By the Orcas Island School Board
Last Sunday, 27 community members got together in three homes to talk about the school bond.
Those “coffees” were just one step in the school board’s effort to seek input about the bond since the election in February. Conversations have taken place in casual one-on-one meetings on the street, at school, at the market, at workplaces, and in cafes.
We have also held a potluck for the community and have actively sought input at every school board meeting. All of these discussions have been lively and candid. They have allowed for more in-depth question and answers with school board members and staff. The purpose of all this discourse is to help us come to consensus about a bond amount for an August election.
Throughout most of these discussions, people have agreed that the school board and administration did their job in figuring out an appropriate program for the bond. It was a complicated four-year process that helped provide the basis for the building program. While there is general agreement that the program is appropriate, there is also a growing opinion that the bond amount is too high.
To that end, the time has come to make modifications to the original plan. We cannot lower the bond amount and keep the same educational specifications. Doing so would compromise the whole project.
Instead we must look to make cuts in those programming specifications to reduce the overall cost of the bond. As this process continues toward a successful bond passage in August, we look forward to more dialogues like the ones that took place Sunday.
We have also asked for the formation of an advisory committee similar to the Budget Advisory Committee to work directly on creating the best, most economical, maintenance efficient, project for our district. Anyone interested in serving on this committee should contact the district office. Finally, we want to thank you all for your continued support of our island’s public schools.
This board is spending a tremendous amount of time and energy finding the best proposal to put before the people. We need to commend them and support their efforts. If you have comments about the bond, let them know NOW; and add a “thank you” as well. This is a hard-working, intelligent board. We need to help them, and also remember that they volunteer their time for the good of the school.
If the vote in August was to approve the plan i.e. building and updates only, it probably would be a slam dunk for approval. The School board has done a good job of determining the need. But….asking the voters to approve funding for the plan is another matter.
Without appearing to be critical of The School Board, which I am not, winning approval of a bond issue in August will rest solely on how many voters recognize and understand the needs and solutions the board has deemed critical to fulfill their responsibilities in providing education for the children of Orcas.
Asking voters to attend coffees, potlucks, town hall meetings etc is fine but most of the voters who attend these functions already know how they will vote and unfortunately most of them will vote for approval and more unfortunately they do not represent enough votes to carry the day.
Approval of a bond issue in August, then, will depend on how many voters who do not, will not and can not attend these meetings or are “on the fence” or are flat against the issues will be won over to an approval vote.
In any election, and bond issue approvals for sure, the electorate must understand the need and the solution. The board and as many volunteers as they can muster must take the issues to the voters. The board needs a representative in every meeting of any kind on Orcas between now and August to solicit approval votes. The board needs to run a massive information campaign to get the message to voters who can read. Newspaper ads, flyers, announcements, bulletin boards and an extensive Q&A piece that appears over and over around the island.
Having said all that, in this time of our economy and even though the board takes their very best shot, the voters might not vote for approval. Might be good to have a “Plan B”
Charlie Binford
Deer Harbor