April 25 - May 1, 2019
FREE
Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Candidate filing week approaching, page 7
Meet new division chief and fire marshal, page 13
Students shine in state writing contest, page 13
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
School district planning budget that would require teacher layoffs By Oliver Lazenby
(See Budget, page 3)
s A Blaine Builder Award was presented to Gary Dunster by mayor Bonnie Onyon at Blaine City Council’s April 22 meeting. Dunster was recognized for his contributions to the city of Blaine, including as a fire department volunteer, high school sports coach and commercial fisherman. Dunster is chairman of Blaine’s Fisherman’s Memorial Committee, and is helping to organize the upcoming Blessing of the Fleet memorial event on May 5. For more on Dunster’s contributions to the fishing community, see the story on page 10.
Photo by Jami Makan
Superintendent retiring after 36 years in education By Oliver Lazenby After 13 years as Blaine school district superintendent and 36 years in public education, Ron Spanjer announced plans to retire at the end of August. “This is something that my wife and I have been thinking about for a while,” he said. “Thirteen years is a long time. It’s been a very positive experience and I’ve worked with very supportive people and incredibly dedicated board members, so the years have really gone by quickly.” With the three-year Blaine High School
construction project coming to a close this summer, the timing seemed right, Spanjer said. He counts that as a standout project during his tenure, along with shifting all district schools to the same schedule and expanding college in the classroom and career and technical education programs, among other things. Before coming to Blaine, Spanjer worked for the Port Angeles school district as an assistant superintendent, special education director and human resources director for eight years. Prior to that, he was an elementary and middle school principal in
High B.C. gas prices bring motorists south of border By Jami Makan Blaine gas stations had a busy weekend, as the Easter holiday and high B.C. gas prices brought more drivers south of the border to fill up their tanks. For the second weekend in a row, gas prices in B.C. reached another record-breaking high. Many B.C. drivers interviewed by The Northern Light on Sunday reported seeing prices of $1.72 Canadian dollars per liter in B.C. over the long Easter weekend.
“I’ve seen a huge increase in the number of B.C. drivers crossing the border to fill up,” said Cameron Branco, clerk at the Mobil station at 371 3rd Street in Blaine. “Many of them are also bringing gas cans to fill up, in addition to their cars.” The math shows that B.C. drivers can indeed save big bucks by crossing the border to fill up. $1.72 Canadian dollars per liter translates to $6.51 Canadian dollars per gallon, since there are 3.785 liters in a gallon. At Sunday’s exchange rates, that meant B.C. drivers would be paying
the equivalent of $4.88 U.S. dollars per gallon north of the border. South of the border, however, prices were considerably lower on Sunday. At the Mobil station, for example, regular fuel was $3.69 U.S. dollars per gallon. That’s a savings of almost 25 percent compared to the price of B.C. gas. The price of gas was somewhat higher at other Blaine stations. At the Shell station near Peace Portal Drive and Bell (See Gas prices, page 7)
the Battle Ground school district in southwest Washington. He began his career in education as a teacher in the Port Angeles district. In retirement, Spanjer plans to spend more time with his family. He has three kids and other family members scattered throughout Washington and Oregon. “It will be nice to take a step away from a 24–7 schedule and do more than just flyby visits with family,” he said. Spanjer’s decision to retire isn’t related to the district’s forecast $1.1 million budget deficit for the 2019-2020 school year or (See Spanjer, page 6)
INSIDE
The Blaine school district is projecting a $1.1 million budget shortfall next year and is planning a budget for the 20192020 school year that could require laying off up to six teachers. The factors are fluid, as state lawmakers continue to work on a budget that will affect the district’s finances, but the district is contractually obligated to notify teachers of possible layoffs by May 15. “We have to continue moving forward with this process and assume the worst case scenario,” Blaine superintendent Ron Spanjer said at the beginning of an April 15 budget work session. Complicating things further, the state legislative session isn’t scheduled to end until April 28 and lawmakers haven’t adjourned on schedule since 2009; the 2015 and 2017 state legislative sessions both extended into July. The Blaine school district board of directors typically passes a final budget at its August meeting. The audience at the April 15 budget work session, composed mostly of school staff, said any staffing cuts will impact students: changes to kitchen staff could mean less on the menu and a line longer than the lunch period; teacher changes mean bigger classes; losing intervention specialist and learning support staff means less support for students at risk of dropping out. What might be cut? District finance director Amber Porter presented a plan to the board at the April 15 meeting that outlined cutting $650,000 from the district’s budget for teachers and about $250,000 from its classified staffing budget. Classified staff include most non-teaching positions, such as janitors, cafeteria and playground support, secretaries, maintenance and operations and library staff. That corresponds to roughly six teacher
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
TheNorthernLight.com TheNorthernLight
@TNLreporter
@TheNorthernLightNews