South Whidbey School District will seek bond, levy in early 2010

The South Whidbey School District will ask South End voters to approve a replacement bond on May 18, district officials have decided.

Though the amount the district will seek hasn’t been determined, the money will fund the district’s consolidation of Langley Middle School and the high school.

In July, the school board voted to close LMS and move grades six, seven and eight no later than September 2012.

In mid-December, the architect on the restructuring committee will take program and staffing ideas and begin designing the remodeling of spaces and renovation of heating, ventilating, communications and security systems. Once the plans are reviewed by the committee and accepted by the board, they will be packaged into a replacement bond issue to be presented to the voters.

“Our enrollment is currently at 1,605 and is predicted to continue to decline, due mostly to the fact that the graduating class for 2010 is larger than the incoming classes of kindergartners have been for the last few years,” said District Superintendent Fred McCarthy.

Voters will face two ballot measures early next year.

On Feb. 9, the district will ask for replacement levies to repair and maintain buildings, to replace the roof on the elementary school and to fix roof leaks on the high school atrium area, as well as to continue to provide technology for increasing student achievement.

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