Oak Harbor Public Schools wants to know what the public’s priorities are for capital projects in the district.
Composed of parents, teachers and other community members — and chaired by district officials — the Capital Facilities Advisory Committee spent the last two years “identify[ing] the physical and functional needs of its families,” per the district’s website.
Public feedback, which can be provided in a survey running until Feb. 6, will help determine how four potential projects devised by the committee should be prioritized. Addressing aged buildings is a theme among them.
District buildings’ “roofing, heating and ventilation, safety and security and parking” could be improved, the survey details. Specifically, the district’s transportation center, constructed in 1964, is in need of upgrades.
A new elementary school could be built on a property at Fort Nugent, replacing Oak Harbor Elementary and designating that building for other purposes within the community.
The south building of Oak Harbor Elementary could be demolished and replaced, and the library could be modernized. The school’s current south building was constructed in 1948.
Finally, dedicated kitchens and gyms could be built at Hillcrest Elementary, Broad View Elementary and Olympic View Elementary. “Makeshift kitchens” feed students, and dining areas double as “physical education spaces,” per the survey, as these schools were built before school lunch programs.
Survey participants must rank the importance of these four projects, and confirm whether or not they would support bonds or capital levies to finance them.
Take the survey on the district’s website, ohsd.net.
