Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 26 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
INSIDE: Falcons fly, Sports, A10
END OF AN ERA FOR HISTORIC BUILDING
Plan proposed to move Bayview School to new campus BY Ben watanabe Staff reporter
BAYVIEW — Consolidation may be coming to the South Whidbey School District. Only, an unexpected student group will move from the Bayview School to the South Whidbey Primary Campus. Instead of the scrapped plan to shutter Langley Middle School, the district superintendent told the school board she’d like to move the alternative students, have them meet under the same roof as Whidbey Island Academy students, and close the 100-year-old Bayview building. While the suggestion caught some of the school board members off guard, the plan has been a conversation topic between Moccia and David Pfeiffer, the director of the alternative school. “To me, at this point David has done a lot of work with the site council,” Moccia said. “He and I have talked a lot about this. I totally support district-wide alternative learning at one campus.” Details about the costs, possible savings, impacts on teachers and when the move would begin will be presented in April. By September, however, Moccia said the 40-or-so Bayview School students would attend classes in the half-occupied South Whidbey
Primary Campus. The primary school used to have kindergarten through second grade classes until it was consolidated with the South Whidbey Intermediate School to create South Whidbey Elementary School, a K-5 facility. Now, the primary campus houses Whidbey Island Academy, a homeschool partnership. “Are you willing to allow the superintendent to make this move by September?” Moccia asked the board. “This is not, to me, to say it politely, we don’t need to spend months and months deciding this. This is a well-thought out process that impacts people that David (Pfeiffer) has been working with.” While Moccia was prepared to move forward with the decision, some board members requested time to relay their questions to the superintendent’s office. “We’re not going to decide this tonight,” said Board Member Fred O’Neal. “I want to make sure something does not get overlooked in this.” Earlier on Wednesday, the school board visited Bayview School and met with Pfeiffer and four of the five certificated teachers (one had an excused absence). Some of the teachers said they felt See school, A7
“I totally support districtwide, alternative learning at one campus.” Jo Moccia, Superintendent South Whidbey School District
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Bayview School Director David Pfeiffer discusses the state of the school with the school board, volunteer tutors, Superintendent Jo Moccia and staff during a school board site visit on Wednesday.
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Mary McLeod displays one of her student’s art projects. The Bayview School teacher shared her frustration with feeling isolated and supported the proposed move to the South Whidbey Primary Campus next year.
Whidbey teen gets maximum sentence of five years, eight months BY JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times
Kaylea Souza can’t hold back her tears during her sentencing hearing in Coupeville on Friday.
A deep sense of sorrow permeated a crowded courtroom in Coupeville Friday afternoon as a young woman who killed three of her best friends in a drinking-and-driving accident learned her fate. Island County Superior Court Judge Vickie Churchill earned exhalations of surprise from many when she handed 18-year-old Kaylea Souza the maximum sentence of five years and eight months in prison, which was 14 months longer than the sentence recommended by the deputy prosecutor. “I know you are terribly sorry about this, but you chose to drink, you chose to drive,” she told Souza. “You will survive, you will come out of this ... I can only think of three lives,”
Churchill added after delivering the sentence. Souza, a Langley resident, quietly wept through most of the two-hour hearing and spoke briefly just before the judge announced her sentence. Souza apologized repeatedly and said she had lost her “very best friends.” “I’m sorry for all the pain that I have caused,” she said. Souza was intoxicated and behind the wheel in the South Whidbey crash on Wilkinson Road that killed Charles “Mack” Porter III, 19, Robert Knight, 22, and Marcel “Mick” Poynter, 20, just after midnight on Nov. 12, 2011. Deputy Prosecutor David Carman said Souza was speeding and made an illegal pass when she lost control and smashed the car into a tree. A long line of family members and
friends of the three victims came forward to address the judge. They described their despair and loss, but many also offered forgiveness to the young woman. Most of the speakers said they would like to see Souza take part in impact panels to teach young drivers about the devastation that drinking and driving can cause. Brandi Porter, Mack Porter’s sister, offered the judge a petition signed by 474 people who want Souza to be required to give presentations to young people after she gets out of prison. Churchill said she couldn’t legally control what Souza does after she serves her sentence, but Souza promised to work to help others learn from her mistakes. See sentence, A20