Oak Harbor schools have come a long way in the past 10 years and student progress reflects this fact. Improved student learning has not occurred by chance. To increase WASL scores, graduation rates, and most importantly to enable our community’s children to succeed in life, it is because of hard work, commitment, dedication and tough choices. These are just some of the reasons why I support David Sherman for school board.

Only recently has Oak Harbor’s local funding reached a level where real improvement in student achievement can be realized. All of our school buildings are or will soon be modernized. Our maintenance and operations levy has enabled us to hire specialists for our students. We offer more educational opportunities for our students at all levels, including, for the past two years, tutoring in math, and other subjects, including transportation home.

Each candidate has identified communications as a challenge. All board meetings and workshops are open and advertised to the public, and the Whidbey News-Times has been there to report the story. For the past year, David Sherman has attended these meetings, asked questions, and been involved with the process, but we rarely see his opponent.

Televising school board meetings might be a good idea, but it costs money, lots of money, and that money would have to come out of the classroom. With student achievement, and improvement, a primary objective for the school board, it is more important for that money to stay in the classroom.

School boards serve the community and work effectively only as a team, to implement positive and effective change.

Please vote for David Sherman for school board.

Vicki Harring

Oak Harbor