Some good news for Sequim school advocates came on May 8, though a host of parents and teachers continue to plead with school board directors and administrators to halt a plan to reconfigure the district’s elementary schools.
Sequim School Board directors approved a reduction-in-force resolution at their regular May 8 meeting that came with no actual staff reductions, as a number of staffers have left the district or are taking a year off — helping the district handle a $1.6 million budget shortfall for the 2023-24 academic year.
District officials last week said the staffing changes — 11 retirements, five resignations and eight leave-of-absences notices — allowed Sequim to keep all remaining classified staffers for next year.
Those positions will be “collapsed”; meaning, those positions no longer exist unless enrollment growth demands it, said Victoria Balint, the district’s director of human resources.
“I feel like I get to bring the good news,” she said.
The information came following more than an hour of public comment, both in-person and from meeting attendees on Zoom — the vast majority of them decrying the district’s decision to reconfigure Greywolf and Helen Haller elementary schools from two K-5 buildings to schools offering prekindergarten-grade 2 (Greywolf) and grades 3-5 (Helen Haller), starting this fall.
Protests, concerns continue
Many opposing the shift filled the Sequim High School Library on May 8, holding sings that read “Keep K-5,” “Delay” and “Hear Us, See Us K-5.”
Sherri Burke, a third grade teacher at Greywolf Elementary School, on May 8 called the announcement of the realignment one of the most “misleading” and “confusing” experiences the school’s staff has experienced.
“Why is this getting pushed through so quickly?” Burke asked. “Why was the community and teachers not been brought in on this? We have been displaced and broken apart. Why?”
Burke said she is not necessarily asking for the reconfiguration plan to be canned, but to slow the process down.
Parent Angela Pinnell said she’s had a lack of good communication from the school board and school district about the change.
“The lack of response is showing us is that you are not making these decisions for the people who are impacted the most,” Pinnell said.
Sequim High School student Georgia Bullard said that, while board directors seem to have approved the reconfiguration plan with the best intentions, she and others have not heard adequate responses to these concerns about the details of the shift, particularly transportation issues.
“Slow down, take some time talk to the community,” Bullard urged the board.
“It’s not too late to re-vote, [it’s] not too late to do the best possible thing for our students.”
Linda Benson, a Sequim resident, urged parents and staff to support young students by helping them adapt to the elementary school reconfiguration. She said the changes proposed are only scary for students if adults give them that message.
“The more flexible they learn to be as kids, the more successful they will be in facing the challenges of life,” Benson said. “It’s up to the adults in the room … to work together for the benefit for all of our students.”
Most speakers during the open comment portion of the meeting, however, were decidedly against the reconfiguration plan or against what they deemed too short of a timeline to make the shift.
Cricket Hagan, a first grade teacher at Helen Haller Elementary, said she’s been part of a realignment at a previous district, and that it took a year and seven months of planning to get students, parents and staff on board.
“There were still problems,” she said. “I feel this needs to be delayed.
“This is not because of me not wanting to move my classroom. Please don’t put it on the backs of teachers, that we are resistant to change.
“The children in our classrooms has everything to do with it. I will move every one of my elementary friends if it was best for kids.”
Hagan added, “We don’t adopt a curriculum in three months, and that’s minor compared to what we’re doing.”
“We don’t believe [this change] is educationally beneficial for our children,” Brad Woolf said.
“I’m feeling like most of the parents are in the same boat.”
Parent Derrick Eberle, who said he has four children under the age of 7, said he supports a previous speaker’s suggestion of a survey.
“I think at would be a slam dunk for the board, too,” he said. “[This plan] can’t be done well in the time that’s left.”
Sequim school district superintendent Regan Nickels said the district has created a tab on the district website (sequimschools.org) that is updated with new information about the reconfiguration process — including details about “Meet the Principal Night” events for families who have students attending different schools.
She said the district will also send out information in each weekly school newsletter.
“We are certainly aware people are curious about our progress,” Nickels said at the May 8 meeting.
Classrooms will be available for teachers to move in and out of by Aug. 7, though Nickels said she doesn’t expect staff to begin on that date.
Enrollment drops
Balint and Darlene Apeland, the school district’s director of business operations, gave a quick overview of the Sequim School District’s budget draft and a shortfall that runs about $1.6 million. Along with other cuts, the district is proposing a reduction in two full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions from the administration office, saving the district about $287,000, and eight FTEs from schools, about $1.02 million in savings.
Board directors approve the 2023-24 budget in August.
The school district was able to retain staff, district officials said, thanks to a significant number of retirements, resignations and leave-of-absences. Board directors on May 8 approved resignations of two teachers from Helen Haller Elementary School — Herta Fairbanks and Melissa Novak — as well as one-year leave-of-absences from Helen Haller teacher Jaysa Sandell and Greywolf teacher Xisa Dove, Sequim Middle School teacher Holly Wright and Sequim High teacher Riesa Sumida.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sequim schools had about 2,730 student FTEs, but that figure dropped precipitously to about 2,500 in 2020-2021.
In previous meetings and interviews, Sequim School District officials noted that they were able to keep most staff employed during the enrollment drop — the district receives funding based on student enrollment — using general funds and getting assistant through federal funding.
Enrollment has recovered, but only slightly, to about 2,550 FTEs this school year.
Apeland said the district is projecting 2,300 students this year — 480 at Greywolf, 529 at Helen Haller, 569 at Sequim Middle School and 722 at Sequim High School — plus 65 students in Running Start.
Initial budget estimates have the district dipping into the general fund for about $157,000, Apeland said,leaving the district with a little more than $3 million in the general fund that meets the district’s policy for at least 4 percent of a budget remaining in the fund.
Gym floor moves up list
Nickels said that because efforts to fix some of the school campus’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems have hit a supply chain snag, the district is going head with a replacement of the Sequim High School gymnasium floor.
The replacement is part of the district’s four-year, $15 million capital projects levy passed by voters in February 2021.
“That’s something I’ve heard about since I arrived here,” Nickels said of the floor project.
Other projects, some of which have already been started, include: district-wide installation of security cameras and upgrades of computer network and voice systems; a replacement of roof, heating system and sewer connection at Greywolf Elementary; installation of fire alarm system at Helen Haller Elementary; a replacement of roof, gym floor repair, cafeteria floor replacement at Sequim Middle School; a replacement of heating system, science and career/technical education classroom upgrade and modernization and roof replacement among other things at Sequim High School, and replacement of the track and restrooms at the Sequim athletic stadium.
