The partnership ran on goodwill, and on four kinds of paper.
A memorandum of understanding. The 2026 draft was between ODHS’s Office of Resilience and Emergency Management, Lane ESD, Knife River and any other organization that signed. Its central principle is that each party is responsible for its own people, volunteers, equipment, vehicles and operations, carries its own insurance, and meets the event’s background-check and conduct requirements. It moves no money between parties and does not replace the site agreement, waivers or insurance policies. It assigns roles: the education sponsor coordinates students, educators, forms and supervision; the site host identifies boundaries, hazards and emergency routes; the mass-care partner handles sheltering, hygiene and logistics; other partners run their own activities under the event’s safety plan.
A facility use agreement with the site host, signed before the education sponsor will approve the event.
Event insurance. Settle early who obtains it and who pays. In 2026 the question sat open on the task list for weeks.
Education sponsor approval. Lane ESD’s superintendent gave conditional approval under district policy, tied to a checklist with hard deadlines:
Deadline | Requirement | Consequence if missed |
12 days before camp | Superintendent meets the planning team; facility use agreement on file | Event not approved |
10 days before camp | Every educator and counselor recommended for hire as temporary licensed staff | That person cannot attend |
10 days before camp | All student participation forms, contacts and medical information on file | That student cannot attend |
10 days before camp | Schedule, day and night supervision plan, administrative oversight plan, incident response and communication plan, student conduct plan | Event not approved |
Opening day | All staff cleared and trained; every overnight volunteer cleared and acknowledged abuse-reporting requirements | That person cannot attend |
Hiring educators as the sponsor’s temporary employees solved a liability question: the sponsor did not otherwise cover teachers from other districts. It also meant a licensed administrator, or a licensed designee, had to be on site at all times.