Candidates for the Bainbridge Island School Board have submitted candidate statements for Kitsap County’s voters’s pamplet.

Mike Spence is seeking the Position 2 seat on the Bainbridge Island School Board. His opponent is Dale Perry.

Mike Spence

Biography: Mike Spence is an attorney at Helsell Fetterman, LLP, practicing real estate and land use law. He is also a certified mediator and arbitrator and a licensed real estate law instructor. He was elected to the Bainbridge Island School Board in 2009 and is running for his second term. He has two children in the District, a 6th grader at Sakai and a freshman at BHS. Prior to joining Helsell Fetterman, he practiced law at Harrison, Benis & Spence, LLP, a firm he formed in 1994. He has lived on Bainbridge Island since 1999.

Statement: I am proud of BISD’s accomplishments over the last four years. Despite the recession, BISD: 1) returned almost $800,000.00 to taxpayers in savings on the BHS 200 building bond; 2) took advantage of low interest rates to refinance our debt, saving taxpayers $12,000,000.00; 3) completed construction of Wilkes on budget.

Educationally, the District: 1) implemented an innovative STEM program; 2) created a multi age learning program at Wilkes Elementary; 3) created a Spanish Immersion Pilot Project at Commodore; 4) implemented a program at Sakai that allows high achieving students to take advanced math classes.

This and more is why BISD remains one of the top school districts in Washington. In 2012, three of our schools won Washington Achievement Awards, the highest honor in the State. And US News & World Report recently ranked BHS as one of the top 500 high schools countrywide out of almost 22,000 schools.

Much remains to be done, however. BISD is studying ways to promote innovation and whether or not our current configuration is optimal, and tough but important choices must soon be made. I care deeply about the District and would be honored to stay involved in these issues. Thank you for your support!