Oak Harbor area citizens can take pride in the fact that in a time of economic stress, education in this area is taking huge strides forward.
The new $7.7 million Career and Technical building is ready to welcome students. As a story in the April 4 Whidbey News-Times reported, the CT building is a giant leap ahead for students interested in drafting, auto mechanics, video, photography and robotics. This is a crucial area of education in the modern era when many employers are looking to hire workers with real skills when they come out of high school. And it’s great to see that an anonymous donor contributed $60,000 to Chris Douthitt’s video class, which does an outstanding job showing school and community events island-wide on Channel 21. No doubt we’ll soon be given a TV tour of the impressive new CT digs, as we await a community open house sometime in early May.
More good news on the education front came when the Oak Harbor School Board approved spending $712,000 in new technical equipment for the school district. This is part of the money saved when the projected $43 million high school remodel bid came in under budget, allowing an expansion of projects funded. Citizens will be paying no additional taxes, but students and staff will enjoy updated computer and telephone systems.
As we admire these advancements, the biggest change of all is still to come as crews work to finish the high school’s massive makeover, a job that should be done in the fall of 2010. When that happens, Oak Harbor High School will be among the top schools in the area for preparing students for the 21st Century.
With voters having just approved a new four-year maintenance and operation levy, Oak Harbor residents have done all they can do to guarantee a top-notch education for our students.
The only immediate concern is the state budget taking shape in Olympia, which threatens educational progress with job cuts and reduced funding for various programs. Some belt tightening can be withstood, but Whidbey Island residents should let our representatives know that we won’t let the state renege on its constitutional responsibility to fully fund basic education. We’ve done our share, now Olympia has to follow suit.
