A6 • Friday, February 7, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Cleanup: One man’s cleanup crusade wins community support
Continued from Page A1
savers — can you leave the
dumpster?’ I fi lled every bag
I could, picked up every nee-
dle I could.”
Anderson’s posts were
showing results. When he
mentioned on social media he
could use hot coffee and more
garbage bags, “right away
somebody showed up with
coffee,” he said. “Then some-
body showed up with more
coffee and garbage bags. That
day I put about 12 or 13 bags
into the dumpster.”
For the next week, Ander-
son continued working along
the river, despite high winds
and drenching storms.
“Any time I’ve planned on
the weather it hasn’t helped,”
he said.
Whether driven by the
social
media
attention,
police intervention or Ander-
son’s determined cleanup
efforts, those living in the
encampments along the river
retreated.
Now Anderson has his eye
on cleaning up Mill Ponds,
which he said is “a total disas-
ter,” with layers of debris, sto-
len items, bicycle parts, recy-
clables and biohazard waste
strewn all around the park.
His timing is good: the
R.J. Marx
Jesse
Anderson
shows
some of the hazardous
debris, including needles,
he has encountered during
riverbank cleanups.
Jesse Anderson
Jesse Anderson
Volunteers plan a cleanup at
the Mill Ponds on Saturday.
Cleanup complete at the Necanicum River boat launch after work by Jesse Anderson, the
Department of Public Works and volunteers.
26.5-acre park is the focus
of the city’s Parks Advi-
sory Committee plans for
more accessible trails, pub-
lic art and historical inter-
pretive signage. The park is
the anchor of the Necanicum
Estuary History Park, which
goes from the Mill Pond to
Neawanna Point at the north
end of Seaside.
Meanwhile, his Facebook
posts gained traction and
won attention throughout the
county including the Face-
book group, Rolling Fortress,
described as “a community of
individuals who pride them-
selves in building awesome
all-in-one contained camp-
ers and caring for our envi-
ronment.” The group’s Brady
Chandler will co-host Satur-
day’s event, Anderson said.
Volunteers are invited to
park at Ruby’s overfl ow lot at
9 a.m. Seaside Public Works
will supply two dumpsters,
boxes of rubber gloves, large
plastic bags and Sharps con-
tainers for needles, McDow-
ell said.
Providence Seaside Hos-
pital, Columbia Memorial
Hospital and Bayshore Ani-
mal Hospital are all provid-
ing Sharps containers, Ander-
son said. Motel 6 announced
special overnight rates to
volunteers.
The event is not for chil-
dren. V olunteers should bring
gloves to handle potentially
hazardous material.
“Keeping people aware,”
Anderson said. “That is my
goal. I want the community
to use Mill Ponds. I want the
community to use the boat
launch.”
He said he hopes for a
turnout of “100 people plus”
on Saturday.
“I can move 12 yards of
garbage in a day by myself.
But I don’t think I can take
the whole city by myself.”
Annexation: Ordinance moves to fi nal reading
Continued from Page A1
Residents now under
county jurisdiction would
see an increase of about
$1.80 per thousand of their
home’s assessed value.
Police
service
for
non-emergencies
would
shift from the county sher-
iff’s offi ce to the Seaside
Police Department.
The annexation brings
attention to a trailer park
ordinance last updated in the
1960s.
“That ordinance hasn’t
been really been looked and
reviewed since 1968,” Cup-
ples said. “I thought it was
probably best to create a
small exemption from that.”
Trucke’s counsel Christian
Zupancic added additional
text, which was incorporated
into the draft ordinance.
Trucke’s, at 1921 South
Roosevelt Drive, offers
15 sites, with water, elec-
tricity and bathrooms. The
RV park offers access for
large and small RVs and
motorhomes.
With unanimous approval
for a fi rst and second reading
of the exemption, as well as a
unanimous vote for the ordi-
nance, both will go before
the council at their next
meeting, Monday, Feb. 10.
“I want to give kudos to
city staff,” City Councilor
Seth Morrisey said after
the vote. “With annexation,
we had no intention to put
Trucke’s out of business. I
appreciate you guys jump-
ing on this, so they can con-
tinue to operate.”
Mayor Jay Barber added,
“They’re an important part
of our community.”
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Dance: Cutting a rug at the Mother Son Dance
Continued from Page A1
Dance started several years
ago, and Whisenhunt said
she was hoping they would
add a similar opportunity
for sons to have a unique
night-out with their par-
ents and guardians. She
was “excited” when the rec-
reation district added the
Mother Son Dance last year.
She and her 9-year-old son
JD dressed up and went out
to dinner beforehand, mak-
ing it “defi nitely a special
occasion,” Whisenhunt said.
“It’s also a great way to
see him with some of his
friends,” she added.
Sheryl Paul, who attended
with her 7-year-old, Kayden
Dederstedt, said her favor-
ite part of the event was
simple: “Just spending time
with him.” Although they’re
used to dancing around the
house, she said, the atmo-
sphere at the dance made
their experience all the more
memorable.
Taira Harper said her
two elementary-aged sons,
Mason and Ronan, needed
no convincing to attend the
dance with her.
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LANDSCAPING
YAR D D E B R I S D R O P -O F F
Katherine Lacaze
LEFT Mothers and sons from across Clatsop
County attended the Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District’s second annual Mother
Son Dance on Jan. 31.
ABOVE Sheryl Paul and Kayden Dederstedt,
7, show off their moves on the dance fl oor
during the Mother Son Dance at the Seaside
Civic and Convention Center.
“They insisted,” she said.
“This was them, not me.”
Throughout the evening,
the dance fl oor pulsed with
activity. The young danc-
ers and their parents fl ossed,
dabbed, slid, jumped, head-
banged, and played air gui-
tars. Group numbers, like
“Y.M.C.A,”
“Gangam
Style,” and the “Chicken
Dance,” had nearly every-
one on their feet and joining
in the movements. For cer-
tain retro numbers, like the
“Cha Cha Slide,” the disk
jockey encouraged the chil-
dren to look to their moms
for a demonstration of the
dance moves.
When they weren’t out
dancing, attendees also
enjoyed fruit punch and
cookies, along with cap-
turing special moments at
photo booths sponsored
by The Cats Meow and
Seaside Inverted Experi-
ence. Other sponsors for
the dance included Bruce’s
Candy Kitchen, North Coast
Records, Safeway, and TLC
Fibre Federal Credit Union.
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Continued from Page A1
rate was 95.6%.
“That’s signifi cant growth
in that amount of time,” Rob-
erts said.
While there are numer-
ous external factors infl uenc-
ing graduation rates that the
district can’t control, Roberts
said they’re working to con-
trol the factors they can.
For example, one of the
main areas students were fall-
ing behind in their freshman
year was math. In the past, all
students were placed in Alge-
bra 1 and if they failed, they
would have to repeat it until
they passed.
“That’s not a model that
worked,” Roberts said. “The
data doesn’t support that
every student should be in
Algebra 1.”
Incoming students now
take a placement test to
determine if they should be
in a lower-level math class to
build a foundation that will
support their subsequent suc-
cess in Algebra 1 and more
challenging math courses.
Since this change, Rob-
erts said, “We have seen an
improvement in passing rates
in math for freshmen.”
With funding from Mea-
sure 98, the school will be
adding a graduation sup-
port specialist to mentor
and counsel students, along
with collecting important
data to help the school con-
tinue trending in a positive
direction.
Rigorous standards
The district also has iden-
tifi ed high attendance rates
as a performance indicator
of its second strategic plan
goal, which is that all stu-
dents K-12 will develop the
social and emotional skills
to be positive community
members.
In this area, the district
also is using a more rigor-
ous standard than the state,
according to Seaside High
School Vice Principal Jason
Boyd. Students are expected
to miss no more than 95% of
school days — or one day per
month — as opposed to 90%,
regardless if they are excused
or not.
Tracking attendance rates
from the start of school to the
Friday before Martin Luther
King Jr. Day in January, the
district has generally seen
year-over-year
improve-
ments. The districtwide atten-
dance rate for this period was
91.6% in 2017-18, 92.16%
in 2018-19, and 93.48% in
2019-20. All four schools
in the district, except The
Heights Elementary School,
have improved marginally
over the three years. Atten-
dance at The Heights for that
time period was 90.46% in
2017-18, 93.3% in 2018-19,
and 88.02% in 2019-20.
A central challenge is
changing the culture around
school
attendance
and
emphasizing the signifi cance
of missing out on learning
and engaging information,
Boyd said. The district has
sent home letter to parents
for students below the 90%
attendance rate. At the high
school, the attendance secre-
tary calls parents or guardians
if a student is absent.
The district also has
implemented the “Every
Day Matters” campaign and
asked businesses and indi-
viduals to put up signs with
positive messages, such as
“You Matter” and “Don’t
Give Up.”
The program aims to iden-
tify and remove barriers hin-
dering attendance, whether
they are tangible, emotional,
or mental.
“We’re trying to get to
95%, so we’ve got some
work to do,” Boyd said.
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