SOUTH WHIDBEY RECORD: South Whidbey school board votes to reconfigure campuses (VIDEO)

Kira Erickson reports from the South Whidbey School District board meeting on Wed., Sep. 28, 2022:

The South Whidbey School Board voted Wednesday night to dissolve the South Whidbey Elementary School South Campus.

Starting in September 2023, fifth graders will join grades kindergarten through fourth grade at the elementary school’s northern campus. Sixth graders will move up to the middle school campus at the high school, joining seventh and eighth grades.

They Said It

Board Member Andrea Downs said that while the board respects students’ voices, the bigger picture needs to be addressed, in terms of financial decisions. Pouring $300,000 on a yearly basis into the fifth and sixth grade campus where enrollment continues to decline, as she pointed out, affects available staffing and materials.

[Student school board member Audrey] Gmerek wondered if this savings is adequate enough to cover the loss of culture students will encounter while making this transition to different campuses.

Downs countered that closing down the campus could open up opportunities to maintain direct services to students, such as the curriculum changes and field trips that they’ve been asking for.

“I think culture and community can be created wherever you are, in whatever capacity that that group wants it to happen,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be in a specific building.”