Rebirth of student protest in 2008?
COMPARISONS:

When the Oak Harbor School District runs a levy next March, it will have to pass by a 60 percent majority. However, officials hope the requirement will change in coming years to a simple majority.

That is one of the priorities communicated to State Rep.-elect Chris Strow during a Friday morning meeting. He met with school officials and several members of the Oak Harbor School Board.  “Sixty percent is incredibly hard to get anything passed,” said board member Kathy Chalfant.
Superintendent Rick Schulte pointed out the school district doesn’t have a good history of passing voter measures, due partly to the 60 percent requirement.  To change the majority requirement for a bond or levy, an amendment needs to be made to the Washington State Constitution. Last year the measure passed the House but failed in the Senate.

Strow, the Republican from Clinton who beat Coupeville Democrat Nancy Conard for the seat vacated by Barry Sehlin, said he hasn’t made any decision whether to support a simple majority, though he seems to be partly against it.  “The supermajority issue is going to be a tough one for me,” Strow said. He said he would be willing to support a simple majority for operations levies because it would help meet needs of teachers. However with the money involved for bonds, which funds capital projects, the proposal should show widespread community support.

“Building community consensus behind any spending initiative is a high priority,” Strow said. “People who vote for schools have to be convinced of the need.”  He added he’s committed to improving the economy in the state, which would put more people to work and mean more taxpayers to support educational programs.  Board member Dave McCool pointed out that waiting for the economy to improve doesn’t help solve current problems.

“I don’t think waiting until the economy is running on all eight cylinders is a good solution,” McCool said.   Other issues touched upon during the meeting surround funding.  Schulte and Peter Szalai, president of the Oak Harbor Education Association, advocated for full funding of initiatives 728 and 732 which call for smaller class sizes and cost of living increases for teachers.  School officials also emphasized the need for more funding for special education programs.

“We have more and more kids qualifying as special ed,” said Kathy Jones, board president.  Schulte said that the current structure for special ed funding doesn’t take into account the severity of the disabilities students have. He added that the district is also finding it more difficult to find staff to teach special ed students.  Schulte also talked about unfunded mandates that the school district has to fund. He highlighted the student learning plans that design a program to help ninth graders pass the WASL next year. There are 280 freshmen that qualify for the individualized plan but the school district hasn’t received additional staffing to help develop those plans.

The stadium bleachers are another issue that came up during the hour-long meeting. The Oak Harbor School District is trying to receive some emergency funding to buy bleachers to replace the ones that were torn down.  Schulte pointed out that the Federal Way School District received similar funding when its bleachers burned down.

Strow said he’s supportive of the school district’s efforts to receive such funding.  In addition to meeting with school district officials, Strow also visited several schools Friday. He spent the morning touring Hillcrest Elementary School, Oak Harbor Middle School and Oak Harbor High School.
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, was scheduled to participate in the meeting but had to cancel for family reasons.

Should plans be approved, students at Oak Harbor High School will see major changes during the 2005-2006 school year.
Officials want to divide the student body into two academies and institute a new schedule which will make for longer class periods while allowing students to take more classes.

Officials hope the change will increase the graduation rate, give students a better chance at meeting state requirements, and better prepare them for life after high school.  However, some parents have concerns about whether the plan is best for their children. They aired these concerns during a meeting Monday evening at the Oak Harbor High School library.  Parent concerns range from whether the increased class load could overwhelm students to whether there is time to make such a major change by next school year.

“We need to have a clear understanding of your goals and how you’re going to get this accomplished,” said Cheryl Gordon, a parent who has two children currently attending the high school.  She was also concerned that the additional classes could increase the workload and overwhelm students who are taking advanced placement classes.  Plans call for a two-day schedule where students will take four classes, alternating every other day. That allows student to take eight classes compared to the current six classes.

The so-called “block” scheduling allows for 90-minute classes that officials hope will allow teachers time for more in-depth lessons.  Dale Leach, assistant principal at the high school, said the extended time in class provides a chance for a more activity-based learning opportunities.  Adding two more classes to the schedule provides more options for students.  However, one parent pointed out that the new schedule reduces the total number of hours students spend in class throughout the course of a school year.

“I don’t want them to lose hours, I want them to gain hours,” said Tom Trepanier, a math teacher and parent who will have children attending the high school in coming years.  Should the plan be approved, students will spend approximately 120 hours in each class over the course of the school year as opposed to 149 hours currently.  Principal Dwight Lundstrom said the time difference declines if actual teaching time in a course period is considered, since classes are 90 minutes in duration.  Another parent was concerned that the extra classes would affect the work the school has done in recent years in making the curriculum more challenging.

“I think Oak Harbor High School has come a long way to a more rigorous curriculum,” said Susan Wagner, who has two children attending the high school. She was concerned that the new schedule would dilute the curriculum.  Block scheduling is just one part of the plan to change the school next fall.  Officials also aim to develop two “academies” for students. The first is a pre-WASL academy to help ensure students are ready to pass the 10th grade state test which is a graduation requirement for the current freshman class.  The second academy, for juniors and seniors, is a career academy where students have declare a major that would help them prepare for life after high school.

“We want students to move through high school with a clear idea of where they are heading,” Lundstrom said.  He added that students are going to need some kind of post high school training whether that would be a technical school or a four-year university.  The academies stem from the recently instituted Islands Program where the freshman class is separated into different “islands.”

Freshmen take their core classes together which allows teachers to better monitor student progress.  The Islands Program is credited with reducing the number of students who are failing at least one class. That puts freshmen in a better situation to be successful in later years.  “Kids that get behind in ninth grade are at more risk to drop out than any other group,” Leach said.

Another parent, Lynne Vagt, cautioned that the current students’ education shouldn’t be affected while the plan is implemented in coming years.
Wagner complained that a Dec. 20 meeting is a lousy time of the year to hold such an event.  Lundstrom said he plans to meet with more parent groups in the future.

The public will get another chance to comment on the academy plan during the Jan. 10 school board meeting.  Lundstrom said that for the block schedule and academies plan to be implemented next school year, he needs school board approval by the end of February.

Because costs for a new high school in Coupeville inflated, the Coupeville School Board decided to shrink the school Monday evening to save money.  The school board reduced the size of the high school by 3,775 square feet. That reduction reduces costs by approximately $870,000.
The cuts include reducing the auxiliary gym by 1,200 square feet and eliminating space for special education programs and a computer lab. Those will remain in the Annex Building.

Other cuts to the new school include eliminating the student store and some storage space.  A list of 10 potential cuts was presented to both the school board and the Educational Specifications Committee Monday. Ultimately, the board decided to make cuts that the Ed Spec committee said would be the easiest to make.  Board members Mitchell Howard, Kathleen Anderson, Don Sherman, Deborah Turner and Carol Bishop unanimously approved the cuts.

“We felt we needed to honor their decisions and we felt they needed a voice in the process,” said Superintendent Bill Myhr. Ten members of the Ed Spec committee attended the meeting to examine potential cuts. Those members were Anderson, Howard, Tom Eller, Chic Merwine, Phyllis Textor, Jill Usher, Guy Whittaker, Janet Wodjenski, Myhr and Gary Goltz.  School district officials had been reeling over the past several weeks since they discovered inflation is rapidly increasing the cost of construction materials. Officials had originally calculated a 3 percent inflation rate. However, in the months since that calculation was made, the rate climbed to approximately 12 percent.  Inflation is the reason high school costs climbed to approximately $23 million, which is $3 million more than expected.

Voters approved a $22.8 million bond last May to fund construction of the high school and a variety of other projects including a covered play area at the elementary school, a new baseball field and upgrades at the middle school and high school.  With the cuts to the high school, the extra money frees up the school district to undertake other high priority projects including new playground equipment at the elementary school.

Because the high school would use up the majority of the bond dollars, officials will wait on other projects until the high school bid is complete and the school district knows exactly how much it will receive in state matching money.  The Coupeville School District is estimating it will receive an additional $2 million in state matching money. However, the district won’t receive that money until high school construction is complete.

“The state doesn’t pay their share until we’ve spent all our money,” school board member Kathleen Anderson said during the meeting.  Goltz said there are too many unanswered questions about the construction amount, inflation and from state funding to commit to other projects.

“We’re just trying to be conservative with community money,” Goltz said.  He added that the other projects will be addressed when he finds out how much money is available.  The board also made a commitment to complete all projects included in the bond proposal.

“This was a bond that promised all our populations some relief,” Myhr said.  With the cuts approved Monday evening, officials can go about designing the new facility, a process that will be complete by fall 2005.  During that time, school district officials have to decide how to accommodate the baseball and softball teams. The new high school will be built on the current baseball field.  Plans originally called for a new soccer and baseball facility to be built on school district property on Terry Road.

However, funding concerns put the $840,000 project on hold.  Myhr said he started talking with officials from Island County and from the Oak Harbor School District to find alternate sites for the team.  Goltz said delaying the baseball field does free up money that can be used to build a temporary field. That site could then be converted to a permanent facility at a later date.  Goltz said he didn’t know how such a field would be complete. He has to talk with Island County officials before making any decisions.

“We sure hope the county will step up and help a community in a time of need,” Goltz said.

Coupeville High School officials are concerned.

As they sorted through the results of last year’s WASL tests, they noticed two disconcerting trends: Girls are outperforming boys in every category and low-income students score lower on the test.  In the test sophomores took last spring, 68.8 percent of the boys met the reading standard, while 80 percent of the girls passed. In math, 54.2 percent of the boys passed while 62.5 percent of the girls passed. The largest disparity is in writing where 66.7 percent of the boys passed while 92.5 percent of the girls passed.

“We’re trying to keep a close eye on that,” said Phyllis Textor, principal of Coupeville Middle School and High School. “We don’t have any idea what’s causing it.”  Textor added the disparity between boys and girls at the high school follows a similar trend statewide.  She said staff has been studying the data and are considering looking at how to reach the boys, the opportunities they have and the culture at the high school.

At the middle school girls are scoring better on parts of the test. The disparity between the two sexes isn’t as large, however.  In reading, 70.6 percent of the boys passed the test while 78.8 percent of the girls passed. In math, 52.9 percent of the boys passed the test while 44.2 percent of the girls passed the test. In writing, 70.6 percent of the boys passed the test while 88.5 percent of the girls passed. Textor said that officials may have to look at opportunities available for boys.

She pointed out that the school sends a busload of girls to a career fair at Skagit Valley College every year and the school may have to look at making sure similar opportunities are available for the boys.  In addition to the disparity between the sexes, officials noticed low-income students scored lower on the test than other students. That came as a surprise to some officials.

“The last thing we want to happen is a gap between low-income and high-income,” Textor said.  An example of the disparity between the two groups can be found in math where 29.4 percent of the low-income students passed while 64.8 percent of the non-low-income students passed.
Students enrolled in free or reduced price meals comprise the low-income student category.

Although the she is concerned about the performance of low-income students, last year was the first year the school had such information available so it can’t yet establish a trend.  Textor said the school is locating the low-income students who did well on the WASL to discover why they did better than other students.

She wants to have a solution ready before the numbers of low-income students increase at the high school.  Approximately 21 percent of the students at the high school qualify for free and reduced lunches. That number has stayed fairly consistent in recent years.  However, that number could increase in coming years.

More than 41 percent of the students at Coupeville Elementary School were enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program last year. And that is a rate that has doubled in the past five years.

Make room for another thousand or so Navy personnel and family members on Whidbey Island.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen announced Wednesday that the rumored relocation of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two (VQ-2) from Rota, Spain, to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station will be effective Sept. 30.

“This long-awaited news is great, we’re thrilled,” said Oak Harbor Mayor Patty Cohen.  Oak Harbor residents have been chatting about the possible move for nine to 10 months, as Cohen reckons it. The school board has mulled over the impact on enrollment and real estate agents have been dreaming of more sales.  But it wasn’t official until Wednesday.

“It’s nice when it’s official,” Cohen said. “Our extended family has just been added to.”   Larsen said VQ-2 will bring 408 enlisted personnel and 90 officers to Whidbey Island with a total annual payroll of $33.8 million. That figure is based on an officer’s average salary of $115,582 and average enlisted person’s salary of $57,279.  Tagging along with the Navy personnel will be some 466 spouses and children, and the city hopes to be ready for them.

Cohen said there will be “challenges” revolving around such day-to-day family concerns as affordable housing, daycare, schools and jobs for spouses.  She thinks the housing situation can be solved with help from neighboring towns, such as Coupeville, Anacortes and Mount Vernon. “A 30 minute commute for those from the East Coast, that’s not a bad thing,” Cohen said.  According to Gregor Strohm, real estate columnist for the Whidbey News-Times, as of last month, there were only 234 current active listings for houses and condos on all of Whidbey Island. The average home sale price has increased by 31 percent over the last three years to $229,822.

Cohen said the city and Navy are working together to ease the transition of the newcomers to NAS Whidbey. “The Navy’s paying lots of attention to the public and private sector,” she said.  Rick Schulte, superintendent of Oak Harbor schools, said the new squadron’s impact on school enrollment will be manageable. He estimates there could be as many as 200 kids, but they’ll probably arrive over time and not all will attend Oak Harbor schools. “Families come and go after the squadron comes,” he said.

Oak Harbor’s elementary school enrollment has been declining slightly in recent years so the presence of VQ-2 offspring could stabilize things.
“I’m not expecting any difficulty. We’ve got a few empty elementary classrooms,” Schulte said. “We could hire some teachers.”

Handling another squadron of reconnaissance planes at NAS Whidbey won’t tax the base’s capabilities, said Capt. Syd Abernethy, base commander. VQ-2, like its sister squadron VQ-1 already based at Whidbey, consists of Aries II and P3 Orion aircraft.  “It’ll be a natural transition,” Abernethy said Thursday. “We’ll set up a detachment site almost immediately.” The crews and their families will arrive over a period of months.

The move seems to secure the base’s future for the long term, coming only a few weeks after Whidbey escaped being included in the latest Base Realignment and Closure process.  Still, questions remain. Mayor Cohen noted that successor aircraft to the base’s two mainstays, the electronic warfare Prowlers and the reconnaissance P-3 Orions, are in the pipeline.

“There are still a lot of unknowns about the long-term permanent mission at the air station,” Cohen said. “We want to sit down and talk about the successors to the Prowlers and P-3’s.”  Abernethy declined to address those specific issues, but in general terms painted a positive picture of the base’s future. “We have viable missions and a great partnership with the community. There’s a bright future for Whidbey,” he said.

Rep. Larsen said VQ-2’s move from Spain to Whidbey is aimed at reducing overseas base operations and support. “The military wanted to do this and make other moves consistent with its global defense posture,” he said. “It’s great news for the local economy and cements NAS Whidbey as a central hub for naval aviation.”