Consensus Reached on “A Way Forward” for Orcas Schoolchildren

A diverse group of over 40 islanders has been meeting with a goal “to reach a consensus on a way forward to ensure that the facilities of the OISD are adequate to meet our collective responsibility for the education of our community’s children; and to draft a statement of the consensus to be published and shared with the community at large.”

On Monday, April 11, the following consensus statement was issued by the group:

In recognition of the physical and economic realities of Orcas Schools, 43 citizens gathered to reach a consensus on a way forward to meet our collective responsibility for the education of our community’s children.

We affirm that our schools will be appropriately designed and maintained to:

• be safe and healthy for all educational and community activities;
• ensure long, productive, and comprehensive service to minimize overall costs; and
• maximize the value of our community’s investment in our children’s futures.

We acknowledge that there has been a generalized failure within the entire community to ensure it has sufficient knowledge of the physical conditions of our schools. Moving forward requires broad and shared community agreement on the physical condition of our schools and a willingness to provide the financial resources required to address their deficiencies.

We reached consensus on the following recommended Actions:

1. Encourage the school board to accept the elementary school grant Immediate repairs are needed to make the elementary school a safe and healthy facility. The school district has been awarded a $900,000 grant, contingent upon the school board’s commitment to secure an additional $800,000. Securing the additional funds to complete the 1.7 million dollar project is a responsible way to leverage our tax dollars. The group felt so strongly about this issue and its urgency, it issued a separate consensus statement on the matter; see Note 1 for exact text.

2. Immediate Actions
We urge that life safety, seismic, disability access (ADA), electrical/plumbing, and critical maintenance issues at the elementary, high school, old gym, and Waldron School be dealt with in an urgent and fiscally responsible manner. While we believe that the middle school’s seismic issues must also be addressed in an urgent and fiscally responsible manner, our recommendation regarding all of the “1980 buildings” has been addressed separately, below.

3. Assess and Address the “1980 Buildings” The “1980 Buildings” (cafeteria, library, and middle school) are unsafe and in need of either repair or replacement. We request that a team of island professionals – contractors, architects, engineers – review and assess the existing studies / plans related to the “1980 buildings.” This qualified, local team of professionals will be asked to evaluate the available studies and cost estimates, identify what is missing or outdated, examine the facilities in their current state, and provide recommendations to our community and to the school board. See also Note 2.

4. Engage Community Expertise re: Construction, Engineering, & Design Additionally, reach out to island professionals–contractors, architects, engineers—to review and assess the existing data relating to deficiencies in the high school and to examine the facilities in their current state. Provide recommendations to our community and the school board.

5. Engage Community Expertise re: Financial Options Using a scope of work based on the recommendations from the team of local construction professionals, we would like a committee of local citizens to work with professional public finance advisers to develop a clear and simple description of the levy and bond options available to fund the identified work. This information will be presented to the public with opportunity for public input, resulting in a recommendation to our community and to the school board. For this task, time is of the essence as we are in a period of historically low interest rates with opportunities to secure favorable financing terms before rates are predicted to rise significantly, a change which will have a huge impact on costs over the long term.

In Closing, Some members of this group have committed to participate in ongoing, open forum meetings to stay informed about Orcas Island School District facilities, with a further commitment to communicate this information to the larger Orcas community.

As our group struggled to reach consensus, our process demonstrated integrity, inclusion, openness, and dedication to exploring and developing a plan to resolve a thorny community problem. The participants represented a diversity of experience and opinion, but were mindful of those opinions not in the room as well. Through patient listening and the expression of mutual respect, participants freely spoke their truth and built collective trust.

Notes

Note 1; related to Item #1, Text of Statement Encouraging Acceptance of the Elementary School Grant: “We 41 citizens of Orcas Island, dedicated to building a consensus to assure appropriate educational facilities, do collectively encourage the Orcas Island School Board to accept the $900,000.00 grant and acquire the funds necessary to match this grant and make the immediate repairs to the Elementary School essential for the health and safety of our community’s public school children.”

Note 2; list of school services and activities provided in the “1980 Buildings”: (kitchen, cafeteria/assembly, music rooms, library/High School OASIS room, Middle School Rooms, 2 offices + Home Economics Room, Wood Shop/and Career and Tech Ed Office, and High School rooms 105, 301 and 302)

Background This Statement of Consensus was created by Orcas Islanders who responded to an island-wide invitation to gather and “reach a consensus on a way forward to ensure that the facilities of the OISD are adequate to meet our collective responsibility for the education of our communityʼs children; and to draft a statement of the consensus to be published and shared with the community at large.” Participants committed to attending twelve hours of deliberations spread over four meetings. These gatherings took place April 2 thru 9, 2011.

List of Participants:

Rachel Adams, Kyle Freeman, Ruthie Newman, Joe Symons, Marilyn Anderson, Wally Gudgell, Marian OʼBrien, Tom Tillman, Libby Blackwell, Andrea Hendrick, Bruce Orchid, Linda Trethaway, Marta Branch, Rick Hughes, Mark Padbury, Judy Turksel, Phil Branch, Deborah Jones, Justin Paulson, Audrey Wells, Janet Brownell, David Kau, George Post, Bea vonTobel, Joyce Burghardt, Barbara Kline, Kari Schuh,
Hilary Canty, Morgan Meadows, Patricia Slabaugh, Cristine Chandler, Tom Meadows, Samara Shaw, Clyde Duke, Pete Moe, Andrew Stephens, Martha Farish, Madie Murray, Chris Sutton, Cathy Ferran, Barry Neville, Ed Sutton.

Facilitators:

• J.Marie Riche
• Fred Klein