By Keith Whitaker,
Business Manager (part-time) Orcas Island School District

There are significant inaccuracies and wrong assumptions in Janet Knowles guest column in last week’s Islands Sounder [reprinted below] regarding transparency in the school bond process. Her conclusions are not based in fact, and betray a lack of understanding of the issues in question.

The data she attributes to me were actually taken from the financial report provided to the Board at the May 12 meeting, prepared by Ben Thomas of Educational Service District 189. The statistic ‘395 students,’ though it is in that Board report, does not refer to the entire enrollment of the District – not even all of the ‘real’ students, as she calls them. In her calculations, she simply eliminates the entire enrollment of OASIS, despite the fact that nearly half of the OASIS students are Orcas residents, as ‘real’ as the students in the District’s other four schools.

Our actual total ‘on-island’ enrollment was 473 at that meeting time, only about a half dozen lower than it was five years ago. It is higher now.

Ms. Knowles suggests that we don’t really need the middle school and can simply absorb the middle school students into the elementary and high school buildings. Even if it were possible to find enough empty classrooms (which it isn’t), this completely ignores the fact that the majority of the middle school complex that needs replacing is made up of common areas used by the entire school population, including the Library, the Voc. Ed. classrooms, the woodshop, the Home Ec. room, the music room and stage, and the cafeteria.

She also wrongly attributes the need for replacement of the middle school to lack of maintenance. Although the District had been forced by budget constraints to reduce the budget for maintenance and grounds below ideal levels, this is not the reason the buildings need to be replaced. The buildings did not meet all of the codes in force at the time they were constructed and they are currently out of compliance with the uniform building code, the standards for fire-resistance, seismic codes and standards, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The buildings were built with less expensive materials and corners were cut. This happened due to the failure of a more substantial bond that would have built a complex that echoed the construction of the Nellie Milton Elementary School, built in 1947. Instead, these 1970’s buildings were constructed to last 15 to 20 years and we have stretched that to 30. We have been informed by architects and engineers that the buildings are at the end of their useful life.

I am a relentless proponent of transparency, and I am committed to accuracy, as well. I would like to discuss the details of OISD’s enrollment history, the state of the buildings and the details of the bond with any community member who has questions or concerns about these issues. Continued accurate and informed conversation, inquiry and debate are essential and beneficial to the District and to the community.

Keith Whitaker, Business Manager (part-time) Orcas Island School District kwhitaker@orcas.k12.wa.us

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