Guest Column: Tony Ghazel Seeks to Continue as School Board Director

By Tony P Ghazel

I am honored and humbled by your trust in allowing me to serve on your school board and I am hoping to serve another four years.

I am running for re-election to the school board because I strongly believe that education is what defines a community and serving in the capacity of a school board director allows me to be at the fore front of advocating for that belief.

Additionally, as an elected school board official it is my responsibility to insure that we create conditions in which our children and staff can succeed and that everyone involved in the education of our children is appreciated and held to a high standard. This is a duty that I take seriously; we must not fail the children in our charge.

My active participation in the Orcas community as a member of the Orcas Lions and active participation in many school activities for the past 16 years has helped me understand the needs of our children and families. This involvement has enabled me to communicate and engage the community in the pursuit of educational excellence and offer extracurricular activities such as sports to enhance the children’s educational experience.

On a personal note: My involvement in the Orcas Lions has laid a heavy burden on my heart by validating to me the financial struggles of young families with school age children on this island. As a school board director I saw the need first hand where the meal that many of our children receive at school daily might be the only meal that child gets for that day.

Our faculty is some of the best and most dedicated in the state, our support staffs keep the place running well and our musician leaders and community music docents instill dedication and hard work into our young musicians. Our sports coaches, who for all intents and purposes are volunteers, encourage our student athletes to give it all — and that they do. I am really proud of this community that encourages and supports these efforts.

We are not done; there is a lot of work yet to accomplish. In the coming years board decisions require level heads, experience, creativity and commitment to our children and staff success. We need to make sure that the public’s generosity is appreciated and properly utilized. We need to continue work on the legislative front and with the help of our local legislators; Senator Ranker and Representatives Lytton and Morris, who’ve supported us on many occasions, we will see more progress. I want to continue working on full funding for basic education which also includes better compensation for our faculty and staffs. The constitution of the state of Washington puts the burden on the legislators to amply fund education of ALL of our children in the state and I want to hold them accountable to that.

We are well into the new school year and as I have done in the past I want to give you a little update.

Our schools are off to a great start. The faculty that we reduced back in June is back and teaching; this is great news for all concerned and particularly the children.

As you’ve heard in previous notes from me and others, the school district budget that was approved back in July is the best I have seen in years. In addition to robust classroom offerings, the music program, the athletic activities and the library are funded this year and we are hoping to end the 2012-2013 – last school year – with a healthy fund balance.

The children and staff in the schools are seeing positive changes and we feel fortunate that we have an outstanding administrative team for the benefit of our children, their families, staff and our faculty. As you have heard, our quite capable principal and community minded leader, Kyle Freeman is the new Middle and High School principal. Kyle brings many years of experience as a leader and recently served as the Elementary principal the past three years. Kyle is also quite plugged into the community he serves on many boards and quite active in fundraising events.

The Elementary School will be guided by our new principal Kathy Page. Kathy brings us many years of experience as an elementary principal and has years of special education experience. I have talked to many parents and staff members and all feel that Kathy is a great addition to the administrative team.

The fall sports season is also at full throttle, and many student athletes participate in three sports: boys football, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer. We also have a Middle School Coed soccer team.  So please come out and support these scholar athletes and while you’re at it buy a sandwich or a tee-shirt from the very active booster club members. The funds that they generate help the children by helping the athletic program.

Of course there will be many music concerts between now and the Christmas Holiday so, again please come out and enjoy the talents of our young musicians of all ages. Your support is crucial to continue the momentum of the excellent music program. This year we have a new addition, Darren Dix, our new band director is also off to a good start; make sure that you stop and say hi. I hear that he is already playing with the Community Band.

Thank you and I hope that we all stay engaged in improving the educational experience so that our children will reap the benefits for many years to come.

Tony P Ghazel is Orcas Island School Director #2, Candidate and current Director