Thank you for your interest in reading The Astorian. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

•••

The Astoria School District is facing a tough budget season.

At the district’s first budget meeting on Wednesday, parents and staff turned out to voice their concerns about cuts to staffing, programming and curriculum adoptions, an emotional discussion reflective of similar debates playing out statewide.

Between enrollment declines, insufficient state funding, the sunsetting of federal coronavirus pandemic relief funds and heightened student needs, school districts are struggling to make their budgets pencil out. Portland Public Schools and Salem-Keizer Public Schools are projecting substantial shortfalls, while the Bethel School District in Eugene has announced that it will close an entire school amid funding difficulties.

In Astoria, the school district has seen a decline of 64 students over the past four years, impacting the district’s allocation from the State School Fund. Superintendent Craig Hoppes explained that even with all of the other contributing factors to the budget situation, the state’s funding mechanism does not sustain current service models in Astoria and statewide.

“If we didn’t have the pandemic, we would have more budget cuts, because the state of Oregon continues to not fund education like they should,” Hoppes said to a full room of people on Wednesday night. “And I’m glad people are here and I hope we debate and talk about the different reductions. But I hope there’s just as much energy and organization into us advocating in Salem for money for K-12 schools.

“It can’t continue like this. These reductions are bad. They’re hard. And if we have to do this for two or three more years in a row, it’s going to be devastating to this district.”

See the story by Rebecca Norden-Bright by clicking here.

•••

Astoria is moving toward significant upgrades to its wastewater treatment system with the help of funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act and from Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency.

The city’s wastewater treatment plant is a three-lagoon system in Alderbrook constructed in 1974. Planned upgrades to the plant have been in the works for several years, with the project first identified in a 2012 facilities blueprint.

Aging infrastructure and the expansion of breweries have placed demands on the wastewater system. In 2022, the city implemented an industrial pretreatment program, limiting the amount of sewage breweries, cideries and distilleries can release into the system.

Jeff Harrington, the city’s public works director, explained at a City Council work session in February that the city is facing problems caused by decades of postponed maintenance. For example, the Archimedes screws operating at the city’s three sewer lift stations — which were installed in 1974 and have never been replaced — are starting to show signs of failure.

“It’s because we never have the money to do it,” Harrington said. “That’s the story of the city. We have so much deferred maintenance and there’s never money to do it right. So, here’s our chance to do it right.”

Read the story by Rebecca Norden-Bright by clicking here.

•••

Unsealed records in the missing persons case of Joan Leigh Hall have sparked renewed interest in the 1983 disappearance of the Warrenton High School senior.

Dean Andal, the businessman and former California assemblyman who petitioned Clatsop County Circuit Court to lift a protective order in place since 2018, has been studying the hundreds of pages of notes, interviews and police reports released by the sheriff’s office.

He’s not the only one. Over 2,000 people follow a Facebook page dedicated to investigating the cold case.

The page, which reached a record number of views in April, is maintained by Dena Rush, who has been examining the case and documenting her findings on social media since 2006.

“A week after she disappeared in 1983, I overheard three girls talking about it on the street in Seaside,” she said. “And she’s just been with me ever since. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Take a look at the report by Jasmine Lewin by clicking here.

•••

We invite you to help sustain local journalism on the North Coast. Please consider subscribing. We have several options available at: www.dailyastorian.com/subscribe-now/

— Derrick DePledge