PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School District board decided to postpone a vote on closing Mountain View Elementary School, in light of a court hearing earlier Wednesday.
The board was to vote Wednesday night on closing the elementary school at the end of this school year. That vote will now take place on March 23.
The board’s decision followed Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser’s decision earlier in the day to deny a request for an injunction to stop the vote that night.
Verser said the plaintiffs — Andrew Sheldon, Nora Schauer, Meredith Dances and 100 John and Jane Does — had other remedies available.
“I’m not going to issue an injunction because I think you have a remedies at law to follow up,” Verser said to Sheldon, the lone plaintiff in attendance at the hearing.
“You have put [the school board] on notice tonight, and if you feel they have violated the law by taking a vote then you can go after them.”
Verser said if the law was violated, the School Board and its individual members could be held financially liable.
Dates of vote
Earlier this month, the school board announced it intended to vote on the closure on Feb. 25.
Originally the board planned to vote on March 9 — a full 90 days after it announced the process on Dec. 9.
School Board Chairwoman Beth Young said the move was made in order to make sure at least four of the five board members were present.
On March 9, when the vote was originally scheduled to be held, only three members planned to attend.
“There is an appearance issue,” Young said. “We tried to have it at a time when more board members would be present and moved it up in order to have a timely vote.
“It was not the intention to stop people from commenting.”
On Wednesday, the board decided to avoid any possible legal battles and postpone the vote until March 23, when at least four board members would be in attendance to vote.
Must wait 90 days
Attorneys Sam Ramirez and Paul Richmond argued in Verser’s court on Wednesday that the district must wait to vote at least 90 days in order to be in compliance with the state’s open public meetings laws.
The plaintiffs “will be hurt by having no open and fair debate,” Ramirez said.
He and Richmond said that the public’s First Amendment rights were being stymied by cutting short the 90-day period in which to make comments to the board before the decision.
“We’re just asking government to follow its own rules,” Richmond said.
“By delaying the vote and pushing it [to March 9], it’s more fair and it protects their rights to be heard by the government.”
The decision about Mountain View has been long discussed at multiple public hearings and has received both support and criticism from the residents of the district.
Cutting costs
Superintendent Tom Opstad said the district must reduce operating costs by more than $500,000 a year to balance the budget.
A consultant informed the School Board that one way to achieve that is to close a school.
If the board votes in favor of the closure, Mountain View Elementary will close for good on the last day of this school year.
After closing the school, the district would restructure grades between the remaining elementary school, Grant Street and Blue Heron Middle School.
Grant Street Elementary would house approximately 440 students in grades kindergarten through fourth, and Blue Heron would accommodate about 420 students in grades fifth through eighth.
The district would install portable buildings at Grant Street to make room for classrooms and a cafeteria.
Twice in 2008, voters did not give the district a supermajority in elections that would have financed bonds to pay for constructing a new school on the Grant Street campus to accommodate all the district’s elementary students.
March 23 will also be the date that the state releases the first draft of monies to be distributed from the federal stimulus package.
Board member Bobby DuBois pointed out that, at that time, the board may have a better picture to look at for its decision.
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Jefferson County reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com
