From friends with whom I correspond I learned that there is another bond issue for building upgrades before the public in the next couple weeks. As a former member of the board of directors of OISD, I wanted to volunteer a couple of comments in response to recent letters I’ve read which are negative in tone.
One of the common themes that appears in opposition of bond issues is that these efforts are somehow arbitrary or loosely put together. The reality is that the board of directors meets regularly and publicly across the entire year. Building issues, in particular, develop over years and their recommendations are the result of a long process of investigation resultant in recommendations from a variety of professional and certified sources. It is not a casual process.
One author suggested even that public education is not really necessary, since his children had found college entrance without it. Yes, some people get along without a formal education. Prior to our current education model, most did not. The irony of it all is that it is thanks to universal public education that our debates about the most desirable forms of education are possible. Prior to that illiteracy was the norm.
In terms of need, it should be considered that Orcas is not a single island. It is an amalgam of three land masses that were pushed together via geologic shifts. San Juan County is rife with more than a dozen seismic faults. Major quakes happen every couple hundred years. We’re overdue, and the current middle school building is demonstrably substandard.
And, finally, there are the arguments that relate to the current economy and the “mood” of voters regarding the expense. Virtually everyone on Orcas has a relationship to that school. It’s where my kids went roller skating in the old gym 30 years ago. It has provided space for church and community groups. It is where local baseball groups had their games. And it also serves as a center of non-classroom educational services for the community. In hard times we still take care of those things which are necessary and central to our lives. That school is one of those things.
Greg Thomsen
Orcas Island
