The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

I am a Page resident, grandparent of students, and landowner in the Orchard district. I think there were 103 kids in the Page school when my kids started there in 1993. A few years later, families started transferring out as classes got smaller. Fourteen years later, Page had four students and five employees, and they closed.

Orchard has 79 students in K-8 this year. I know that Orchard has enough money, but if the Summerland school bond doesn’t pass and families leave, which they will, I don’t think the Orchard school will even make it 10 more years on their own.

I was a Page represe...