Dear Editor,
I want to make a few observations about the school bond election coming up soon and hope the school board and the educators on our island will take heed.
First, I will vote approval because I am a firm believer in public education and trust the administrators of the system. At the same time I am disappointed in much of the rhetoric they are delivering to the public in support of their request for additional funds. Too much attention to the brick and morter and pitifully little about improving the quality of the educational opportunity being offered the students.
Orcas Island Schools rank 51st of the 275 schools within 75 miles of Orcas Island. Not bad? No, but consider that of the 40 developed nations in the world, the U.S. ranks 25th. How bad is it that the world’s most affluent nation is in bottom half of educational rankings. So is being the best of the worst OK? I don’t think so.
Orcas Island electorate has always responded to the public school needs as long as the need was to improve the educational opportunity available to the wide variety of students. A recent editorial would throw the public educational system under the bus because it isn’t effective. While it is true it isn’t as good as it could and should be, is recognizes that “one size doesn’t fit all” – that not every parent can be the primary educator. Time, economics and ability isn’t available for home schooling in every household – in fact in very few.
Even though my middle school experience was more than 70 year ago, I remember the full name of the teachers who taught me how to write, appreciate music and do math problems. I don’t have a clue what the building looked like or how old it was.
So, what part of the bond issue is available for direct and recognizable improvement in the educational process available to every student? New and spiffy buildings don’t create great schools. Great teachers do!
Charles Binford
Deer Harbor
Just to correct the record and to add that my family and I are very proud of our schools and teachers. We have had three sons in this school system.
Thank you for your support of public education and please allow me to clarify some of your data.
The ranking that you state: 51st of 275 schools is somewhat misleading and I am sure unintentionally. US News and World Report finished a study last December of more than 21,000 schools nationwide and found that Orcas High School is one of the 51 schools that received Gold, Silver and Bronze in Washington State (Washington schools collected 4 gold, 17 silver and 30 bronze medals). Nationally, we were one of 1700 High Schools awarded a medal (the total Gold, Silver and Bronze recipients). This ranks us in the top 8 percentile of all US high schools and, yes, we can and should do better. As a nation we might be one of the worst as an educational country – maybe – our Orcas and Waldron teachers could be cloned – but that should not take away from our local achievements. Just consider that the list includes top ranking Bellevue, Camas, Bainbridge and Chelan High Schools, just to name a few in Washington State. I wouldn’t consider Orcas or any one of these 51 schools to be inferior nationally or internationally.
We take student success seriously on Orcas and we have the most dedicated teachers anywhere so please don’t lump us in the large national pile. We want to build a campus in which students can fullfil their educational dreams in any form that they choose to succeed in today and in the next 60 years.
Again, thank you for your support of education on Orcas.
Tony P. Ghazel
Proud parent, school supporter and Orcas Island School Board Member since 2004