When the Orcas Island School District doors opened on Wednesday, Sept. 3, the administration wondered what to expect, and if their enrollment projections would be close to reality, or if the budget would be strained to the breaking point.

New District Superintendent (and High School Principal) Barbara Kline reported early this week, “We have new students in all the schools – higher numbers in the elementary school, about the same in the middle school, and a little down in the high school. OASIS (the alternative high school) is overflowing, the numbers are really up there.”

Kline expects that some readjustment may be needed in the upper elementary classes, which are a little crowded.

“We’re off to a very nice year, with positive feedback from the community, excited students and excited teachers,” said Kline. She praised the school’s joint FEAST program with Orcas Rec and said the Sept. 7 dinner was “fabulous,” (see page A3), adding that the program bodes well for future classes in career and technical education, taught by Kari Schuh.

Kline also expressed appreciation for the financial support given the district. “The community really stepped up,” she said.

But, she added, “Solid education for all students, K-12, whether for advanced students, or those needing a little extra help, is really the state’s responsibility.”

She intends to convey that message when she and OISD President Janet Brownell speak to the State Legislature’s Basic Education Task Force on Sept. 16, bringing up the need for additional funding for administrative and Cost-of-living allowances, and the strategies of a levy lid lift and re-categorizing the district as “Remote and Necessary” rather than as a “Small” school, which would affect the state’s budgeting formula for OISD.