In a sudden reversal, the Blaine school board voted unanimously to pause moving first and second grade classes from the primary school building into the elementary school building, originally set to save $600,000 for the 2025-26 school year.
During a July 14 special meeting, a packed house of school staff, parents and community members applauded the board’s decision to pause the merger for at least one year before potentially reconsidering the merger for next year’s budget.
The school board, along with interim superintendent Dan Chaplik, went into executive session for roughly 90 minutes to discuss a plan for Chaplik to investigate where else the district could cut the budget, finding similar savings without merging the schools. After returning from executive session, the board quickly voted unanimously to pause the merger for one year.
“I’m really appreciative of Dan to come in and look at [the budget] with fresh eyes and say, ‘Well, maybe there is a way,’” said district 5 director Steve Galbraith.
Former superintendent Christopher Granger had suggested moving the first and second grade classes as a way to save the district roughly $600,000 annually, sparing deeper cuts to staff and educational opportunities for students. Granger argued that consolidating the classes into one building would cut maintenance and energy costs at the primary school and prepare the district for years of expected enrollment reductions.
Granger also pointed to the fact that Blaine is the only Whatcom County school district with both a primary and elementary school. Other school districts enroll grades K-5 in elementary school, while Blaine splits grades K-2 into the primary school, and grades 3-5 in the elementary school.
The reduced education plan for the 2025-26 school year, approved by a 4-1 vote in March, still eliminated an estimated 46 staff positions, cut all C-team high school athletics and significantly reshuffled district administrative staff. The proposed merger made up a portion of $3 million in cuts.
Speaking publicly for the first time as interim superintendent since starting July 1, Chaplik said he was excited for the challenge of finding new ways to save the $600,000 that the merger promised to save.
Some parents and the Blaine teachers union were against the proposed merger, citing overcrowding concerns, makeshift classrooms without windows and aprehension toward the district’s youngest students sharing space with older students.
Chaplik, who is serving a one-year interim term, is now faced with the challenge of finding other ways to save hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the district financially solvent and abide by state financial requirements.
“I’m ready for this challenge because this is too great of a community, too great of a school district for us to not be willing to take this step,” Chaplik said prior to the vote. “I just want to thank the board for having enough belief in this process to recognize that we’re here for the purpose of community and kids. We really have to fend off anything that gets in the way of that path.”
District 4 director Ryan Swinburnson described the decision as a “risk,” citing the unknowns of next year’s financial situation, but said it was worth keeping the district’s youngest students in place.
“There’s particular risks in putting a pause in place, but there’s also risks in not putting a pause in place,” Swinburnson said. “We talked from day one that the merger is not an ideal option. Nobody wants it. Nobody in this board wants it, nobody out there wants it. Putting a pause is probably worth the risk.”
The next regular school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, July 28 in the district boardroom, 770 Mitchell Avenue.
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