Keith Whitaker resigns from School Board

At the March 31 meeting, KeithWhitaker submitted, and the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Board “reluctantly” accepted his resignation from the School Board, on which he has served since 2007.

OISD Board President Scott Lancaster read from Whitaker’s resignation letter which said, ” for personal reasons, I can no longer serve on board at this time… For this reason I am resigning, effective immediately.”

Lancaster said to Whitaker, “Your time and commitment to the board was outstanding — from where we started, which was a rough start. I wasn’t sure how you and I would cooperate and, to your credit, we worked that out and came to see eye-to-eye on more things than we didn’t.

“You served the district well, on the BAC (Budget Advisory Committee) and fulfilled your stated desire to create transparency.”

Janet Brownell, past board president during Whitaker’s school board term, said, “You have been an excellent school board member and public servant.”

Whitaker announced from the audience, that the reason he is resigning is so that he can apply for the position of Business Manager in the school district.

Following the public board meeting, Whitaker said of the Business Manager position, held for the past three years by Ben Thomas, of the Educational Services District 189 in Anacortes, “This is probably the place that I can make the most difference in the long term and make an impact, especially with bond issues. There will be the need for oversight, transparency and accountability.

“A lot of what I set out to do when I ran for the board has been accomplished… It’s never finished, this job goes on forever, and the specific things I’ve been concerned about have changed.”

Whitaker said his concerns had been:

1)   the health and sustainability of the OASIS program. “Because of misunderstandings — even on the board, the program was young enough and tentative enough that there was a question if it would continue. Now it’s the third largest school in district, and is growing incredibly fast and it’s a given — one of our five schools. Even though I refer to it as a program, it’s a school, not a program.”

2)   the lack of familiarity with budgets and financial reports. “Part of that has gotten moved to the Budget Advisory Committee, but the board as a whole is a lot more familiar with general business operations. It’s part of the ongoing change.”

3) seeing that Orcas school distrct had an administration that was “more accountable and collaborative.

“Those things I was really worried about. Now it’s become part of the general management of the district. It continues to be strong and managed well.”

Whitaker has felt for some time that a local business manager makes the most sense. “I kept hearing things that didn’t apply to us from people more removed [from OISD] in the Educational Service District and State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) .”

“I have been a business management person for the last 30 years. Being able to do that in  a setting that is entirely what I came here for — it’s a perfect match.”