I believe it is the duty of informed citizens to communicate the needs of the community to its elected officials and public servants. It is also our obligation to thank them when they listen and make every effort to meet the needs of those whom they serve.
For 40 years, Northshore School District fifth-graders attended an outdoor-education experience at Camp Casey in Coupeville. In the spring of 2009, funding for the district’s portion of the cost was cut, and the program eliminated. In the fall of 2009, parents (including myself) and teachers asked the school board to direct the formation of a committee to see if the program could be reinvented, while eliminating the approximately $50,000 annual cost to the district.
In the spring of 2010, the school board held a study session on the matter, heard further public testimony and had thoughtful, public discussion. The board directed the administration to create the Outdoor Education Overnight Experience (OEOE) Task Force, and issued several mandates for the task force to meet in order for a new camp program to be approved. This must have been a particularly difficult decision for the two school-board members, Dawn McCravey and Janet Quinn, who served on the board when Camp Casey was originally cut. I want to thank them for their open-mindedness in reconsidering the program. I also want to thank the new school-board members, Sandy Hayes, Todd Banks and Julia Lacey, for their support.
The OEOE Task Force met every two weeks to create a camp program that meets all the school-board parameters and provides a first-class outdoor-education experience for all Northshore School District fifth-graders. I want to thank all the members of the task force for their hard work, and especially Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Poole for her guidance and contagious optimism throughout this process.
On June 8, the school board approved the task force’s unanimous recommendation to re-establish the camp program for the district at Cedar Springs in Lake Stevens.
Nancy Chamberlain
OEOE Task Force member
