By NANCY KAPPELMAN

For The Beachcomber

In a few weeks, on Vashon, we will receive a ballot in the mail asking for our vote either for or against renovations and upgrades to our public schools.

This bond money, collected through property taxes, would provide the opportunity to construct a new classroom building and auxiliary gym at the high school and refurbish many other aging facilities.

Our teachers, students and staff will have up-to-date classrooms for work and study, and the athletic department and community will have sports facilities that are ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliant and with adequate space for the heavy use required by the schools and broader Vashon community.

A well-educated child needs exposure to and experience with academics, physical activity, teamwork, the arts and spiritual/emotional development. Our challenge is how best to provide for these opportunities.

Some may argue that our students can learn regardless of their surroundings, but modern facilities certainly make the process more efficient.

I realized how important this was only after taking one of the guided tours of the Vashon High School and seeing the many serious problems that existed.

Soon afterward I visited a new Seattle-area high school that demonstrated the teaching and learning possibilities of investing in modern science classrooms, computer labs and updated equipment. What a marked contrast that was. Our students would benefit tremendously from similar improvements.

There are no less than 28 Vashon athletic groups competing for time at our campus sports facilities. Vashon Park District holds 15 summer camps and arranges meeting times for 16 non-athletic groups.

Groups such as the Vashon Island Chorale, Vashon Chamber Orchestra and Drama Dock regularly use the high school band room. Blue Heron Dance, Vashon Dance Academy, Vashon Junior Civic Ballet and Drama Dock depend on the high school theater for all of their productions.

It is safe to say that our high school is an Island meeting place.

Vashon, with its long periods of wet weather and short winter days, provides a particular challenge for our sports teams and facilities.

The gyms are booked starting at 5:45 a.m. for team practice and used during the school day for sports classes and assemblies. From November to March they are in constant use from the end of the school day until 10 p.m.

The groups that one would normally expect to be in a gym are there — basketball, volleyball and wrestling — but so are eight to nine youth soccer teams vying for space with the adult soccer leagues. There is no room in the schedule for delays, for adding other teams or for cleaning and repairs.

The locker rooms are getting that same heavy use. A “yes” vote on the bond would provide our students and visiting teams with updated gym space and new locker rooms with sufficient restroom and shower facilities.

The high school football stadium and track do not meet Nisqually League or government standards.

This is not an issue of inadequate maintenance. The track cannot be used for league meets, which is discouraging to the team and wasteful in time and travel costs.

Team scheduling of the football field is now restricted to prevent damage from overuse of the turf. An artificial turf field can dramatically increase the use of the field for both soccer and football teams while decreasing water, fertilizer and labor costs.

The band room is too small for its intended use — by our high school band. In addition, there is inadequate storage for instruments.

Due to a shortage of classrooms, the room is also used for academic classes, but students must take notes in their laps since there are no desks.

Likewise, the drama and English classroom used by Stephen Floyd is converted every Friday to a makeshift dressing room, makeup center and staging area for community theater productions. A new classroom building would solve these deficiencies.

As residents of a small Island, we may feel the burden of providing for all the needs of our community more than those larger population centers with a broader tax base.

We may often feel our tax dollars go to projects that don’t affect us directly. Most of us also pay for insurance that we hope we will never use. We may get a sense of security from having it, but we usually don’t get a material benefit from it.

In contrast, a new and refurbished high school campus would tangibly benefit many members of our community every day for years to come.

The school district is spending more and more of our precious education dollars to shore up failing infrastructure.

I encourage all voters to take a guided tour of the high school campus or visit www.vashonforschools.org for an online tour and more detailed information. Our teachers want to do the best for our children; let’s give them the tools to do it.

In his recent Beachcomber article, our superintendent, Terry Lindquist, encouraged us to all be good stewards of our community, providing for the generations over the decades to come. We can do this by voting yes for the school bond; we are the public in public education.

— Nancy Kappelman, a mother of two, chairs the bond measure’s campaign.