We are writing in support of the school bond resolutions. For many reasons, we feel that it is time to move forward with the projects.

We moved to Vashon 30 years ago and almost immediately gained firsthand experience of the school district’s facilities. So many things happen there. Five years later, our children started school, and for the next 15 years we looked to the buildings as their educational home.

The high school has been well-used, loved and cared for. But it is now worn out. To continue to patch up those facilities and keep them hobbling along is foolish. The time, materials and energy used would be better spent on educating our youth and providing opportunities for our community.

We share a mutual belief that the duty and privilege of education resides within the community. Our own pioneering, homesteading great-grandparents built schools as the first order of community business. They came to this country to make their lives and the lives of following generations better. To be educated meant a better future, and it still does.

— Margaret and Gary Koch