In their first meeting since the August election, Orcas School Board members stayed mum on the hot button issue: failure of the $27 million bond proposal.
“We’ll be discussing the bond in depth at an all-day board retreat,” said board chair Scott Lancaster.
That meeting is set for Tuesday, Oct. 19, location to be decided. The public is invited to attend. The first half of the session, starting at 8 a.m., will be informational. The afternoon will be spent discussing the future of the school district’s failing buildings.
Several community members at last week’s meeting thanked the board for their work on a hard-fought campaign.
“It didn’t go the way we wanted, but it was through no fault of yours,” Martha Farish said.
Mary Poletti and Andrea Hendrick both recommended an “Orcas-style fundraising campaign to achieve repairs as soon as possible.”
“The Education Foundation has had great success raising funds and has the experience and leadership to carry out a campaign which will galvanize the supporters of the school bond and use their energy and positive arguments concerning school needs,” Hendrick said.
The Aug. 17 election results came back 1059 “yes” and 1234 “no” for the school bond proposal. If approved, the bond would have replaced the middle school buildings that house the cafeteria, woodshop, library, music room and other classrooms; major repairs to the elementary and high school buildings; and construction of a vocational ed building to house current programs.
It was originally put before voters in February at $35 million. The resolution earned 55 percent support, shy of the 60 percent super majority needed for approval. The school board reduced the project’s scope in the hope it would garner more votes.
Higher enrollment than expected
The district budgeted for 540 attending students, but as the start of the year draws near, the school is preparing to serve 650 kids, including 230 OASIS students in kindergarten through eighth grade (18 students are on an OASIS waiting list). There are an additional 30 kids in the high school OASIS program.
“In order to serve about 650 students, we will need to not only bring back the staff we had last year, but also add more staff, particularly to OASIS,” superintendent Barbara Kline said.
