Editorial: Let’s work together to find agreeable school solutions

Published 8:50 am Sunday, May 1, 2022

What can be learned and salvaged from the crushing defeat of the Ocean Beach school bond proposal?

It was, first of all, a reminder of how true it is that pursuing a perfect solution shouldn’t discourage us from finding other good outcomes.

There’s no getting around the price. At a final cost including interest of around $145 million, the bond was “too big an ask” at the present time. In some ways this area is wealthier than it once was, particularly for those who own rapidly appreciating homes. But many fear being eventually unable to keep up with property taxes and other expenses, particularly while incomes are failing to keep pace with inflation.

School consolidation remains a deeply divisive topic. Most residents like the feeling of energy that comes with having a school in their own town or nearby. Beyond the important symbolism of being a focal point for community life, a school means routinely seeing children in parks and on local sidewalks. They and their parents shop in neighborhood stores. It’s easier to attend school-related activities. And children form deep ties with their school-centered hometowns that often bring them back to raise families of their own.

A unified school campus in a relatively safe place holds lots of intellectual appeal for the many reasons explained during the bond campaign. But in a district measuring something close to 30 miles end to end, lots of families would be seriously put out by a single facility located in one corner. They are somewhat reconciled to distance and inconvenience when it comes to kids in middle and high school, but permanently guaranteeing a long commute for younger children was too much.

Nor were many convinced by seismic and tsunami arguments. This partly has to do with our human inability to grasp the reality of awful threats separated by hundreds of years. But it also reflected a quite accurate assessment that students are in school only about 15% of the time. When a subduction zone earthquake happens, there is only about a one-in-six chance that children will be at school. Even conceding that it would be good to have strong campus buildings to serve as evacuation/triage facilities, as a practical matter, few survivors might be able to reach Ilwaco from outlying areas.

So what now? After such a resounding loss, it’s important to take time — a considerable time — to formulate a new plan. This is not a situation in which simple adjustments in the proposal will mollify or convince anything like the required 60% of voters. It’s time to see how well the Legislature continues to fund seismic retrofits for endangered schools, and whether the Wahkiakum School District’s lawsuit succeeds in forcing equitable statewide facilities funding.

Eventually — maybe five years from now — it might be time to try again, but with an approach that makes everyone a winner. In the case of Ocean Park and Long Beach, this might look something like the solution found at Ocosta Elementary outside Westport, where a gym was built to withstand a severe quake and shelter at least 2,000 people. A multipurpose structure has more appeal than purpose-built vertical evacuation towers, which could sit unused for decades or even centuries. Less expensively, children and grownups in all our low-lying communities would benefit from well-engineered evacuation pathways leading to safer locations.

In the intermission before another bond attempt, it’s vital that local voters continue our long record of support for the shorter-term levies that help pay for maintenance, operations and technology upgrades. District citizens need to see tangible signs that existing facilities are being well maintained. If there really isn’t enough money in the current budget to keep up with wear and tear and winter weather, we need to figure out better ways to bridge the gap.

Last but not least, and with full awareness that local family circumstances are often challenging, we all need to do a better job preparing students for success — success that doesn’t necessarily involve college. All students with college aspirations should finish high school with the skills they need to go forward toward degrees. But there are many other paths to good lives, and our schools need to be a gateway to all of them. Understanding and acting upon this will better serve students and win future bond votes.