Student voices were among those heard leading to the Sequim City Councils’ unanimous decision on Jan. 11 to support the Sequim School District’s $54 million construction bond.
“We owe supporting the bond to our students,” Emma Eekhoff, Sequim High School senior, told city councilors. “We deserve better schools and we deserve nicer conditions.”
Eekhoff, the senior editor of the high school’s “The Growl,” has collaborated with her peers in an effort to expose via social media areas of the school district in need of improvement.
Fellow student and high school class president Megan O’Mera reinforced Eekhoff’s comments, noting she’s lived in Sequim her entire life and began school at Helen Haller Elementary. O’Mera described the district’s conditions as simply “despicable.”
“We need that infrastructure to give kids the place that they can feel safe to grow and learn,” she said. “One of the biggest issues that I think needs to be addressed and will be addressed by this bond is the district kitchen. It services every single student in the district and for some kids, school breakfast and lunch are the only meals they see during the week.”
The school improvements general obligation bond slated for the Feb. 8 special election mirrors the November 2015 bond proposal that failed to reach the super majority (60 percent) with 59.57 percent of the vote in favor.
Building a new elementary school, adding more classrooms at Greywolf Elementary and the high school, modernizing the district base kitchen, renovating the 1979 addition of the Sequim Community School and demolishing the 1948 portion are among the projects earmarked.
The overarching reasons driving the identified projects are to improve safety, security, health and efficiency, provide more space and enhance the district’s learning environments and upgrade technology.
“When we look at the 1950s the number of unskilled labor was at 60 percent and that was good enough at that time … that’s now flipped,” Sequim School District Superintendent Gary Neal, said.
Given the growing lack of space and outdated infrastructure limited in its design to support modern learning, Neal is “more than fearful of losing opportunity for our students,” he said.
Although the bond addresses the same projects as the last bond proposal, the price has increased by $5 million.
“The reason behind that price tag increase was because of indications that we’re getting that construction costs are increasing and will continue to increase for at least the next five years,” Brian Lewis, Sequim School District business manager, said. “We also have another complication in front of us in terms of costs and that is the school district has to pay prevailing wages on its public works projects and those prevailing wage rates for Clallam County are the same for King County.”
Deputy Mayor Ted Miller admits he’s been “somewhat ambivalent” in his support of past school bond proposals, but believes this proposal is “totally different.”
“On the last bond proposal the City of Sequim overwhelming supported it,” he said. “We aren’t elected by the voters to tell them that they should increase their real estate taxes — that’s a decision they should make for themselves, but in this case it’s totally different. The voters have already spoken and they’ve said they like this idea and all we have is an inflation adjustment.”
The resolution adopted by the city council aimed at supporting the school bond proposal cites the importance of maintaining high economic standards and providing quality education to Sequim’s children to provide for Sequim’s future. It refers to the city’s adopted Economic Development Core Values and the importance of high quality education in remaining competitive and attracting desired professionals.
County follows suit
The Clallam County Board of County Commissioners followed the city council’s supportive spirit and unanimously passed a resolution on Jan. 12 to support the Sequim School District bond.
“Strong schools are a huge component of the economic development of this county,” county commissioner Mike Chapman said.
If approved in February, the cost to repay the 20-year bonds is 67 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation. Combined with the Educational Programs and Operations Levy, the total local schools tax rate in 2017 would be $2.16 per $1,000 assessed valuation — a rise of about $11.50 per month or about $45 per month total for a taxpayer with $250,000 property.
Ballots for the Feb. 9 special election are mailed Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Other business
The adoption of the resolution in support of the school bond was among a number of unanimous decisions made by the city council Jan. 11. The councilors also agreed on their 2016 committee and liaison assignments and moved to host a public hearing Monday, Jan. 25, on a prosed amendment to utility code provisions.
The proposed change is designed to clarify the consequences of a utility disconnection and to document the potential financial consequences to a future buyer or tenant, according to the report prepared by City of Sequim Attorney Craig Ritchie.
The code amendment would ensure General Facility Charges for water and sewer would be due upon reconnection and allow only the property owner the ability to order a disconnection.
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
