INSIDE: Spring is in the baaarn... Island Life, A10
Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 15 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
School district eyes security changes at buildings By BEN WATANABE Staff reporter Keeping kids safe has rocketed up the South Whidbey School District’s priorities in recent months. Installing a dependable new phone system is in the near future for the schools. Electronically controlled front doors may come to the district’s four school buildings. Langley Police Department officers may regularly visit the schools this spring, with emphasis on a new-hire acting as a resource officer. “We’re looking at how we can bolster our security,” said Dan Poolman, the district’s assistant superintendent. “It would give us the control of having doors locked and buzzing (visitors) in, or having them open and locking with a keystroke.” The changes were first proposed by district leaders after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. An adult killed 26 people — 20 students and six staff — after he shot his way through the locked front doors. “We always want to say it can’t happen here, but that’s what every school district says,” said Steve Scoles, the school board chairman.
“We’re looking at how we can bolster our security.” Dan Poolman assistant superintendent
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Langley Police Chief Randy Heston radios ICOM about an alarm he heard while patrolling Langley Middle School on Presidents’ Day. The beeping was due to an electronic misfire. The school will gain a resource officer from the city’s police department this spring. The security conversation has continued. Fresh off a pair of levy
approvals, the district will tweak its increased budget to find money for
the improvements. District officials have met with Whidbey Telecom
about electronically controlled main doors and are seeking bids for a phone system, estimated at $200,000. Hoping to avoid any type of intrusion, South Whidbey schools has a lockdown procedure that is practiced regularly. Where students would be relocated, if possible, in an emergency is a secret known to only a few in the district and Whidbey Island law enforcement. Keeping an intruder out of the school buildings is the first priority for safety. The schools are supposed to have doors, except the main entrance, locked to the outside. At a campus like Langley Middle School, which has three separate buildings used by students, side doors are often left unlocked. See Security, A6
Septic problems may scuttle low income housing in Freeland By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter A $6.3 million low-income housing project planned for Freeland is facing derailment due to an unexpected permitting issue. Island County Housing Authority officials confirmed this week that septic system requirements may exceed initial expectations and the increase in costs may force the project to be scrapped. “We can’t go over this budget, we just can’t,” said Teri Anania, executive director for the Housing Authority. The organization is not a department of county government but a state special purpose district with the aim of providing affordable housing to low-income and elderly residents. It currently owns and manages 110 public housing units on properties in Oak Harbor, Coupeville and Langley. Its newest project, Sunny Side Village, is planned on a nearly nine-acre lot off Fish Road, between Highway 525 and Scenic Avenue. Designs call for the construction of 26 units in four separate two-level buildings. They are expected to provide housing for
people who make between 60 percent and 30 percent of the area median income for Island County — about $67,500. Rents will range from $587 to $986, depending on income. The project, which has been in the works since 2008 and has nearly $1 million spent so far, recently hit a major hiccup. County regulators fear the size of the development and the effluent produced will have adverse impacts on a nearby well. Nitrate levels in the water source are already elevated and the plan to treat effluent using a series of separate septic systems won’t be enough to keep the levels from going over the brink, said Keith Higman, director of Island County Public Health. As a result, the housing authority is going to have to rethink its septic plans. “They have to mitigate the nitrate loading,” Higman said. But there aren’t a lot of options. There’s a good chance that a water treatment plant will have to be constructed. The cost impact is unclear but most agree it would push the project over budget. Anania is hopeful an alternative can be See Freeland, A9
Contributed graphic
Island Housing Authority is looking at building a 26-unit low-income housing project in Freeland. Community concern and permitting problems have become serious hurdles to the project.