Friday, March 13, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Gearhart Elementary kids take the ‘kindness’ challenge
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
In an effort to increase
kindness
and
positiv-
ity at Gearhart Elemen-
tary School, school coun-
selor Kaile Jones organized
a “kindness challenge”
that took place throughout
January.
“Right before Christ-
mas break, I noticed a lot
of unkind behaviors from a
lot of the kids,” Jones said
during her presentation at
the Seaside School Board
meeting Feb. 18.
As she was research-
ing methods and activi-
ties to decrease negativ-
ity and unkindness and
create a more welcom-
ing environment, she came
across a national campaign
called the “Great Kindness
Challenge.”
Schools across the coun-
try can host the challenge
at their school, determin-
ing individually how much
effort they want to put into
the individual tasks and
activities.
Jones signed up Gear-
hart Elementary School
and they embarked on
their own four-week kind-
ness challenge upon stu-
dents returning from winter
break. However, Jones put
her own twist on the cam-
paign, turning it into more
of a game.
“I wanted to incorpo-
rate some kind of chal-
lenge to make it fun in each
of the classrooms,” she
said. “Each week, the dif-
ferent classes got differ-
ent challenges they were
all working on secretly
completing.”
The challenges arrived
to each classroom in an
Kaile Jones/Gearhart Elementary
Jordan, a student at Gearhart Elementary School, helps put the “I” in Kind, one of the many
activities that took place at the school in January during the Great Kindness Challenge.
Kaile Jones/Gearhart Elementary School
envelope marked “top
secret.” Students were
challenged to complete a
variety of tasks, such as
smiling at 15 people, pay-
ing compliments, switching
it up at lunch, playing with
someone new at recess, or
writing teachers and peers
kind notes. They could also
complete some of the chal-
lenges at home.
The school also got the
bulletin board involved as
an interactive component.
One week, for the “Be
the ‘I’ in kind” challenge,
teachers took pictures of
students in front of large
letters spelling out the word
“kind,” except the students
themselves stood in for the
“I.”
For another activity, stu-
dents were asked to spot
other kids executing acts
of kindness and then write
them down on slips of
paper to post on the board.
There were also numerous
slips containing random
acts of kindness that the
students could voluntarily
take and complete.
“We had to keep replac-
ing them,” Jones said.
One feature that turned
out to be more successful
than she anticipated was
challenging students to
sit with different peers at
lunch. She noticed several
occasions where “kids were
sitting by themselves and
other kids who don’t nor-
mally sit with them would
go over and keep them
company.”
Nearing the end of each
week, she added, “I saw a
huge change in where the
kids were sitting and who
they were talking to.”
Principal Juli Wozniak
said she feels the challenge
was successful and students
have continued displaying
thoughtful behaviors, like
opening the door or asking
“How are you?”
“It’s carried on,” she
said.
District news
• In other district news,
at the February board meet-
ing, Michael Aloi, an audit
compliance manager at
Portland-based Pauly Rog-
ers & Co, gave a report on
the district’s audit for June
30, 2019. The fi rm audits
the district’s fi nancial state-
ment and checks for com-
pliance based on standards
set by Oregon Admin-
istrative Rules, as well
as federal and state laws
Ecola closure may impact more than park
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Ecola means “whale” in
the Chinook Wawa trade
language — and, much like
a whale, parts of Ecola State
Park are charging out to sea.
The park is closed indef-
initely following a landslide
in February that damaged
the primary entrance road
and sent a portion of a trail,
trees and salal bushes cas-
cading over a cliff edge.
With the closure, the state
expects increased tourism
and recreational pressure on
other state parks, especially
parks like Oswald West far-
ther south.
What a prolonged clo-
sure might mean for the
local economy is anyone’s
guess. Ecola State Park is
one of Cannon Beach’s main
attractions, coming in sec-
ond below the iconic Hay-
stack Rock, said Jim Paino,
the executive director of the
Cannon Beach Chamber of
Commerce.
“Right now I’d say the
impact isn’t huge,” he said.
“But we still get people in
the visitor center who came
to go to the park and are sur-
prised that it’s closed.”
Ecola sees more than half
a million day-use visitors
every year. State park sites
on the North Coast in gen-
eral have only been growing
in popularity in recent years.
While Paino can’t quan-
tify the economic impact
of Ecola being off lim-
its — Cannon Beach hasn’t
had to weather a long clo-
sure in years — he believes
there will be a hit to a certain
extent, especially if the clo-
sure extends into the sum-
mer tourism season.
The chamber published
a new page on its website
that lists alternative places
to visit, both to get the word
out about Ecola and to show
visitors there are still other
options. Listed are sites
primarily south of Ecola,
including Falcon Cove and
Short Sand Beach in Oswald
West.
The state has prepared a
request for bids to repair the
damaged section of Ecola
Park Road and is waiting
on contractors. An update to
park staff stated it was “still
too early to even guess about
a completion date.”
Once the road is made
safe, work can begin to
repair water and communi-
cation lines also damaged
in the slide. Repairs to the
trail below the road that was
washed out by the slide are
expected to take even longer.
Work to reroute a trail
between Ecola Point and
Indian Beach that was cut
in half by a slide in 2016
has been on hold because of
winter weather. Depending
on how long the road repairs
take, the reroute may also be
delayed.
Sections of Ecola Park
Road need to be repaired
to some extent nearly every
winter as landslides are
exacerbated by heavy rain-
fall and storms. Access to
Indian Beach has occasion-
ally been shut down. Still,
there have not been lengthy
closures at the park in years.
In 1961, a landslide at Ecola
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Point damaged 125 acres
and the park was closed for
10 months. It was closed
again for four months in
1975 because of a slide that
affected the entrance road.
Following repairs this
time, the state plans to revisit
a broader repair strategy.
“We may still come to
the same conclusion — that
continuing repairs to the cur-
rent road is the way to go —
but we will also consider the
benefi ts and costs of fi nd-
ing a different route for cars
into the park,” Chris Havel,
associate director at the Ore-
gon Department of Parks
and Recreation, wrote in an
email.
“That’s a much lon-
ger-term, more expen-
sive option,” he continued,
“and we would need a more
detailed geotechnical report
to guide that discussion.”
Park offi cials are refer-
encing a geotechnical report
and list of recommenda-
tions from 2016 and 2017
that looked at four different
landslides affecting roads in
the Oregon State Parks sys-
tem. Two of the landslides
were in Ecola State Park;
the other two were also in
coastal parks.
“The landslide moves
periodically when precipita-
tion is the highest and can be
expected to continue to do
so,” the memo stated about
Ecola State Park and a slide
that affects the same section
of road in need of repair this
year.
Engineers recommended
long-term maintenance, and
said slide movement should
be expected to continue
indefi nitely, requiring ongo-
ing maintenance.
“Without mitigation, the
slide may grow or accel-
erate,” the study noted in a
table outlining the risks and
limitations of mitigation
options.
“Landslides of this size
are often relatively expen-
sive to mitigate compared
to the maintenance costs,”
the study continued. “There-
fore continued mainte-
nance is common for large
landslides.”
For now, cables and signs
block trail routes through the
park and the gates are closed
on Ecola Park Road.
When the landslide tore
apart the trail from Ecola
Point to Indian Beach, rang-
ers put out signs, but peo-
ple tracked their own paths
through the landslide area
anyway.
This time, Ben Cox,
the park manager, opted
for stronger wording. The
sturdy signs erected depict
a small fi gure stumbling
down a hillside amid falling
debris.
“Absolutely no entry,”
the sign states. “Active
landslide.”
Caleb and Jasmine, students at Gearhart Elementary School,
share lunch together during January’s Great Kindness
Challenge. One of the challenges students were tasked with
was sitting with new people during lunch.
pertaining to grant recip-
ients. According to Aloi,
there were no fi ndings and
“everything was great.”
• The Cannon Beach
Academy has submitted
an application to renew
its charter. According
to Roley, the board will
review the application and
discuss it in a meeting with
the district’s curriculum
personnel. The curricu-
lum meeting will take place
before the March school
board meeting, at which
time the board can approve
the application. Accord-
ing to Cannon Beach Acad-
emy Director Amy Fred-
rickson, the application
addresses the academy’s
history; where they cur-
rently stand in terms of
staffi ng, enrollment, and
test scores; and their goals
to continue expanding the
student body, staffi ng, and
funding. The school’s long-
term goal in relation to its
current facility, Fredrick-
son said, is to enroll 75 stu-
dents, with maximum class-
room sizes of 25 students.
• The Seaside High
School Associated Student
Body hosts a blood drive
with the American Red
Cross at the school starting
at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Feb.
28. The public is welcome
to sign up and attend.
Cannon Beach City
Council authorizes
elementary school sale
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Cannon Beach
City Council authorized
the purchase of Cannon
Beach Elementary School
from the Seaside School
District for $400,000 on
March 3.
The city delivered
$50,000 earnest money to
the district and will fund
the remaining $350,000 of
necessary to purchase the
property. Closing costs are
additional.
The school closed
in 2013 due to tsunami
fears, and has been largely
vacant since. The Cannon
Beach Food Pantry leases
part of the space for oper-
ations from the school
district.
More costs are ahead as
the city considers future
potential uses, City Man-
ager Bruce St. Denis said.
“We are getting prices
for environmental site
assessments and building
surveys,” St. Denis said.
“We’ll come back to you
for funding when that is
fi gured out because it was
not budgeted.”
The space could be
used to promote cultural
and historical attractions,
and to provide meeting
space for hospitality oper-
ations, he said.
Funds for the $400,000
purchase come from
about $298,000 in col-
lections from the coun-
ty’s transient room tax and
$102,000 from an inter-
fund loan from the Can-
non Beach Tourism and
Arts Commission.
Council members unan-
imously voted to “confi rm
and validate the actions
taken by staff,” regarding
the school building, and to
undertake future negotia-
tions with the food pantry.
Both St. Denis and
school district superinten-
dent Sheila Roley antic-
ipate the deal to be com-
pleted within the next
three months.
St. Patricks
Day
Happy
.
Seaside High School
ALA Scholarship
Fundraiser
Tuesday
March 17th
eek
open 7 days a w
Sunday- Thursday
8am-2pm
Breakfast & Lunch
served
Friday & Saturday
8am-8pm
Prime Rib served 4pm-8pm
$17.95
Corned Beef & Cabbage
Served Hot from
5-8pm $12
Guinness
$3.50 Pint
Seaside
American Legion
1315 Broadway
503-738-5111
Family Friendly Homestyle Restaurant.
Senior & Children’s Menus.
FREE Coffee for veterans every day!
4030 N. Hwy 101 • Gearhart • 503-739-7499
Everyone Welcome!