VERNONIA The hard-hit town of Vernonia celebrated the opening of its new schools this morning in a dedication that gathered leaders from across the state. The event served as a major milestone in the towns remarkable recovery from two 500-year floods in 1996 and 2007 that threatened to wipe Vernonia off the map.

Hundreds of local residents, federal and state officials, and business and philanthropic leaders from all corners of Oregon joined together in an official ceremony to open the new K-12 school and community center. The program featured remarks by District Superintendent Kenneth Cox, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, former Governor Ted Kulongoski, Oregon Chief Education Officer Rudy Crew, State Senator Betsy Johnson, and other officials and community leaders.

Vernonia is an example of how Oregonians can pull together in the face of tragedy and build back stronger, said former Governor Ted Kulongoski, who toured Vernonia in the immediate aftermath of the December 2007 flood and has remained a strong advocate. Vernonia and what people statewide have helped to accomplish here embodies the character and community spirit so inherent to Oregonians.

The ceremony was followed by a ribbon-cutting, after which dozens of students raced through the front doors of their new schools for the first timean historic moment for residents and the hundreds of champions who united to rebuild Vernonias schools and community center and make this project Oregons barn raising. The District opened the building for general tours following the event.

After enduring nearly five years of classes in minimally repaired buildings and outdated modular classrooms, parents and students were overjoyed at the new LEED Platinum-designed campus. The 135,000 square foot facility near the towns center is built on high ground and contains an integrated K-12 building that replaces the Districts current main buildings (Vernonia High School, Vernonia Middle School, and Washington Elementary School, all of which are located in a newly designated federal flood zone). Mist Elementary School, an historic one-room schoolhouse 17 miles north of Vernonia, will remain part of the Vernonia School District.

The new building on Missouri Avenue is built to accommodate the current enrollment of approximately 600 and at least 30 years of population growth, easily expanding to serve 1,000 students. Innovative environmental design features include radiant in-floor heating and cooling; heating from local biomass fuel; solar panels; local materials and labor; and wetland education features. Building energy use will be monitored as part of a new curriculum focused on natural resources. The district estimates annual energy cost savings of over 45 percent. These features tie to new district-wide multidisciplinary natural resources curricula that will provide hands-on service learning opportunities for students to focus on natural resources and our responsibility to the environment.

District residents provided a $13 million down payment toward the $40 million schools project by overwhelmingly passing a bond measure in 2009. The remaining balance has come from federal, state, and philanthropic sources, as well as approximately $3 million in long-term, low-interest loan debt that the district is actively working to retire through ongoing fundraising activities. The residents vote was a strong affirmation of this rural timber towns vision for the future; rather than just rebuilding, residents chose to create an educational destination to position the town for economic growth through innovative opportunities linked to its natural resources heritage.

We want Vernonias schools to be a model of excellence in education. This new facility, designed to be a center for research about sustainable forestry and clean energy, will link our students with academics and researchers from across Oregon and beyond. More than that, Vernonias new school is the heart of our town, said Dr. Kenneth Cox, Superintendent of Vernonia School District.

As the towns center for arts, cultural, and civic events, and the only large gathering space in the area, the new schools will also provide community-use facilities that are far more accessible, significant, and diverse than have ever existed in Vernonia. The new schools will significantly improve the flexibility and quality of arts and cultural space for theater, music, exhibits, recitals, lectures, civic events and meetings, large festivals, and other gatherings. Forty percent of the facility has been identified as space for community use.

Vernonia shows us how such an innovative school/community center approach can drive recovery and rural economic developmentit’s a unique model from an extraordinary community, said Norm Smith, president of The Ford Family Foundation, a $1 million grantor to the effort, as he delivered the closing remarks of the ceremony.

The former school buildings on Bridge Street will be cleared to make room for a new park to replace the park where the new schools were built. The new park will feature childrens play areas, environmental education elements, and old and new athletic fields. The opening of the new park is tentatively scheduled for 2013.