News - Local News

POSTED: Friday, May. 01, 2009

Lummi Island parents plead to keep Beach Elementary open

LUMMI ISLAND - Beach Elementary School families are worried their school will be closed for budgetary reasons, but they won't let it happen without a fight.

More than 100 Lummi Island residents packed the Ferndale School Board meeting Thursday evening, April 30, to plead their case for keeping the 57-student school open, despite dismal funding outlooks.

Closing the school, or at least sending about half the students to school on the mainland, are both items on a rank-ordered list of budget cut ideas generated by a group of community members, parents, students and district employees. The list was sent to Superintendent Roger Lehnert, who will generate the list of budget cuts to propose to the school board on Wednesday, May 6.

Item No. 19, on a list of 52 suggestions, is changing the elementary school to include only grades kindergarten through 3. Doing that would require students in grades 4, 5 and 6 to take the ferry and be bused to a school on the mainland.

Closing the school completely is ranked No. 50.

"I can say with absolute certainty many of the adults would not stay on the island without Beach school," said Angie Dixon, associate broker with Lummi Island Realty and parent of three Beach Elementary students. "It's always been a matter of pride to tell buyers that, yes, we have an amazing school with caring staff."

Beach Elementary was created in the late 1800s and has been part of the Ferndale School District since the 1940s. The school is deemed "remote and necessary" by the state because of its location and the number of students it serves.

And because of that, many community members question the decision to change the school in any way, wondering if it will actually save money, because of the increased transportation costs.

In addition, sending young children on the ferry requires extra adult supervision, there's no place to wait for the ferry in bad weather, and sometimes the ferry can't operate.

"Knowing that your child is spending several hours a day commuting is disconcerting," said Beach School parent Buffy Fox. "We recognize you have legitimate concerns about the budget and the operating expenses at Beach. We too are worried about the budget shortfalls, but not at the expense of safety."

Throughout the presentation, Lummi Island residents said they rally behind their school and will do whatever it takes to keep it the way it is.

"Right now we are committed to keeping Beach school open as a K through 6 and we want to come to the table with the Ferndale School District to work collaboratively to find ways to reduce expenses and raise revenue," said longtime Beach Elementary parent Kate Underwood.