Guest Opinion: Accuracy and Transparency in School Bond Process is Paramount

Scott Lancaster
Orcas Island School District Board President

I’d like to clear up a few things that have appeared in the Sounder. Keith Whitaker has responded very effectively online, and in the paper to Janet Knowles opinion piece and corrected her misunderstanding of the data. I’d like to add a couple of things to his response.

The figures that the ESD and the school district work from are a snapshot at any given moment in the school year, of our enrollment. The final figures that create our funding source from the state are audited and verified by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Education (OSPI).

I can see how someone coming to a single board meeting and taking away what can sometimes be a huge packet of data, could easily misunderstand the numbers. It is complex, and we are fortunate to have a staff and administration that keeps impeccable track and care of this data so that our district is fully accountable. I, or any other board member would be happy to go over these packets with anyone who has a question about them. I’d appreciate the chance to do so, so misinformation doesn’t get presented to the public as fact.

The other item I’d like to correct is Mr. Ambler’s letter: It is not the heating system in the middle school that is failing. It is the entire system of the buildings. Those issues have been sufficiently addressed elsewhere, and the full documentation of the issues is available at the school district office.

The business manager position was not newly created. The school district used to have a full time person 5 years ago.  Her retirement and the complexity in state accounting and reporting caused the district to contract with the services of the Educational Service District (ESD) in Anacortes for business management. It was with the understanding that returning to a local manager at some point would be in the best interest of the district.

The manager we have been sharing, with sometimes 2-3 other school districts, could only be here 1-2 days a week, with a lot of travel time, and simply not enough hours to get everything done we would have liked to get done. The ESD felt it was time for us to begin to transition to our own business manager. 

Keith Whitaker was not a sitting board member when he took the position as part time business manager. He resigned from the Orcas Island School Board on March 15^th.  Following his resignation, he applied for the new part time (,6 FTE) business manager.  A committee composed of the members of the Budget Advisory Committee and district office staff interviewed the three applicants and selected Keith as the new part time business manager. The board approved his appointment May.

This is not a new position, it is a transition to local service as opposed to more expensive remote service. I’m sorry that you have gotten the wrong impression of these things you have mentioned in your letter. Please contact me if you’d like to discuss anything else.