Vashon’s school board last Wednesday met to discuss plans for a second bond attempt and decided to meet with a consultant in an effort to price out a variety of bond options.

“We want to get a cost estimate from someone who knows all of this stuff and get a complete picture before going to the public,” board chair Bob Hennessey said.

The board also discussed ways to better involve the community and juggled between having open-ended community-driven meetings or going to the public with options and then gathering feedback.

All of the board members decided that completely open and unstructured forums would be too time-consuming. Hennessey said that if the board were to go out to the community, it would be confronted with “a laundry list” of concerns with “no consensus.” The board decided to go with the second option of gathering feedback on pre-priced and researched options that will range from the high school’s track and field, gym and Building F to the middle school’s seismically unstable gym and the district’s bus barn.

Public outreach will begin only when all of the information is gathered and the board’s questions are answered.

“Community involvement is critical,” board member Toby Holmes said. “There was a lot of passion around grass versus turf. There are a lot of details we have to talk about in advance.”

While Holmes acknowledged the community’s importance, board member Dan Chasan expressed that he wanted people to “have the feeling that they could voice concerns,” but believed the bond is ultimately a school board issue.

Former board chair Laura Wishik took issue with the board’s decisions, saying that the board needed to create focus groups early in the planning process.

“You need to let them ask their questions and tell you what they’re not understanding. Go to them early,” Wishik said.

But Hennessey stuck to the board’s decision to first fully inform themselves before bringing options to the public.

“The public doesn’t make every single decision because they speak with every voice on the island, and consensus is impossible,” he said. “The board needs to say, ‘We need to fix this bus barn, here is why.’ They have to trust the elected officials did their research and will make the correct decisions.”

The school board’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at the district conference center at Chautauqua Elementary.