To the Editor: Why must we choose between schools and the Museum?

I’d like to think of the School Board as people who seek to honor both the our schools and our community so I’m upset that, in what feels like a rush to fund new high school buildings, a very important building will be lost. That building is the Ronald School Building, which now sits at North 185th Street and Linden Ave North, same place it has been since it was built in 1912, long before there was a Shoreline School District or a City of Shoreline.

Why does the school bond proposal offer us no choice? Either we approve the bond to fund school construction with the disappearance of this landmark building as we vote against the bond, postponing construction until a better plan, keeping the Ronald School Building (and the museum inside) intact is available. I encourage you to see for yourself by visiting the School District website and looking at the display model for the new Shorewood campus. Where’s the Ronald School?

I don’t see any semblance of the building because it has literally been designed right out of the picture.

The Ronald School building as it now stands has been updated using considerable amounts of our taxpayer money. I don’t know all the details, but do know that at the very least both state and city money has been used. It seems odd to me that we would choose to redo this building when it is serving a multitude of useful functions: It is a historical landmark, something which Shoreline has only a few; it is in the heart of town; it holds and displays the museum and visiting collections.

So why haven’t the voters been offered a solution which respects our proven commitment to this landmark?

Boni Biery
Shoreline