More Teachers Hired as School Enrollment Grows

Orcas Island School District (OISD) continues to see enrollment figures climb to over 700 students, and on Thursday, Aug. 26, the OISD Board of Directors voted to approve teacher and administrative hiring to serve those students and their families.

Superintendent/High School Principal Barbara Kline told the board that enrollment was particularly high in the K-8 grades of the Orcas Alternative Student-Initiated Studies/Alternative Learning Experience (OASIS/ALE). “OASIS teachers (some of whom have been RIF’d [Reduction in Force, or laid off]), have been working this summer to be sure that all of the OASIS students have learning plans in place. This will allow us to count them all on September 1.”

“We will need to bring back the staff that we had last year and also to add more staff, particularly in OASIS. To serve this many students, we also need to add support staff to OASIS and to help with administrative tasks.”

Kline said that a minimum of seven additional teachers is needed.

Business Manager Keith brought up that there is a wide divergence of salary amounts among the low and high range of salaries. “The big difference suggests we have to be really careful about how those positions are allocated. And lots of information is changing,” he added.

Educational Services District (ESD) financial advisor Ben Thomas said that although he saw the wisdom in waiting until September, when a true enrollment count is determined, the school now has “an enrollment that needs support.”

After some discussion about adding an OASIS Office Manager, that would be responsible for the paperwork and documentation required, and that would parallel the staffing at the Middle/High and Elementary schools, the board voted to approve the hiring recommendations for certificated and classified personnel included in the meeting’s consent agenda.

The Board also approved the co-curricular assignments on the consent agenda, after modifying the term for the Cheerleader Coach to football season only.

The 2009-2010 annual average full-time equivalency (AAFTE) for students was 516.65. The annual enrollment figures for 2009-2010 show the breakdown at:

• Elementary students      191.76 FTE
• Middle school students     52.07
• High  school students (Orcas High School)    141.65
• OASIS/ALE  students K-8          94.07
• OASIS/ALE 9-12 students (OASIS High School)       27.90
• Waldron School students     9.22

The school board had projected 520 students would be enrolled during the 2010-2011 school year this spring, at the start of the budget planning process.

A draft of the revised OASIS handbook was circulated to the board. Teachers Lyn Perry and Kim Freeman have been working with the OASIS Site Council to “better define things that weren’t clear from a teacher’s perspective,” Perry said.

“Most of the changes were made in some grey and undefined areas to bring procedures more in line with what the law requires.”

“In the document you have before you, we ‘tightened up language’ to clarify parent obligations; most parents do a very good job, but when we have problems with that, we have very clear steps and consequences.”

Perry, who has been re-assigned from Orcas Middle School to OASIS, says, “It’s been busy in the OASIS room this summer. There were 170 individual learning plans that had to be done, and [when questions are asked], out comes the law and out comes the FAQ [frequently-asked questions].

“It’s a pretty exciting room and it’s becoming clearer and clearer about what we can do,” Perry said.

Elementary/Middle School Principal Kyle Freeman suggested that the board have a workshop with the site council. The board will receive copies of the draft revision to prepare their questions for the workshop.

School District Finances

This month’s financial report to the OISD board showed:

• General Fund Balance = $269,425
• Debt Service Fund = $72,680
• Capital Projects Fund = $301,715
• Transportation Vehicle Fund = $2848

The school board voted to close the debt service fund of $72,680 (remaining after the former school bond debt had been repaid last December) and to wait until enrollment figures stabilize following the first month of school before deciding on where to put that amount.

OISD Board Member Chris Sutton said, “There are too many unknowns with the budget now, with the bond failure impact and siding at high school,” and suggested waiting until the next board meeting to decide where to put the funds remaining in the debt service fund.

Also, it was reasoned that if the debt service dollars were moved into the general fund, the board would have some freedom to allocate the funds at a later date. If the funds were moved into the transportation vehicle fund, the district is required to purchase a standard, full-size “yellow” school bus; whereas the school district has some latitude in the size of vehicle purchased if the funds are taken from the General Fund.

The Board agreed to discuss district goals, in light of the failure of the Capital Project Bond Proposal to win voter approval, at a day-long retreat. The public is welcome to attend this retreat, at a date to be announced.