Chaplik’s contract extended for another 3 years

The Blaine school board unanimously extended interim superintendent Dan Chaplik’s contract, which was set to end next summer, for another three years during its monthly meeting on October 27. The board also updated the district’s cell phone policy in the middle and high school and the district announced lunch returning to the high school in January.

Chaplik to stay as superintendent

The school board extended Chaplik’s contract through the 2027-28 school year, with an option for the board to opt-out of the contract prior to the final year.

The contract extension comes just a few months after Chaplik began his duties as interim superintendent on July 1. Chaplik replaced previous superintendent Dr. Christopher Granger.

The board will discuss terms for the second and third years of the interim superintendent’s contract in the spring of 2026. Chaplik has made a point to bring a new culture into the school district, one that seems to be noticed by the district directors.

“Frankly, I don’t think healing the community happens in a year,” director Steve Galbraith said. “I think it takes Dan more than a year to get past some stuff, to implement systems which I think need to be implemented, and get the district on a good footing.”

Chaplik, who began his teaching career at Blaine Elementary School 32 years ago, has made efforts to increase enrollment, improve outcomes for students, and repair relationships between the district and Blaine community.

“In looking at the massive amounts of change that has gone on in really key positions, I don’t think that I could, in a year’s time, in fairness to everybody, have everything up to speed,” Chaplik told the board. “Meaning, there’s a lot to learn.”

Within his first few weeks on the job, Chaplik proposed pausing a controversial merger of first through third grade classes from the primary school into the elementary school. The merger was intended to save the cash-strapped district hundreds of thousands of dollars but was widely disliked by staff and parents.

Chaplik said the fallout from the merger would have been “brutal,” and said the district needs to do all it can to attract more students.

Director Ryan Swinburnson fought to add an additional opt-out for the 2026-27 school year, so the district could have more flexibility in the contract, but was voted down 1-3.

“It’s not anything specific to Dan,” Swinburnson said. “It’s simply specific to the situation that our district finds itself in. We don’t want to be in a position where the morale and culture boost that we’ve experienced all of a sudden dissipates.”

Chaplik reported to the board that he had already identified $435,000 in revenue the district was missing from oversized K-3 classes. Swinburnson went on to say that morale in the district seems to be improving.

“I spent my first five years here,” Chaplik said. “I’m convinced that Blaine has meaning to me that I don’t think any other school district does.”

Food service to reopen in high school

Chaplik announced that food service in the high school cafeteria will resume starting January 12, 2026.

Both middle and high school students receive school meals from the middle school cafeteria, with the high school cafeteria used as a central kitchen that doesn’t serve food. That change was made by Granger as a cost-saving measure after multiple years of decline in the number of students purchasing school lunches.

In an effort to better control campus, the school is becoming stricter on students who try leaving campus for lunch. Chaplik said that has resulted in roughly 150-200 more meals being served daily.

With more students eating on-campus, Chaplik said the district is claiming nearly $10,000 more a month in food costs, which are picked up by the state.

New cell phone policy

The board unanimously approved a new policy that will require phones to be put away during the regular school day for middle and high school students. The vote comes after Chaplik introduced a more rigid cell phone policy during the September board meeting.

Policy 3245 is similar to ones already enacted in other Whatcom County school districts, and the previous policy hadn’t been updated since 2017.

The original draft of the policy had required students to turn off their cell phones during school hours, but now the policy requires phones to be put away, not powered off.

“Districts that have implemented these policies and procedures have had good experiences,” Chaplik said. “Students have had better experiences, are engaged with each other and learning, and not with their phones.”