As someone who was born and raised in Shoreline, whose father attended the Ronald School, and a Museum board member I feel I must weigh in on the Museum/School District/Bond issue. I am not an attorney and this is my personal opinion.
The School Board began the Shorewood design process without even notifying the Shoreline Historical Museum. Since that time, nearly a year ago, the Museum management has tried to work with the School's management to find a solution to the District's assertion that there wouldn't be enough space on the current Shorewood site to house the Museum in the Ronald School Building and the new Shorewood High School.
The School District has stated that although a prior School Board in 1989 gave a quit-claim deed to the Museum, this deed was invalid due to the fact that proper notification was not made to the State superintendent's office. The reasoning then ran that since the Museum's deed was invalid, the School District owned the building and could evict the Museum at will.
In fact, I personally found a map in the Shoreline School District archives that makes it very clear that the Ronald School was surplused prior to the time notification to the State was necessary. I believe that the 1989 quit-claim deed is valid, that the Museum owns the building, and that the School District has room on the Shorewood site to build the new school and house the Museum in the Ronald School.
The Ronald School is the oldest public building in Shoreline. I believe the building has value as a learning tool. Gutting the building and saving part of the facade to incorporate into a new school would just leave a few bricks. Thousands of school children have gone through the building and been delighted to see the quaint closets, imagine the students in the school rooms, and walk the same stairs that earlier generations walked. All these aspects of the Ronald Building would be lost if it is gutted as the District proposes.
I am very dismayed at having to oppose anything the School District puts up for a vote. I've always trusted them to do what is right, but I don't believe they have been honest with the community or the Museum on this issue, so there seems no alternative but to advocate a "no" vote.
Tracy Tallman
Edmonds
