CANNON BEACH ELEMENTARY ACADEMY - HIPFiSHmonthly

Cannon Beach Elementary Academyby Bob GoldbergIn 1912 Ecola (as CannonBeach was then known) hadenough children to establisha school, and the first classeswere held in the Hotel Bill(now the Cannon BeachConference Center). In 1917,the school moved to a rentedhouse, and, in 1921, a oneroomschool was built in thelocation of the present school.In 1964 a tsunami left its markon a swing set still used bychildren today (from the CannonBeach History WalkingTour website).Last May, the Seaside School District announcedthat Cannon Beach Elementary was closing itsdoors after the school year finished. The announcementcame as a surprise to members of the taskforce charged with finding a new location for theschool after a study in 2011 concluded that it couldnot withstand a major earthquake and tsunami, andposed a danger to its students and staff. The taskforce met from February 2012 until the announcementin May. They identified a property east ofHighway 101 that the City of Cannon Beach wasinterested in purchasing from the Campbell Groupto act as a campus for essential city services, includingeducation.A tuition-free public charter schoolIn the meantime, Seaside School District (SSD)had decided to go ahead with a bond measurefor a new central campus, above Seaside HeightsElementary, to house all its programs. This measurewill be on the ballot in all the towns coveredin the Seaside School District, including Gearhart,Seaside, Cannon Beach, Arch Cape and Hamlet,in November, and ballots should arrive in the mailthis month. If passed, Gearhart Elementary wouldjoin the current Seaside elementary, middle andhigh school classes on the new campus. Giventhe current SSD budget, there was not enoughmoney to support the separate elementaryschool in Cannon Beach this school year, andthese students moved to Seaside Heights at thebeginning of September. For more informationon the ballot measure, see the SSD web site(www.seaside.k12.or.us) or contact Mary Blake at503-717-3810.For many former Cannon Beach Elementary(CBE) students and their parents, the transitionhas been hard. Here’s the story of Kimm Mount(CBA board member) and her daughter Alyx, whowas supposed to be going to kindergarten atCBE this year:I moved to Cannon Beach when I was 5, withmy parents. I have many memories that I cherishand many experiences that helped shape myvalues; the annual lamplighting ceremony, actingin plays at the Coaster with my sisters andmy grandma, the community Christmas party,helping at the Fire Department’s Annual HamDinner – events that make Cannon Beach and livinghere so special. A large part of these eventsare children, and my memoriescome from my childhood. As anadult with a child of my own now, Irealize I did not fully appreciate allof these experiences until I movedaway from Cannon Beach.My husband and I had plannedall along to move back to CannonBeach to raise our daughter,however right after she wasborn the economy began to godownhill. Originally we were goingto move back when she wasschool-aged; however, with thestate of the economy we decidedto put our house on the marketright away so that we could getout before it went really bad. Wemade the preparations and wereso excited. Everything has gonereally well. We both found jobs inCannon Beach and we managed toget a loan to purchase a home inHaystack Heights. Our daughter’sbirthday is in September; thereforeshe missed the cutoff to startkindergarten when she was 5.Spring came, and Alyx was all excited forkindergarten round-up... until we learned thatCannon Beach Elementary School was closing.This threw a giant kink in our entire plan and vision.Alyx was so upset because we had to breakArtist’s concept of what an elementary school could look likeon the 55 acres of land southeast of downtown CB.the news to her that she would not be going toschool; that we would be homeschooling nextyear. This was a hard decision to make, and wemade it because it just doesn’t make sense forus to send our young daughter to a town 8 milesaway for 2 hours of school when we wanted allalong for her to go to school in the same townthat we live and work in.I am working hard to make thischarter school happen because it’sso important to my husband and Ito have our young daughter closeto us, in the town we work andlive in. We struggle every monthwith a budget like most familiesthat live here do. We are notwealthy. We live in Cannon Beachbecause this small town, for us,works. It’s where we want to be.Sometimes I feel like the choiceto live here is held against me...‘oh, you live in Cannon Beachhuh? why not Seaside?’ I like smalltown. I did big town and big city.It’s not for me. Without a schoolhere families will stop movinghere. We have already lost familiesto other towns because of theclosure of the school. Children in acommunity provide such diversity.How many other families willmiss out on their dream to livein a small town? How many awesome peopleand kids will we not get to meet because theychoose somewhere else to go since we don’thave a school? I know of one family who alreadyoct13hipfishmonthly.com14