By Marianne Lincoln

I was out of town a few days in October. When I returned, a new and different campaign sign had appeared all over the neighborhood. The signs belong to a local political candidate, but on first glance, it looks like it might have something to do with the school district. In fact, so much so that I decided to have a chat with some local school officials and see what feedback they were hearing.

You see, over the years I have been more than a little involved with the school district. I attended Elk Plain Elementary in the 1960’s (when there were only 5 elementaries in the district), followed by Bethel Junior High and Bethel High School. In my senior year, the district split shifted the high school and moved the junior highs and elementary schools to year round school. My brother was on “D Track.” My children also attended K through graduation.

I am no stranger to the history of the district and the multiple losses of levies and bonds. As a board member from 2009 to 2012, I was very grateful to be able to vote for construction projects provided from the 2006 bond that passed. Folks, we couldn’t have had better timing. Construction jobs were hard to find between 2006 and present. The school district got some very skilled builders working on our projects at some amazingly reasonable prices! When the market is down, the competition for the jobs benefits the district. The money went father and accomplished more on the list that originally planned and will help push the next need to ask father down the road. I am happy about the progress and don’t want to see a candidates’ political campaign create any misunderstanding.

So back to those signs. When I saw them, the first thing that passed through my mind was, “I wonder how many people think this is some kind of school proposal?”

Jay Brower, Community Relations Director said he had received a handful of calls about the 4 day school week. Communications Director Krista Carlson said she had also had several inquiries from well known people in the district.

So to set the record straight, those 4 day school week signs have absolutely nothing to do with the Bethel School District. They are part of a legislative campaign mantra being used by Bruce Lachney against Randi Becker for the second district Senate seat.  This last year, in order to save money, the Eatonville School District (and a few other small districts) was considering the change. In order to facilitate this, they needed a bill allowing four day weeks  to pass the legislature. Senator Randi Becker was the Prime Sponsor of that bill. Since Bruce Lachney was a former school board member in the Eatonville District, he also had an opinion on the four day school week idea. Thus, he produced the signs to distinguish himself from Senator Becker.

There  are stories on the Internet about the strained school budget in Eatonville and the consideration of the 4 day school week. In the end, it didn’t happen. But there have been many unusual ways of saving money that have been under consideration by school boards across the state with the contused state cuts in education. It was good to know this year was not quite as harsh as the last three and most cuts didn’t have to take place. The McCleary case in the Washington State Supreme Court pointed out to the legislature it needed to stop squeezing the schools so hard as the places for school boards to cut back were becoming truly difficult to find.

So rest assured, your little ones will be in school five days a week this year and next. Within another week or so, those confusing signs will go away along with all the other campaign sign blight.

Links to stories on the 4 day school week proposed (and passed up) in Eatonville:

http://crosscut.com/2012/01/12/education/21791/Parents-bus-drivers-cringe-as-Eatonville-eyes-four/

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017098506_fourdayweek27.html