To the Editor: School District not honest about “levy/bond” measure

Although the Shoreline School Board refers to the School District's February ballot measures as the "levy/bond" issue, this designation is not correct.

There will be three, independent Shoreline School District issues on the ballot, requiring a separate vote on each:

• A four-year replacement of the expiring levy for educational programs, maintenance and operations levy;

• A $150 million bond for the modernization/replacement of Shorecrest and Shorewood High Schools;

• A four-year capital levy for technology improvements and support.

Contrary to the School Board designation noted above, there is no such thing as the "levy/bond" measure. I have supported every levy for the schools ever since we moved to Shoreline, in 1965, and intend to continue to do so this time around as well. However, the bond measure should be rejected.

The Shoreline School District is determined to acquire The Old Ronald School Building, which houses the Shoreline/Lake Forest Part Historical Museum, as part of its "modernization/replacement" project. If the bond passes, the Museum will be terminated. This is a needless loss that the community should not be asked to sustain because there are happy alternatives to what the School Board has blindly, and unreasonably, pursued.

The School District abandoned The Old Ronald School Building over 30 years ago, a building which would have vanished long since were it not for the work of the Museum boards and the donors who financed its preservation and updated it to meet modern safety and access codes. I do not have a firm figure as to the amount of money spent by the Museum, but I do know that it is at least $1.5 million.

As for the bond issue, I cannot in good conscience support it because as it stands now, it means the needless destruction of the Museum which is a rich, unique community cultural and educational asset, something that any reasonable school board would treasure and do everything it could to preserve - just the opposite of what the Shoreline School Board is proposing to do if the bond issue passes.

Elaine Phelps
Shoreline