School Board Hires Sup’t. and Remodel Contractor

 — by Margie Doyle —

At its regular meeting on Thursday, April 24, the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Board of Directors approved a two-year contract to hire Eric Webb as 1.0 FTE Superintendent, effective July 1, 2014.

The approximate annual cost for this position, including a 28 percent benefit allocation, is $153,600.00.

Current Superintendent Barbara Kline will retire as District Superintendent on June 20, 2014.

In the consent agenda, the board approved 2014-15 contracts for:

● Kathryn Page as 1.0 FTE Elementary Principal, effective July 1, 2014, at an approximate annual cost, including a 30% benefit allocation, of $132.350.
● Kyle Freeman as 1.0 FTE Middle/High School Principal, effective July 1, 2014, at an approximate annual cost, including a 30% benefit allocation, of $126,400.

The board approved hiring General Contractor Tiger Construction of Everson, Wash., for the 2012 Bond Projects.

The 2012 building plan includes:

• The new music room behind the Old Gym – the old music room will be taken down;
• The current library will become the new middle school;
• The current cafeteria and Home Ec and middle school will become the new cafeteria and kitchen and library and culinary arts and technology lab;
• The CTE building will be built; it was not part of the base bid that was accepted at the board meeting. Final placement and and building cost will be determined soon.

Bond remodel project manager Liz Leroy said, “Tiger Construction has extensive school work experience and excellent references.” Board member Tony Ghazel said, ” Tiger was not just the low bidder, but it is highly qualified, with very good recommendations.”

The bid was for $ 7,935,000. Other bids were from:

• Colacurcio Brothers of Blaine, Wash. for $ 8,700,000.
• Bayley Construction of Mercer Island, Wash. for $ 8,750,000.

All bids included the same subcontractors:

• Sitework: Orcas Excavator
• Roofing: Meyer Brothers
• HVAC: Diamond B
• Plumbing: Diamond B
• Electrical: High Mountain Electric

The bond amount agreed to by voters also includes a state-required contingency fund of seven percent. Further bond discussions will be held at a May 8 meeting of the School Board.

The board also adopted the required 2014-02 Minimum Educational Plan which specifies the minimum number of teachers in each building or program for 2014-15. By law, teachers must be notified of any possible cuts to positions by May 15. The plan projects enrollment in Sept. 2014 of 750 FTE students:

• with 361 in brick and mortar school;
• 382.5 in OASIS K-12;
• 6.5 in Waldron School.

The Minimum Education Plan calls fro a reduction of 4.9 Full-time Educations (FTE)  in district:

• 4.02 in OASIS K-12;
• .88 in Waldron.

Superintendent Barbara Kline noted that at this time last year, the FTE teacher reduction was 16 FTE. She added that it is expected the OASIS staff will be reinstated. Along those lines, OASIS teacher Bruce Orchid provided the following information as of April 15 this year:

• There are 408 K-8 OASIS students
• 68 high school in OASIS today (Orchid)
• 338of those student have re-enrolled in next year’s program
• there is a waiting list of 40 for the K-8 OASIS program for next year.

Orchid noted there are also a number of pre-school siblings in OASIS families that may be expected to enroll in OASIS in coming years.

In related news, the Board approved a resolution to accept the 2013-2015 OSPI Energy Grant Award of $457,600.00. This grant will provide upgrading and remodeling the “Old Gym.” These improvements were not included in the budget for the 2012 bond of $11.9 million. Acceptance of the grant requires that the school district provide matching funds.