Oregon Connections Academy has moved its office temporarily from Main Street into the multipurpose building at Centennial Elementary School while crews clean up damage from the flood.

The Jan. 18 surge from rain-swollen Thomas Creek swept into the headquarters of the online charter school, which likely will take a month or more to be repaired, said Todd Miller, ORCA’s executive director.

In the meantime, ORCA is camped out in a classroom at Centennial, 38875 N.W. First Ave., trying to juggle work spaces for nearly a dozen people. Many of the school’s materials were put into storage, but the files for the 2,500-plus students the school serves statewide had to be on hand for immediate access.

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Sixty-five of the students currently in that program actually have met graduation requirements but have opted not to receive their diplomas until they complete their college credits, Principal Bo Yates said. Including them would bring Lebanon’s four-year regular diploma rate to 67 percent.

Mid-valley charter and alternative high schools did not fare as well. Just 15 of the 88 students at the alternative Albany Options School received a regular diploma last year, for a four-year cohort rate of 17 percent. That’s up from 11 percent last year. Twenty-three students were recorded as dropouts. Another 29 received GEDs and 21 chose to continue their education at the options school.

At Oregon Connections Academy, the statewide online charter school headquartered in Scio, 99 of 292 students received a regular diploma last year, for a rate of just under 34 percent.  Another 28 received GEDs, 44 chose to continue enrollment and 121 dropped out.

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An estimated 40 students and parents are expected to attend and they will get a guided tour by Greg Schlatter, a Portland French Bakery production supervisor from Hillsboro, who has worked at the company for 19 years and has students attending Oregon Connections Academy.

“I have always enjoyed giving tours of the bakery and explaining how the process works,” Schlatter said. “I hope the students will gain an understanding of how much time and work goes into a loaf of bread. I try to explain there is a science to baking bread and different methods can create their own unique flavors and textures. If all goes well, the kids will have fun while learning.”

Three years ago Schlatter decided to school his children at home, enrolling them in Oregon Connections Academy, and he said it has been a perfect fit for his family.

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