The numbers are still being crunched over at Orcas School.

At the school board’s budget meeting last week they discussed the possibility of trimming the budget in food service, transportation, and co-curricular activities to meet a $500,00 shortfall for the coming year. The goal is to limit the number of staff reductions; as it stands now, the equivalent of eight teaching positions would need to be cut.

Board members asked Superintendent Barbara Kline to talk with each department head to see how they could begin operating in the black, not in the red as they do now. Some possibilities are offering hot meals only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, serving a meal one day a week that is entirely from the Farm to Cafeteria program, shortening bus routes, and finding on-island mechanics to work on buses.

There will be another budget meeting on Tuesday, June 30, 4 p.m in the school library.

The school has also been interviewing candidates for the K-8 principal position, left vacant by Tom Gobeske. A parent committee, staff committee, and Kline spent last week and the beginning of this week speaking with candidates. They hope to hire a replacement soon.