PORT ANGELES — The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has asked the state Attorney General’s Office for clarification on the dissolution of school skills centers amid the proposed dissolution of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center.
Port Angeles School District Superintendent Marc Jackson announced in May that there was a “strong possibility” the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center would dissolve following the school year, a decision he said OSPI would likely make due to the declining enrollment of the center.
“As best as we can determine, this would be the first dissolution in the state,” said Nathan Olson, OSPI spokesman.
The state’s question concerns how long a skills center, which offers vocational courses, must operate before it is legally allowed to dissolve, he said.
The skills center has been possible because of a 2002 inter-district agreement between the Port Angeles, Sequim, Cape Flattery, Crescent and Quillayute Valley school districts and Peninsula College. The agreement was renewed in 2007 and 2012, though not every district signed the agreement each year.
It was up for renewal this year, but Sequim, Cape Flattery, Crescent and Quillayute districts provided notice they did not want to sign back on.
Skills centers can’t consider dissolution until at least 10 years after the initial inter-district agreement is signed, according to state law.
Skill centers that received state funding for construction can’t dissolve prior to the end of the useful life of the facility or 30 years after the construction completion date.
“The confusion is whether the agreement is dissolved in 10 years or whether the skills center is dissolved,” Olson said. “Or do they abide by the 30-year rule?”
The skills center building was state-funded, Jackson said, adding that his understanding is that the final decision to dissolve the skills center is still made by the state superintendent of public instruction.
During a work session Thursday, Business and Operations Director David Knechtel told the school board the state added the 30-year-rule after the skills center was formed and that OSPI has said it would likely try to hold the skills center to that rule.
“The building was started under a previous commitment,” he said. “I wonder if they could really hold us to it.”
School board members criticized mismanagement of the skills center in recordkeeping, citing agreements with other districts not being signed and OSPI not putting the skills center on probation for lack of enrollment, among others.
The skills center has operated in the red in recent years due to low enrollment. Under state law, OSPI is to put a skills center on probation if it cannot meet the minimum enrollment requirement of 150, a number the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center has hit only once.
Vice President Sarah Methner said that to her, it appears the administrative council is ignoring the withdrawal terms of the 2012 agreement, which was signed only by the Sequim and Port Angeles school districts.
According to the agreement, which automatically renews every five years, districts wishing to withdraw from the agreement must provide notice to the other districts no later than Oct. 1 of the fiscal year preceding withdrawal, with the withdrawal to be effective Sept. 1 of the succeeding fiscal year.
“The way I read that — and I’m not an attorney — unless we had done this in October, this building stays open another year,” she said. “I would love to hear what the attorney says.”
Board member Susan Shotthafer questioned whether the programs that were transferred to Port Angeles High School would still lead to certification and whether lack of certification would negatively affect those classes.
Board President Dr. Joshua Jones said the skills center does not make up the majority of vocational courses offered to Port Angeles students.
The North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center offered 12 classes last year compared to the 54 career and technical education classes offered at PAHS.
He also made the distinction that the skills center is an entity, not the building itself, which is part of the Lincoln Center.
Board member Sandy Long said she wants someone from OSPI to be at the next board meeting to explain the situation to the board and the public.
Long — and other board members — said they have been criticized for closing the skills center, though it was other school districts pulling out of the agreement that triggered the process.
“I’m being blamed for shutting down the skills center,” she said. “I can’t go to Safeway anymore.
“I will never vote to dissolve the skills center. I don’t like the way this was done.”
That is a vote Jackson is preparing to ask the board to make.
Before OSPI considers the dissolution, the skills center administrative council must request approval by the superintendent of public instruction, which it has yet to do.
The board looked at a draft skills center administrative council resolution during a work session that would dissolve the interlocal agreement effective Aug. 31 and request approval from OSPI.
Jackson said the goal is to present more information about the skill center to the school board one last time in July and likely request dissolution after July 13.
Jones said the board is trying its “dangdest” to keep the skills center from closing.
“This is something we need to have a plan B for,” Jones said. “What happens when this resolution is brought before the board and we vote no?”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
Port Angeles School Board Director Susan Shotthafer questions staff about the dissolution of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center during a school board work session Thursday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
