advisory
commission recommended to
the Legislature to have clearer
guidelines for what should be
expected of schools, including
requiring preparedness mes-
saging and encouraging supply
storage near school grounds.
“I think there are two differ-
ent stages: Preparing your own
constituency and preparing as
a community shelter,” Brown
said. “Clatsop County is at the
first.”
A community effort
The majority of schools in
the county have some coordi-
nation with the American Red
Cross to be used as shelters,
said Jenny Carver, the local
Red Cross disaster program
manager.
For some, like Warrenton
Grade School and Seaside
High School, gearing up to be a
community shelter didn’t seem
practical given the likelihood
the campuses would be inun-
dated by a tsunami, but this fact
isn’t disqualifying, Carver said.
“We look at inundation
zones, but that’s not the only di-
saster we prepare for,” she said.
But this strategy can also be
complicated. As was seen in the
Great Coastal Gale of 2007, re-
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cy preparedness training or sup-
plies. “This really is an ongoing
conversation,” Roley said. “It’s
not within the district’s realm to
provide for a major community
response. This is going to have
to be a community effort.”
A gathering spot
At Warrenton Grade School,
Vice Principal Robbie Porter,
who leads the charge on emer-
gency preparedness for the
school’s 800 students, said if
the $38.5 million bond passes
in November she would hope
to see the new campus as a safe
gathering spot.
But with only three grades
initially moving out of the in-
undation zone, as an adminis-
trator, her concern and priority
still lies in addressing the needs
of the existing campus. Porter
has worked on doing regular
drills and developed procedures
on the best way to evacuate stu-
dents.
To be successful, other gaps,
such as proper communication
tools, food, water and shelter
supplies and training, still need
to be addressed.
“I want to network early
… get those connections so in
case of the worst-case scenario
we can be ready,” Porter said.
“How can we work together to
make that happen?”
For Cannon Beach Gazette
‘More kids’
The Seaside School Dis-
trict’s campus construction
project is moving along, with
administrators and the proj-
ect management team “keep-
ing busy on a lot of fronts,”
Superintendent Sheila Roley
told school board members
during their regular meeting
Oct. 16.
In September, the district
received its permit from the
U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, a process that limited
some building activities. The
project management team,
however, has “an articulat-
ed plan for catch-up,” Roley
told board members.
With construction docu-
ments completed, the team
submitted its final building
permit application to the city.
In response to the Army
Corps, they completed a sur-
vey for the environmental
easement to take place on
property behind the district
bus barn on U.S. Highway
101, part of an environmen-
tal mitigation package.
Finally, they are putting
out bids for a number of
projects, including the build-
ing’s roof, metal siding, and
interior.
In the few weeks follow-
ing the meeting, the con-
struction team plans to bring
and lay concrete on site,
board president Steve Phil-
lips said.
Roley said they continue
to keep an eye on the budget
and schedule, especially as
Roley shared the enroll-
ment numbers reported for
the 2018-19 school year
and how they compare to
last year. Enrollment at The
Heights Elementary School
dropped from 456 students
to 449. Gearhart Elemen-
tary School increased from
295 to 298. Enrollment at
the Cannon Beach Academy
jumped from 22 to 33 this
school year.
The largest increase
was experienced by Broad-
way Middle School, which
jumped from 356 students in
2017-18 to 403 this school
year. Seaside High School’s
enrollment also increased
by 15 kids, from 454 to 469.
Overall, the district’s enroll-
ment has grown by about 70
students.
“I’m not quite sure why,
frankly, because Astoria and
Warrenton went up, too,”
Roley said. “There are more
kids countywide, which is
kind of interesting.”
Also at the meeting,
fifth-grade teacher John
Meyer, president of the dis-
trict’s union, shared about
the Seaside School District
Wellness Team, a group of
administrators, classified
employees, teachers and
other staff members who
have joined forces to devel-
op a program that will sup-
port the district’s commu-
nity of educators. They will
be applying for grant funds
available through the Ore-
gon Education Association.
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