May 21, 2009
Shoreline School District Planning to Evict Shoreline Historical Museum?
Dear Members, Donors and Friends,
We wish that we had time to call or write each of you personally and we are sorry that expediency demands that we send this general letter to all. We know that what you’re about to read will probably be somewhat of a shock.
Two weeks ago we accidentally became aware that the Shoreline School Board is planning to move the Museum out of its present place in the 1912 Ronald Elementary School, where it has resided for 33 years. Of course, this was a great surprise to all of our Board members, who have worked toward restoration of the building, and toward fulfilling the educational mission of the Museum.
Despite the fact that the School District has 26 acres of property on which to site their new building, the superintendent said at a public meeting of the Richmond Highlands Neighborhood Association on May 5th that the Museum would not be staying in the Ronald School building. The school board has never openly asked or involved the Museum, which is a stakeholder on the property. In all the months of planning, this is the first time such a specific pronouncement has been made, and it was not made to us directly.
Up until a few days ago, no one from the school district had formally contacted the director, board members or anyone else at the Museum, except for a letter of April 30, 2008 stating that they were analyzing the rebuilding of Shorewood, but saying nothing about evicting the Museum. We invited the school board president and representatives to attend our board meeting on May 20, 2009. At that meeting, they stated that “no decision has been made” however, they did say that none of the preferred plans include keeping the Museum in the Ronald School Building. If this is true, the school district has broken the good faith of our working relationship, evicting the Museum from its current home. The only tool that we have to stop this tragedy, is to challenge the planning process by galvanizing a community effort to make the school district board aware that the community does not support their plan to evict the museum.
Enclosed you will find an envelope accompanied by the School District address. We ask you to hand-write the address on the envelope to the Shoreline School Board President Debi Ehrlichman. Please take a moment to also write a note to her, telling her how important it is that the Museum remain in its building, and how you do not approve of any plan that would evict the Museum. If you would rather send email, every member of the board will receive your message at this address: school.board@shorelineschools.org or through the link at: http://www.shorelineschools.org/about_us/school_board/contact.php The phone number for the School Board Office is 206-361-4203.
Enclosed is a list of statistics outlining the far-reaching impact the Shoreline Historical Museum has had on the educational, economic, and cultural health of our community. Please feel free to use this information when talking with your friends and neighbors about this. TIME IS SHORT. There will be only one regular school board meeting - Monday, June 1st 2009 at 7:00 p.m. - before they present their plans at a public gathering on the evening of June 4th at Shorewood High School.
Sincerely,
Robert Phelps
Shoreline Historical Museum President pro tem, Board of Trustees
Serving Northwest King County ◊ Shoreline ◊ Lake Forest Park◊ North Seattle ◊ 749 - N. 175th Shoreline. WA 98133 - 206-542-7111