SEQUIM — Six Sequim School Board candidates said they support passage of a proposed $49.3 million construction bond for the school district, although one said he would have crafted it differently.
The candidates speaking last Wednesday at a community forum were Robin Henrikson and Heather Jeffers vying for District No. 1; Jim Stoffer and Charla Wright running for District No. 3; and Heather Short and William Payne campaigning for Director At Large, Position No. 5.
“The facilities we have — they are horrible,” Payne said.
“But here is what bothers me about the bond — if the community has said ‘no’ twice, [and] by doing it exactly the same way, is the community going to say no again? I don’t know.”
However, the measure is already on the ballot, so “I support passing the bond,” he continued.
“Would I have supported it doing it the way it is done today by putting it on the ballot in November? No. I think we needed some more time for that.”
Failed attempts
Two previous attempts to pass a construction bond to benefit the Sequim School District have failed.
Voters in April 2014 defeated a $154 million measure.
A $49.2 million bond last February received 6,691 yes votes to 5,026 no votes — 57.59 percent to 42.89 percent — but fell short of the required 60 percent supermajority.
If the Nov. 3 measure gets the 60 percent supermajority needed for passage, the bond money would go toward building a new elementary school, renovating and expanding four existing facilities, and demolishing a fifth one.
Short said she “absolutely” supports the bond.
“This bond needs to be passed.”
Wright said she supports the bond measure, and added “it is up to all of us, the voters, to get it passed. It is a plan that we need to advocate for.”
Stoffer is a proponent of the ballot measure and encourages parents of students to register and vote in favor of the initiative.
Henrickson said existing campus infrastructure is “embarrassing, quite frankly,” and that she supports the bond.
Voting issues
She also encourages advocates to promote voter participation, “because people aren’t voting,” she said.
“Parents are not voting. They aren’t even registered to vote, so we need to spread the word and get our parents of school-aged children . . . to get registered and to vote.”
Jeffers also supports the bond, she said.
“However, if it does not pass, we will be consistent and persistent in sending out the message that we are not going to settle for anything less,” she said.
“This is already the bare minimum.”
The candidates also spoke about security issues facing the district, with Stoffer saying passage of the bond would allow new facilities to be constructed that will allow safety features, such as limited public access.
“We need to build the schools and pass the bond,” he said.
Actions need to be taken whether or not the bond passes, Wright said.
“Whether we pass the bond or find money somewhere else . . . we need to find a way to protect our kids. We need to protect our children now, not wait until a bond.”
Short said passage of the bond is essential to address security concerns.
“Security is certainly a problem right now, and there is no way to address it right now unless you have funds, and right now there are no funds. Right now, we have to pass the bond in order to get funds — in order to make our kids safe.”
Resource officers
Payne advocated for placing school resource officers from the police department at each campus.
“I think you need a safety resource officer at all the schools, [but] that is going to be a money issue,” he said.
An alternative would be for the district to hire and train security officers to patrol local schools.
Henrikson said “we cant have the safety we need unless we have a bond passed. We need a single point of entry at all our schools. It is so important, and we can’t make those fixes unless we have the money. We can’t do it with the funds we have.”
Jeffers said “there are things we can do right now” even without passage of the bond, such as directing staff to focus on safety issue topics defined by the School Board, providing additional training and implementing a comprehensive action plan.
A video of the debate at the Sequim Civic Center can be viewed at www.lwvcla.org.
It was the first of five public forums hosted by the Clallam County League of Women Voters in advance of the general election.
For more information about the bond, visit the district’s website at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Bond.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
