School Board Votes to Ask for Bond in August

At a special Meeting of the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Board on Thursday, March 11, it was decided to submit the district’s Capital Bond to the voters again this August.

The decision followed discussion among the board members on the advisability of putting the matter to the electorate in late April. They agreed an April vote would require a significant cut to the $35 million, 25-year bond amount proposed in the Feb. 9 election, which failed to gain the required 60 percent approval vote.

Board members listened to Bond Architect Butch Reifert who proposed removing the track and field, tennis court resurfacing, and elementary school window replacement from the work specified in the bond. If the bond amount was reduced to under $30 million, Board Member Keith Whitaker said that it would be feasible to reduce the term of the bond to 20 years, thereby saving $18 million in interest.

Board President Scott Lancaster expressed his opposition to an April ballot, saying “ We don’t have public and staff input as to how cuts will affect [educational] programs.

“From the get-go, we’ve said we’re not going to set ourselves up to do what happened in the past, and that’s what would happen if we start fudging with the numbers in a one-hour meeting that’s taken us four years to get to.”

Whitaker commented, “It looks like we’re resigning ourselves to not starting work on [school repairs] this summer.”

When the board invited a short period of public comment, teacher Kari Schuh said, “We know the buildings are failing; they’ve reached the end of their life.”

Following a motion to hold the election in April, Whitaker and Sutton, who favored the motion, were outvoted by Lancaster, Tony Ghazel, and Janet Brownell. The Board then passed a motion to vote on the School Bond in August.

The amount and terms of the proposed bond will be decided upon by the board by June 1.