Public forum on CK schools’ reconfiguration coming soon

By PAUL BALCERAK

Staff writer

The public will soon have the chance to ask questions about Central Kitsap School District’s plans for secondary reconfiguration — an issue closely tied to school closure — in an upcoming forum.

The forum is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, at the Jenne-Wright Administration Center, CKSD Superintendent Greg Lynch announced during Wednesday night’s school board meeting.

The point of the forum will be to give the public insight as to how the Secondary Reconfiguration committee, branded under Lynch’s Task Force Resource (TFR) Steering Committee, has gone about whittling down its recommendations for secondary reconfiguration. The committee will make recommendations to TFR at a Feb. 13 study session.

The forum also will give time for a question and answer session, but Lynch stressed that because no final decisions are being made yet, public input will not be a part of the forum.

The district’s school closure committee is in limbo until a recommendation on secondary reconfiguration is made. Reconfiguration options will give a better idea of what school closures — if any — may be needed.

The two issues look to be so entangled at this point, that final decisions on both will likely be made at the same time, Director of Operations Dirk Gleysteen said. The various committees, TFR and the school board will likely, “take the configuration options and study those in a configuration-slash-closure mode.”

He added that there is still a chance the school board will opt to stay with the current configuration model and if that happens, “it’s conceivable that we’d stay with the current number of buildings.”

The district is aiming at an early October 2008 date to make an announcement on reconfiguration and closure and hopes to make a final decision in January 2009.

Secondary reconfiguration and school closure both factor into the district’s plans to balance out a projected budget shortfall that will take place between now and the 2012-13 school year.

Committee members also discussed cuts to the district’s music, technology and technology and education departments and programs at the Wednesday school board meeting.

No recommendations or decisions have been made yet for any of the departments.

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