— by Margie Doyle —
At the Sept. 13 community meeting regarding the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Phase III bond proposal, Superintendent Eric Webb, project manager Liz LeRoy and OISD Board President Tony Ghazel, reviewed the updated draft proposal for a new bond, first presented to the public on August 15-16.
The school district board will decide in December whether to ask district voters to approve a new bond, to be voted on in the February 2017 election. The amount of the bond, its terms and its purposes are being discussed in a series of community meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the School Cafeteria.
Looking back, Webb reviewed:
- The February 2010 bond for $35 Million which voters rejected.
- The November 2010 bond for $27 Million which voters also rejected;
- The formation of The Way Forward Group in 2011, which resulted in a builders’ subgroup recommendations to move forward in phases, with the commitment to build trust in the community by modernizing and building correctly
- The “Phase I” grant and non-voted debt of $1.9Million to remodel the elementary school prior to the 2012 bond passage.
- Passage of the 2012 “Phase II” bond for $11.9 Million.
Webb noted that in trimming the OISD indebtedness to $11.9M, “a lot of things that were originally proposed came out. “One was the old gym,” Webb said. The proposed amount to modernize the Old Gym is $3M. “Another was the elementary school, although the 2015 [Mothers’ Day] flood caused a re-do of one-third of the elementary building.”
Another critical item to be eliminated from the 2012 bond scope was the high school, with issues regarding fire protection, plumbing and hvac (heating, ventilation, air conditioning issues.
Liz LeRoy’s overview of the Phase II projects started with identifyingthe District’s three goals towards the overarching philosophy of “do it once and do it right:”
1. Think of the campus as a whole, not separate high school, middle school, so courtyard
2. Improve access for parent pickup and dropoff
3. Create a central spine (running along south side of the old gym)
Phase II was both modernization and upgrade and construction of two new buildings, LeRoy said.
Modernized buildings:
Cafeteria
Middle school
Library
Commons
Culinary arts
New construction:
Arts classroom
Applied physics shop
Woodworking shop
Band room
Entry/drop off
The bond projecting also included the modular building behind the administration building.
OISD Board President Tony Ghazel then addressed the group, saying “The $11.9 Million bond was a very good project. We were able to build it right and stopped building when we ran out of money.” He then spoke of the Phase III Goals, among them:
1. The Old Gym: siding, heating, locker rooms
2. A Music Classroom behind the current Old Gym and Band buidlings
“In the meantime,” Ghazel said, “the district has been given a donation of $1M for a track, although that amount is not enough to do it properly [with infrastructure upgrades].”
Former Elementary Principal Colleen O’Brien asked for larger elementary classrooms, with room enough for science experiments and other, out-of-desk experiences.
Issues with Public Address system overall were brought up, and Middle/High School Principal Kyle Freeman explained that the High School system is not connected to the Middle School because the two schools are on different schedules, and the announcements would be disruptive to the Middle School schedule.
Parent Lisa Heisinger commended the work that was done in modernizing the Middle School.
Webb responded that the goals for the district are the “Safety and health for our students, and another focus is culture of learning.”
“It is a mindset” confirmed by research LeRoy added. The preliminary list includes preliminary costs with the campus-wide goals of transparency (including windows and doors), flexibility, and openness of campus to enhance learning.
Webb explained that “What’s included in Phase III is not defined yet. We’re constantly looking at the list; we have to look at our complex. This is the land that we have: we can expand to the north of the elementary and middle school buildings.
LeRoy then reviewed the eight-point list of short term goals as “a starting point to talk about as a community:”
1) general classroom, music room
2) Milton elementary building
3) Old Gym modernization and efficiencies;
4) High School siding, roofing, hvac modernization and efficiancies
5) Track installation
6) Administration building improvements
7) Waldron School
8) Site road improvements
Joe Ciskowski questioned a recent significant building project to the Elementary School of foundation and insulation work, and it was clarified that the work was completed with the acceptance of a state Department of Commerce grant.
New-to-the-district parent Ayn Gailey commented, “It seems that a large amount of funds are devoted to sports. Do we still want to use money that way?” She proposed including design as part of the curriculum, and suggested an outdoor “science-based sculpture” created by students.
It was said that the recently-completed Phase II didn’t emphasize athletics and Webb responded that the district is “looking at the nuts and bolts [for the bond] and mentioned that the Education Foundation (OIEF) often provides the funding for creative efforts.
Private music teacher Jan Ehrlichmans asked if the $1M donation or the bond was driving the track project. Others asked if there was input from the Physical Education (PE) department about the track, and was told, “not yet.”
Bea vonTobel read her statement “based on conversations with others in the community,” which began, “The extreme generosity has placed school board in an awkward position,
She then described the fitness trail with 10 exercise stations that was installed about 20 years ago, and said that although there was no funding for upkeep and portions fell in disrepair… the original path has been in continuous use by school PE teachers. She also mentioned the Skate Park installed in 2002, and said the the Orcas Island Park and Rec District has has deferred and ongoing maintenance for the skate park.
VonTobel also claimed that the proposed track site “removes space used by soccer, softball, football and baseball,” and that crew and sailing programs as well as school athletics draw students away from participating in track and field activities.
(VonTobel’s full letter will be posted on Sept. 17 in Orcas Isseus.)
Parent Andrew Stephens brought up the question as to “whether or not the track is for the community or the kids.” He added, “Maintenance of the track comes up. We have a hard time maintaining the gym floors and here is an outdoor facility that gets a lot of wear and tear. At what time can the community use it, and what time can the kids use it?”
Stephens asked if a track may be “more a project for park and rec to be a community structure.”
Ciskowski followed up asking “If it’s a community project, how is it a bond only for the public school?”
LeRoy pointed out that as the field portion is grass, there would be no change in maintenance costs.”
The follow-up September 21 meeting will be facilitated by Lisa Byers, with small group discussions looking at projects in depth.
Ghazel said, “We are listening to the community, we’re trying to do our best.”
I am disheartened to see that there is a perception in our community that a “large” amount of funds are dedicated from our district budget to athletics. Perhaps even more disheartened to see that the expenditure is seen as a bad thing.
In fact, the districts athletic budget is significantly lower than every other district in our league (despite our general budget being one of the largest) District athletic funding is highly supported by gate revenues, student participation fees and some very generous individuals and businesses in our community that have given year after year to the program. Athletics in the public schools continue to represent the single highest participation rate of ALL activities other than the basic educational program in the district with between 60-70% of the entire middle and high school student body participating annually.
The most unfortunate part is that through the overly-restricted allocation of monies throughout the district, the current school board has created a culture which pits Athetics against Music against Science against Art against Maintenence. Each program begs and pleads for a small slice of a pie that, with proper budgeting, should be much larger.
Despite increasing administrative and administrative support costs to levels 2-3 times those seen in the last 8 years and amassing the largest reserve fund balance ever, the district has continued to restrict funding from the programs which offer our students the greatest return in our educational dollars: Music, Athletics, Art… and continues to short-change the departments responsible for the maintenence and upkeep of our physical plant.
There are definitely items in the proposed bond that need to be addressed, but before the public commits to a huge investment and increase to our capital facility, the board will need make changes which address administrative sprawl and a proper assessment and funding of the schools true maintenance and operational requirements.