Lately, the pages of the Record have been crammed with all the great things happening in local schools. A nation-hopping band program and personal profiles of Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation’s Educators of the Year have merited a lot of ink in recent weeks, and for good reason.

All this positive news comes at the same time that local e-forums are buzzing with more complicated matters in local education. Chief among them is the Snoqualmie Valley district board of directors’ decision to once again seek a taxpayer-funded bond to build a new middle school, while pushing ahead with plans to put a Freshman Learning Center at Snoqualmie Middle School.

The board, which split 3-2 on the campus decision but came together to present unity on a bond decision, has essentially come full circle, less than a year after a middle school bond narrowly failed at the polls.

To be frank, I didn’t expect this decision this soon, not after the bond’s agonizing demise in 2011—it’s still amazing to consider that one vote loss!

To succeed, bonds must have community buy-in. Given the heat at some of these meetings, it’s clear that a good chunk of our community, including students, remains unconvinced that the freshman campus is the right path forward, at least right now. Two new board members are publicly reluctant to take the plunge.

Personally, I’m not troubled by dissension. I’d rather see healthy discussion than unity for the sake of appearances.

But sooner or later, to move forward, most of us need to be on the same page.

We need to define, or redefine, what’s right for students, and what the community really needs and will bear. We need a Valley-wide discussion of these issues. I don’t think that’s happened yet. But it’s got to—bond proponents must overcome controversy with strong arguments. Because I don’t think we’ll ever come back to a one-vote margin again.