Letter to the Editor: School Bond Well Considered and Needed

Dear Editor,

We urge you to help maintain a strong community by voting yes for the school construction bond.  The school’s 1980s buildings are in poor shape.  Citizens and school personnel have worked together to develop a plan to restore the school to a healthy, safe learning environment.  A dozen well-respected Orcas building professionals volunteered their time to study this challenging problem.  After this study they endorsed the plan as the most efficient solution.

Recently, two glaring problems were addressed in a fiscally responsible way.  The elementary building deficiencies have been corrected, and the high school exterior has been repaired, using grant funding.  These projects have protected two previous school bond investments.

As a community, we now need to address the 1980s buildings, and their deterioration, energy inefficiency, and problems with accessibility.  A failed bond vote in the late 1970s was followed a few months later by a revote that passed, with a 25% reduction in the bond amount.  The middle school, library, music room, and cafeteria were built with these inadequate funds.  There was not enough money to build these facilities with an eye toward efficient maintenance.  As a result, they now badly need to be repaired.

Many voters may not know that this bond would not increase the property tax.  It would replace the expiring one-year levy from last year.  The tax we pay would remain the same.

Please support this important bond.  It is well considered and studied.  It addresses previous shortcomings and makes critical repairs, with the future in mind.

Sincerely,

Alyson, Andrew, Patsy and Stu Stephens
Olga