Letter to the Editor: We need a new school board
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
To the Editor:
The more I learn about what the Shoreline School Board has done the more I’m convinced we need a new board. Instead of respecting the historical, cultural, educational, and tourism values of the Museum in the Historical Landmark Ronald School, the Board excluded the Museum from the planning process (just tenants), instructed architects to prepare two plans, neither leaving the museum where it is, as it is. Then in an eleventh-hour decision; under the guise of creating “parity” between the Shorecrest and Shorewood campuses; promised to move the building 300 feet for the land it sits on.
Rather than displacing the museum and gutting a historical building, why not move the planned campus entrance? Then, redirect the money held to move and repair the Ronald School to build vertical parking above and/or below ground instead.
This would:
- Allow the City Council to meet their vision of having the Shoreline Museum as a cornerstone of the new Shoreline Town Center.
- Leave the museum in residence at the Ronald School Building in the heart of Shoreline where it belongs.
- Help address the campus size parity issue by making more land available for student use.
- Pave less of the new Shorewood Campus thereby decreasing impervious surface and its storm-water impacts.
- Probably cost less overall; and could certainly be done quickly.
- Compliment the Shorewood campus with a local learning resource right next door.
I thought the School Board was wiser than it has demonstrated. I don’t want the Board spending my tax dollars. So long as this board is making the decisions, I will not support another levy. Board members have proven they cannot be trusted.
Boni Biery
Shoreline
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3 comments:
How can you say that an above or below ground parking structure could be done at less cost and more quickly? As a neighbor in the area, I have been assured that strict height limits will be followed. I will NOT be pleased by a hulking parking garage. And building below ground is almost always prohibitively expensive and also not a great idea when high school students are involved.
What if the museum found a new place for its collection? Maybe that would solve this problem.
How much more $$ are we going to have to spend revising plans, thinking up new ways to change things? The district needs the WA state funding for this project, and if the fights continue, that will be jeapordized! They are breaking ground next summer for goodness sake, and if my kid is going to be in those buildings all day 9 months of the year, I would feel a lot better if they had set plans in place before they start constructing. WE NEED THIS SCHOOL!!! People need to get a grip and figure out where this collection of stuff can go that will preserve the history, make it accessible and make it safe!! If it were my collection, I would rather have it in a modern, earthquake resistant building rather that a 100 year old building that was ripped from it's foundation and moved a block away!! It's not like the building will be destroyed if it's incorporated into the school. It will be restored. I still think the museum shouldnt act all shocked that the land is going to be retaken by the school. A new school needed to be built on that tiny campus for 20 years....could they not see this coming?
The Shoreline School Board, knew the implications of its actions, and the community will register its displeasure at the ballot box.
The Shoreline School Board, has not considered the cost savings which could have been achieved by combining the two high schools into one, especially, with its declining enrollment. In the meantime, Shoreline school district property owners, pay for out of boundary students to attend Shoreline schools. In many instances, these students are from districts with much lower school taxes. Translation, we are paying more than we should for school structures, operation, management, and education, because,
the School Board's policy hides the actual enrollment figures regarding out of boundary exceptions from the voters, and as a result,
school population figures and costs are higher than they need to be, and residents who support the Shoreline Historial Museum are told to "get a grip". Next time the Shoreline School Board asks for a new levy or more money.... just vote NO.
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