By TERESA KENWORTHY

In response to Joyce King’s recent letter, “High school seems in good shape,” the key word here would be “seems.” I myself toured Oak Harbor High School recently. I would ask if Ms. King toured the school during the school day or after hours? I toured during the day and was appalled at the lack of space students had to work. Classrooms were overcrowded. Desks are crowded together with little room to get around. Passing time for students is a nightmare. You have over 1,600 students moving from classroom to classroom in a school that was designed for 900 students. Even with the current decline in enrollment it’s not ever going to go back to 900 students!

I shudder to think what would happen if classrooms had to be evacuated in case of fire.

The art rooms and industrial areas may seem spacious until you add students to the mix. The pottery class that I toured has students literally on top of each other trying to work. I commend the teachers that work in those conditions. I don’t know what empty classrooms you viewed, but I do know that there are teachers who do not have assigned classrooms and travel with a cart for their materials from classroom to classroom.

I don’t believe you can blame the present administration for the design and construction of a school built 30 years ago. Maintenance is not the key issue here. If you were to check with administration you would see that there have been a multitude of work orders for repairs to the building. The maintenance crew has done the best it could with what they had to work with. The issue here is design. The design of the building with its flat roof at that time was a popular one, unfortunately we have learned the hard way it was not a good choice for the rainy climate of the Pacific Northwest. The narrow hallways with doors designed to open out are a hazard when filled with students during passing time. It worked when we had 900 students, it doesn’t work with 1,600 or more.

When it rains you have flooding between buildings, again poor design, not poor maintenance!

But, ever the best built structure still needs upgrades. No matter how well maintained you will need to make changes. Things like heating systems, plumbing and electrical will all eventually wear out. Keep in mind this school was built when the most technologically advanced machine we had was the electric typewriter! And while we have all these computers throughout the school the 30-year-old wiring is not able to support them.

I live in a house that’s 50-years-old. In order to make our home more cost efficient, safe and able to meet the needs of our expanding family, we’ve replaced all the windows, upgraded the electrical, replaced the roof, added a second bathroom and changed the heating system. These are all costly major improvements that go way beyond simple maintenance.

What it all comes down to is that you cannot expect a school designed to house 900 students to work for 1,600 or more. You cannot expect to meet the needs of today with what you built 30 years ago. Technology has advanced tremendously in 30 years. There needs to be changes and if we are to graduate students who can compete in today’s advanced technological workforce we have to look ahead, not back.

Construction costs will only continue to rise. The longer we wait, the more it will cost us in the long run! I urge anyone who is considering voting no on the upcoming bond to take a closer look at the high school, but arrange to do it when it’s occupied. It’s like looking at a vacant house, it always appears more spacious.

Teresa Kenworthy lives in Oak Harbor.