The need for refurbished and modernized classrooms — and more of them — is imperative, Sequim School Board directors agree. But putting a plan before voters may not happen as soon as the general election in November.

After a week of considering details of a $55 million school construction bond, board members got their first chance to discuss the plan in an open meeting July 27 at a board workshop, and said the proposal addresses many of the concerns both proponents and opponents had in four ballot proposals that have failed since April 2014.

But board members also expressed concern that a $55 million bond plan price tag may be too steep for voters and that a contentious November general election might not be the best time to run it.

“This is probably the best proposal we’ve seen,” director Mike Howe said. “(But) I’m concerned about the dollar amount going to the voters. I know this community will support the right bond at the right time with the right approach. I’m not sure this is it. (And) I don’t know if we have enough time to sell this to the community.”

Added director Heather Short, “November makes me very nervous. I want it to be something smart and I want it to pass.”

School board president Bev Horan said earlier this week that Sequim directors want to take a closer look at both details and timing of the proposed bond and the district’s EP&O (Educational Programs and Operations) levy, which they hope to renew in February of 2017.

“That (EP&O levy) is a huge amount of our budget going directly to our students — we can’t put that in jeopardy,” Horan said.

“If we don’t (propose a bond in November), we’ll probably need to wait another year,” board vice president Robin Henrikson said at the July 27 meeting.

“I’d rather have something lesser that passes than a $55 million (bond proposal) that doesn’t pass. (And) I’m looking for a bond proposal we can all support.”

After deliberating a number of individual items in the proposal, most board directors concurred that they’d rather take time to consider the proposed bond’s dollar figure and plausibility of it passing on a general election ballot.

“It sounds like November is off the table,” Henrikson said, noting that more time could give board members time to be unified in a plan.“Then we can put together a plan we can feel good about,” she said. “I think we can have a timeline for projects. We can come up with a plan; now we have the time to do it.”

The idea of putting the $55 million package on hold, however, rankled Sequim schools superintendent Gary Neal.

“I’m embarrassed. I’m disappointed and I need some clarity. Why did you run me through this if you wanted to make a plan?” Neal asked. “I’m angry at this point. You sent me on this mission. How long do you want to push this out? … What did I just spend five months doing?”

Howe responded, “It’s not the number, it’s the plan. If it keeps failing, that’s what’s embarrassing. We have failed four times on this plan. This may be the right number. I want this board to look at options.”

A $55 million plan

Voters have rejected four school construction bond proposals in the past two years, including a $154 million package in April 2014, a $49.2 million bond plan in February 2015, a $49.3 million plan in November 2015, and the most recent bond proposal, a $54 million proposal on Feb. 10, 2016.

Each of the three recent proposals gained at least 57 percent of the overall vote but fell short of the 60 percent super majority required for passage.

“On Feb. 10, at that time, in my head, I was already starting to put together ideas,” Neal said. “The first thing that popped into my mind was an academic or educational program: ‘What is the educational piece and how does this (capital projects plan) fit?’”

The newest bond plan marks a shift from the four previous, in that is focused on providing educational opportunities rather than primarily space and security issues, Neal said.

“The District desires to develop an academic program that integrates the curriculum with the Washington State K-12 Learning Standards at each of the elementary and middle schools in support of high school STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) or pathway programs with culminating courses to prepare students for careers or college,” the bond plan reads.

The proposal also includes funding for rooms and significant upgrades to the current Helen Haller Elementary School and, in an effort to relieve overcrowding districtwide and immediately at Helen Haller, adds a new 14-classroom facility to be constructed next to the choir, band and gymnasium facility across from the Sequim Community School.

Previous proposals sought to build a new elementary school east of the main district campus.

Four classrooms would be for kindergarten students while four others would be dedicated for special education classrooms and the rest for general K-5 education. The new facility also would have administrative spaces where parents and visitors sign in, provide office,work and meeting space for teachers and staff, and add a nurse’s office for the students.

“Every year something doesn’t get done, our kids fall further and further behind,” Neal said. “They are in a dire spot right now. I don’t have much tolerance for that.”

The Helen Haller facility, school officials have said previously, is plagued by inadequate space for existing student population — 619 as of June 2016 — inadequate security and a lack of access to bathroom facilities.

“Helen Haller, where my daughter goes, is horrid,” Howe said. “It’s unsafe.”

Upgrades at Helen Haller are expected to cost about $7 million, while the new 14-classroom facility for existing and future K-5 students is expected to cost about $12.3 million.

The plan sees its biggest expenditure at Sequim High School, where $25.1 million in costs is planned to add a two-story structure math and science building to replace six portables now housing the math department and an aging building now housing four science labs.

The plan would add a band and choir room to the main campus — SHS students walk across campus and Fir Street to get to existing band and choir rooms — and would turn four current classrooms into engineering/technology classroom, add STEM classrooms, shift Sequim High School administration offices and add security upgrades across the SHS campus.

The plan also includes $5.5 million in classroom, security and utility improvements at Greywolf Elementary School and $1.5 million in classroom and security upgrades at Sequim Middle School.

“It’s our responsibility to this community and more importantly to the students to provide them with safe buildings (and) tools for 21st-century learning,” board director Jim Stoffer said. “I think this proposal is … providing those tools.”

In all, the bond proposal would cost $55 million plus interest: $59.3 million in original costs, minus $4.3 million in state funding provided to the district for tearing down the unused portion of the Sequim Community School and building new classrooms.

“I really like the fact we aren’t building a new school, but we are repurposing so many (buildings),” Short said. “That to me is what you do when you don’t have enough to make ends meet. I think that will speak to the public.”

‘Based on 36 years’

Neal said the $55 million bond proposal plan is substantiated by four public listening sessions, multiple “coffee chats” and individual conversations, plus a survey of 400 district residents completed recently by CFW Advisory Services LLC.

(See survey results online on the main page of the school district’s website at www.sequim.k12.wa.us.)

Ernest Flores, president of CFW Advisory Services LLC, summarized his company’s findings on July 18, noting that of the 400 residents surveyed in June, about 68 percent with a +/- of 5 percent would support a $54 million bond — similar to February 2016 proposal.

“This isn’t CFW’s (plan),” Neal clarified on July 27. “This is my plan of what we need to do for our students.”

“This is based on 36 years of my profession. My background is (in part) articulating educational programs,” he said.

“Those pieces align (in this proposal),” Neal said. “It’s a message of hope I have for these kids.”

Horan said she appreciated having an outside source like to get a new look on the capital projects issue.

“We looked at using all of our facilities,” she said. “(The plan) uses those buildings. We see that we can (repurpose) buildings.”

The recommendation detailed in the bond proposal compiled by CFW Advisory Services LLC is to put the issue before voters this November.

Were the board to place the bond on general election ballots, they’d need to have a resolution drafted and to the Clallam County elections office by Aug. 2.

“This is what the community, in several capacities, is telling me what they will support,” Neal said. “I think the community members are saying the same thing the survey says.”

“We can’t go another year without this,” he said. “I want a resolution ready by Monday (Aug. 1).”

But board members balked at the idea.

“I don’t think this particular package will pass in November (and) I’m tired of feeling rushed and pushed,” Howe said.

Howe urged the board to take their time over as many as three or four meetings, to consider other ways to fund construction — from capital projects and technology levies to legal action that could free up state timber sale funds or other state funding sources.

“I’ve been in education a long time — I can’t depend on the state for any money,” Henrikson said. “I think we should keep advocating and keep trying.”

“I don’t want to cut anything in this,” Short said. “I appreciate all the work Gary and (CFW Advisory Services LLC) put into this. I’m just uneasy at $55 million.”

Instead of running the bond proposal in November, board directors said they may consider a February 2017 bond plan. However, several board members noted, that’s the same time they had hoped to run a special election to reaffirm the district’s EP&O (Educational Programs and Operations) levy.

“A lot of people vote for one (proposal) and not the other,” Neal noted.

To have a bond before voters in February, the board would have to approve a resolution by Dec. 17.

Stoffer pointed out two positions on the school board are up for re-election in November of 2017 and the board may not want to run a bond then either.

“None of us are experts in this,” Stoffer said. “We gave our superintendent direction. This is our job, to express those needs. We are failing that as a board.”

Henrikson up for president position

The Sequim School Board may be getting a change of leadership even before its customary in-house leadership elections in December.

Robin Henrikson, elected by voters to the school board in November 2015 and the board vice president, is looking to switch assignments with current board president Bev Horan. The switch will be up for board approval at the next board meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15.

Henrikson has been leading several board meetings after Horan was unable to attend because of an illness. The board approved putting the item up for discussion and possible adoption at its Aug. 1 meeting.

Reach Sequim Gazette editor Michael Dashiell at mdashiell@sequimgazette.com.