Latest Capital Facilities Plan --- more portables?!?

The school district posted the attachments to the July 16 agenda today. Included is the new Capital Facilities Plan, which shows what the district expects in terms of enrollment and building use, during the next six years. It is on the action agenda for board approval Thursday. To read it, click here: Bellingham Schools Boarddocs , open the 7-16-09 regular meeting item at the top left, and find the plan under "action items."

The district is expecting to rubber stamp this "plan." I encourage everyone to read it carefully, and come to the meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m., and comment on it. It is your only chance to have a say about this document, which will steer major changes in the district for at least the next six years.

Of concern:

* The plan expects enrollment to increase to more than 12,000 students at the end of this six year period. The last six-year plan also expected big enrollment boosts, but was 1,000 students off. The district admitted this in March, but is continuing to insist that the district is growing, while enrollment has actually been flat for years.

* The plan continues to push forward with building a new elementary school on Aldrich Road, to be open in the fall of 2012. The reasoning for this, again, is to get kids out of portables.

* The district is counting Lowell's capacity in its ability to house children, but there is no language in the document about when Lowell will reopen.

* A chart shows the capacity of each school and its "relocatables," or portable classrooms (picture a metal box in a parking lot). The numbers do not reflect the actual number of students in the classrooms. For instance, Larrabee's portables have a capacity of 66, but 90 students were in the portables in 2008-09.

* Classrooms have a capacity of 22.5 students for elementary grades; however, this last year, nearly every class at Happy Valley exceeded 25 students.

* The plan then calls for the need for buying more portables in the future:
"The District inventory includes 41 relocatables (portable classrooms), with 28 available for regular classroom use. Based on enrollment projects and planned permanent facilities, the District may need to acquire additional relocatables during the next six-year period. As enrollment fluctuates, relocatables provide flexibility to accommodate immediate needs and interim housing. The use and need for relocatables will be balanced against program needs."

* Table 2-B on page 14, shows the school capacities. It shows middle school total capacity falling when the new Shuksan Middle School opens this fall, and it looks like the capacity for middle and high school students is seriously deficient.

These are just a few of the issues that need to be questioned BEFORE the school board passes this plan, and puts in motion changes the people of Bellingham don't support.

Another item on the agenda regards updating the district's communications policies. Read that carefully, too. It highlights the importance of TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION as a key component of the district's responsibility. So far, we've had no two-way communication, so please, insist on it. Other districts do it. Ferndale just passed its budget yesterday, after many community meetings in which board members, administrators and community members SPOKE WITH ONE ANOTHER, decided against closing a school to save costs, and FOUND SOLUTIONS TOGETHER.

See you Thursday night!