I support the Northshore School District. As a former high school teacher and son of local teachers, I purposely chose to buy a house in the Northshore School District. The district has a long history of excellence, from its bond ratings to the fact that they have always worked carefully with their terrific teachers and have never gone on strike. I have a senior in the full International Baccalaureate program at Inglemoor High School who is applying to some of the top schools on the west coast and have seen firsthand how she got this far. My eight grade son is hopefully following in her footsteps.

One of the key issues in a strong community has to be the willingness to support reasonable taxes that support our parks, our libraries, our emergency response units and our schools. As our area has grown and thrived, we have needed at times to re-evaluate what is needed. Not too many years ago, the district had to even consider closing a school due to a decline in enrollment.

Enrollment is now booming on the north side of the district, as the far west side and east side have faced some enrollment declines. After dozens of meetings and discussions with the whole community the district has decided the best way forward is to build a new high school in the north side. The district is also aligning its grade levels at the schools to more closely match the neighboring districts and expectations of most colleges. The new high school helps with this process.

The Northshore School District has a long history of doing what it has promised in regard to bonds and levies and they have done it in an open and public fashion. They have provided enough reasonable documentation and evidence through their finance department to the community and the bond underwriters that I am comfortable with their worst case scenario of an additional $60 per household. I am comfortable that Superintendent Larry Francois and the diverse school board have done proper planning for the best interests of our community. I have worked closely with them as a former president of the Northshore Schools Foundation, in PTA, as a local businessman with Snapdoodle Toys, and as most importantly, a parent.

Rob Pickering, Kenmore