Board sets levy for April 17, committee needs help
By SARAH ARNEY Staff Reporter
Ryan Redlinger, an eighth grader at Stanwood Middle School, accepts the Shining Star Award from school board member Darlene Hartley at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
PHOTO BY SARAH ARNEY | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS The school board approved a new date for the district’s maintenance and operations levy. The same levy proposal that was approved in December has been rescheduled for the April 17 ballot.
“Nothing has changed but the date,” Gary Platt, executive director of business services, told the board Tuesday evening.
However, the chairperson of the levy committee, John Russell, told the board that volunteers and donations are needed.
“We have about 30 – 35 volunteers attending our levy meetings,” Russell said. “But we’ll need more volunteers to make calls and more cash to continue the campaign into April.”
The levy committee is a volunteer group of community members with teachers, administrators and parents working together to inform the community about the importance of the levy. The committee has been speaking to community groups for several months already, reach out to at least a thousand people, Russell said.
Their efforts to pass the levy are not funded by the district.
The proposed levy will raise slightly more than $11 million each year for the next five years, to help cover the costs of educational programs as well as maintenance and operations of the district.
The estimated levy rate depends upon the final dollar amount of assessed value of all property within the school district, which includes property in both Snohomish and Island counties.
Based on information provided by both county’s assessor’s offices, the estimated levy rate varies each year, ranging from $2.13 to $2.22 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The exact levy rate will be set upon approval by the voters.
Other board decisions
The board also gave permission for two field trips by Stanwood High School groups. The Technology Student Association will attend a state conference March 15 – 17, and the high school jazz band and wind ensemble will go to Vancouver, B.C. April 22 – 25. The board also gave Lincoln Hill High School Principal Dan Johnston permission to attend a Drop Out Prevention Conference Feb. 28 and 29 in Portland, Ore.
The board accepted the following donations:
• Windermere Foundation donated $500 to Utsalady Elementary School for miscellaneous student needs, as determined by the principal and nurse.
• Dollars for Doers Program of Alaska Airlines donated $405 to Cedarhome Elementary School on behalf of classroom volunteer Eilin Chisman.
• General Mills’ Box Tops for Education program donated $605 to Port Susan Middle School.
• The National Farm to School Network donated $1,000 to the art program at Stanwood Middle School on behalf of Miya McLaughlin’s first place poster.
Recognitions
• The board was honored for School Board Recognition Month.
• Shining Stars: Byrne Moynahan, Saratoga School; Kyle Felver, Stanwood Elementary School; Ryan Redlinger, Stanwood Middle School.
• Classified Employees of the Month for December, Karen Hushagen, of Cedarhome Elementary School and for November, Gvette Bergstrom, of Stanwood Elementary School, will be honored at the next evening meeting in March, since she was not available this month.
• Teacher of the Month of November is Bryan Waters, of Stanwood Middle School, and for December, Kathleen Nelles, Elger Bay Elementary.
There will be no evening school board meeting in February.
