To the editor:

Please join me in support of the school levy.

The reputation of the school district brought my young family to Bainbridge Island in 1997. Our oldest child was ready to start kindergarten and school quality was our highest priority. By 2022, our children will have collectively logged 40 years of education in the Bainbridge Island School District.

Long before we arrived here, this community chose to invest in its future by funding school facilities. A generation ago, education was different, buildings were different, our world was different, but this community had the foresight to draw from its limited resources to provide excellent places to educate our children. Now it is important that we do the same to provide places to educate the next generation for a future that is beyond our ability to predict.

I have been an architect for 30 years. I can testify that purposeful design and modern technology facilitate learning, good behavior and safety in a school setting. I saw the opening of Sakai, Wilkes and the 200 Building at the high school. These were significant investments with excellent return. This levy funds projects that profoundly impact educational experience and students’ well-being. The purpose of this levy is to fund a transition from obsolescence to modernity. If we hope to provide our students with an excellent education to grow them into people who will sustain our world, then we need to make this investment.

I spent time carefully studying the school levy on our ballot Feb. 12 before I decided to support it. We have all made adjustments for the economic changes that occurred in the past decade. Let’s help our school district make the same adjustments to finish the work they started. Just as individuals we save and invest for our own future and make shifts when the unexpected happens, we need to do the same as a community for our school district. I will support the school district to finish this work to build a solid foundation for the education of our children. Please vote “yes” for the school levy on Feb. 12.

DANA WEBBER

Bainbridge Island