After more than an hour of heated discussion with district administration, the school board voted to reinstate 4.3 full-time equivalent o the OASIS alternative education program and advertise for a .6 position.

Board member Tony Ghazel had a hard time approving the measure because of how the process was handled with the board members.

“I am not happy that I got the answers to my questions the night before the meeting,” Ghazel said. “I’m really upset that here we are with staff sitting here for us to make a decision and it’s at the last minute.”

This spring, 14 teachers (9.44 FTE), predominately in the OASIS program, were let go. The school brought back fewer than half – or $237,000 worth. The remaining teachers, who were all in the OASIS program, were expected not to return in the fall, unless the district could identify an additional revenue source, like higher enrollment. The cuts were primarily because of state funding cuts to alternative learning programs.

At a special meeting on Sept. 28, the district told the board it could bring back the RIF’d staff because OASIS enrollment was higher than expected at 260 students. The alternative learning school consists of mostly off-island students who complete coursework through distance education.

Ghazel’s frustration lay with the actual number of FTE that is in the school budget. That figure is generated by the number of students, and business manager Keith Whitaker said there are 43.7 FTE currently at the school while 46.9 FTE are funded in the budget. Ghazel said that by reinstating the 4.3 OASIS staff, there would be 1.7 FTE left to fund.

“I don’t agree with these numbers,” Ghazel told the Sounder. “They didn’t make sense to me. Even though I voted for it, I think we are off by a few decimal points. It’s not a big difference.”

Whitaker said at the meeting that the number of FTEs in the budget was as “accurate as it could be” at the time of budgeting and that financial changes affect the actual FTE figure.

Ghazel noted that Orcas School is “heavy” three employees while the OASIS program is short three FTEs. Superintendent Barbara Kline told Ghazel that “every year we are always over the FTEs in the brick and mortar school.”

Those three OASIS slots that are not filled will fund the reinstated staff. And as for the extra teachers at the brick and mortar school, Ghazel says they will be funded by OASIS money.

“We’re hoping that if in fact we have 260 OASIS students, each class will generate positive revenue to the district,” Ghazel said. “Every 35 students has one teacher. Every student generates money for the district. If there is any money here and there it will pay for additional staffing in the brick and mortar building.”

Four board members approved the OASIS re-hires; member Jim Sullivan voted no. Ghazel is not “happy about the way this all transpired … but at the end of the day, we did the right thing.”