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
My numbers focus on students who would physically attend classes at the school. OASIS students by definition (home-schooled) would not attend school. Therefore buildings are not required to support these students. By trying to include OASIS students in the total tally of students, you are misleading people who might think that all of these students physically attend. We should only be building for those students that attend the school. The non-Orcas students in the OASIS program will probably disappear once other school districts to provide these same home-schooling services. There is no barrier preventing these students from moving at any time. This sudden increase in enrollment could be very temporary.
There has been no alternative proposal about renovating and bringing these buildings up to code. I suspect it would be more reasonable to renovate the current Middle School to bring it up to current standards than to tear down and build a lot of buildings for a declining population of students who attend classes in the school.
What is your cost analysis for renovating rather than rebuilding the middle school? What data is that based upon? Can you provide those numbers?
With regard to other school districts and ALE…they have had years to provide the services the Orcas Schools now provide OASIS students. It doesn’t seem rational to assume that because Orcas is doing it — suddenly districts will take notice and do likewise, thereby causing a flight of students from the program. Having spoken with teacher in our Orcas OASIS program, it seems that Orcas provides more personalized services, not seen in other districts.
But I’d really like to see your spec/spreadsheet for the renovation numbers. You seem pretty certain it would be less expensive.
I don’t see the factual inaccuracy. Ms Knowles enrollment numbers appear to be the same as Mr Whitaker’s, they each choose to emphasize different groups of students. Ms Knowles is concerned with the enrollment of students who will go to the school and sit in the classrooms; Mr Whitaker, with the total entollment of students.
In the interests of transparency I would be interested to see the detailed breakdown of the current enrollment divided into the categories: Orcas OASIS students, non-Orcas OASIS students, regular students (non-OASIS). I would also be interested in these numbers for previous school years if available.
Janet refers to getting some of her information from the OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) website which lists public information about each school district in the state.
Therefore, I went to OSPI website to see if something incorrect had been posted because I knew that the numbers she listed were not accurate. At the OSPI website I looked under Finance and then Apportionment/Financial Services to find the Orcas Island School District apportionment files for the last five years. These are the most accurate reports as they are the ones that OSPI uses to fund the district based on the student FTE count.
Over the last five years, the lowest headcount listed in the apportionment reports is 487 students in both May 2007 and May 2008. The lowest student FTE (full time equivalent) number is 457.89 in May 2008.
OSPI’s website can be very confusing and I will be interested to know where at OSPI Janet found the information that she uses to state. “In 2005/06, there were 500 students, the next year 465, then 430 then 417 (State of Washington website – Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction).”
John’s request for a detailed breakdown of the data makes sense and we are happy to provide the information. We will provide and post the breakdown requested by the end of tomorrow, July 14th
OISD
Here is a table that shows the enrollment over time. I decided to start it in October 2000 which is the year before OASIS was started. Because Janet was concerned about counting students who did not actually come to the school campus, I subtracted OASIS K-8 from the OISD total in the final column.
OASIS 9-12 and Waldron Island Elementary students are part of the Orcas Island School District and attend classes on campus. Some of the OASIS K-8 students also attend classes on campus. As of the end of the school year 2009-10, a minority of the OASIS students are from off island families.
I used headcount as the best measure of the students who will be using the facilities. Headcount is a count of the actual students who are in each grade. A student’s “head” can only be counted one time even if he/she is attending classes in two schools. For example a student at Orcas High School taking classes in OASIS will be counted in the headcount in the school in which he/she is attending the most classes.
In addition to headcount, the state also counts by FTE (Full Time Equivalent). This is the count according to the number of classes or amount of time that a student spends in school, or that the state will pay for.
Some examples:
our full time kindergarten students have to be counted as half time students even though they are on campus all day. The state will only pay for half of a kindergarten student.
the state pays for only five of the six classes that most of our high school students take. We pay for the sixth or seventh class out of local funds.
a student who attends school for part of the day is counted under FTE for that part that he/she attends
The FTE count is usually a lower number than headcount and therefore is not a good number to work with when planning spaces for students.
When we planned the bond, we planned for the spaces needed for out students. Besides being on campus for some classes, OASIS K-8 needs office, storage and staff spaces.
I am happy to meet with anyone who wants to discuss these numbers or has any other questions about the school district or the bond.
K-12
OISD K-12 OASIS K-8 OASIS 9-12 Minus OASIS K-8
2009 October 521 75 23 446
2008 October 472 23 23 449
2007 October 475 15 20 460
2006 October 495 23 NA 472
2005 October 537 27 NA 510
2004 October 511 17 NA 494
2003 October 511 17 NA 494
2002 October 537 32 NA 505
2001 October 567 24 NA 543
2000 October 514 NA NA 514
Ok, so I do not know how to post a table very well. Most sorry but that is the best I can do. If anyone would like a paper or a better copy, please email or call me. 298- 1800