CAMANO: School Board discusses YMCA contract, board vacancy

Libby Williams reports from the Stanwood-Camano School Board meeting of Tue., July 1, 2025 for the Stanwood Camano News. Read the whole story.

The Stanwood-Camano School Board covered a variety of topics at its Tuesday, July 1, meeting, including the school district’s contract with the YMCA and a vacancy on the board.

During the review of the consent agenda, School Board member Charlotte Murry made a motion to table the item regarding the district’s proposed contract with the YMCA for use of its pool. The contract included a fee increase to bring the total cost per lane per hour to $18.70. The increase was 90 cents per lane per hour.…

The item “board vacancy” appeared on the agenda for the Tuesday, July 1, meeting with no other information. It was announced during the June 17 board meeting that [Director Betsy] Foster would resign effective Aug. 1. The district has 90 days from that date to fill the position.

They Said It

“I would like to probably have our superintendent look into the agreed fee increases,” Murry said. “I’m wondering as we are in a budget crunch why it was necessary for an increase in the rental fees of the lap lanes.”

[School Board member Steve] King said the increase is about 5%, which is in line with inflation, and made a motion to approve the contract, which [Board President Al] Schreiber seconded. The motion passed with King and Schreiber voting in favor, and Murry opposing.…

Schreiber told the other members he believed they had received a timeline for refiling the [vacant school board] position, as well as an tentative application form.

Murry said he had not received this information.

“The application to fill the board director vacancy for District 4 is basically the same one we used last time,” Schreiber said.

In an email to the SC News after the meeting, Schreiber said he was referring to the application used after a vacancy created by the resignation of School Board member Roger Myers, and more recently the vacancy created by the resignation of School Board member Ken Christoferson.

Schreiber asked during the meeting if there were any discussion points, and Murry said she could not discuss something she hadn’t received.

“I don’t even have a copy of it in front of me,” she said, saying that the topic should be discussed again during the next meeting on Aug. 5 when all board members are present.

“There was no link, there was no information, all it said was ‘board vacancy.’ It didn’t tell us what we would be discussing today,” she said.

“The fact that Director Evans is out of town at the moment, it feels very strategic in your trying to move this forward without proper input from all board members.”

Schreiber said his intent wasn’t to move anything forward, but to open the topic for discussion and make a motion in August for a timeline the board can agree upon.

Murry said she would like Shreiber to make sure he sends the relevant information to the board prior to the next meeting.

On the Ballot in November 2025