To the editor:

Matt Simms’ viewpoint (South Whidbey Record, Oct. 16) urges a no vote on the upcoming school bond as a strategy to force the school board to change its decision to close the Langley Middle School. Just plain wrong on the facts, he places adult sensibilities ahead of the best interests of children, inviting the adults of South Whidbey to play the game of chicken with our kids’ future.

Let’s get the facts straight. In July 2009, the school board, after three years of study and community input, voted to consolidate the middle school on the high school campus. Far from turning a deaf ear to the Long Range Facilities Use Committee or the community, the school board listened, consulted and made a difficult decision.

The decision to consolidate the middle school students on the high school campus was made for sound financial reasons — the reduction of operating costs at LMS and the high school in light of the decline in enrollment.

Enrollment has declined by 30 percent over the past 10 years. The high school (one building, 522 students) and Langley Middle School (eight buildings, 396 students) operate at less than half the capacity of each. Subsidizing half-empty buildings at the high school and the middle school, while being forced to lay off teachers to balance the budget, is poor stewardship of scarce resources, not in the best interests of the students, and financially unsustainable.

What about the primary school? The recommendation by the Long Range Facilities Use Committee to “combine grades K-5 into the intermediate building” has been fully implemented. The move, begun in 2008, has been completed.

The cost of the modifications to accommodate the middle school at the high school is $15 million. The cost to modernize LMS has been approximated at $18 million, with a caution that this remodel budget is very preliminary. Modernizing LMS simply does not solve the problem of excess facilities and high operating costs.

The bond does not fund construction of a “new middle school out by the high school,” as Mr. Simms would have you believe. It funds four new classrooms and a gym. The middle school will be sharing eight classrooms, lunchrooms and other common spaces with high school students.

The school board, community members, teachers and district staff have spent hundreds of hours devising a consolidation plan to keep the district financially and educationally sound. The requests of the parents for separation of middle school students, and the requests of middle school staff to provide adequate facilities for their programs, were heard and balanced with the financial realities of our community.

Passage of this bond is important for the future of this community, because it lays solid groundwork for student achievement.

Leigh Anderson

Chairwoman

South Whidbey School Board