The Blaine school board traveled across the U.S./Canada border to Point Roberts Primary School for its yearly board meeting on the exclave September 22. The board discussed a range of issues from improving relations with the Point Roberts community to kindergarten enrollment and changing the middle and high school cell phone use policy.
Interim superintendent Dan Chaplik said initial enrollment reports were slightly above budget for the 2025-26 school year, with 111 kindergarteners enrolled. Chaplik said a clearer snapshot of enrollment will be available by October 1 as some students were still enrolling.
Chaplik told the board that class sizes for grades K-3 will operate at a 17:1 student to teacher ratio.
Enrollment plays a significant part in the district’s general fund revenue, with higher enrollment granting the district more funding from the state.
Kindergarten enrollment has dropped over recent years. Departing high school seniors have outnumbered incoming kindergarteners for multiple years in a row, a sign of a long-term, district-wide downward trend in enrollment.
Chaplik announced the appointment of Linsey Pike as the new principal of Point Roberts Primary School. She will continue to serve as assistant principal for Blaine Primary School and visit the Point Roberts school on a monthly basis.
“I’m really excited to be here. From all the people that I’ve met and all the conversations that I’ve had, I can definitely feel the dedication to this community and to this school,” Pike said. “My hope is that we can work together and continue to build those community partnerships and get more kids here … this is such a unique place to get an education, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Chaplik, who coincidentally was Pike’s third grade teacher at Blaine Elementary School in 1993, lauded her leadership abilities and hoped this would be a step in the right direction for district relations with Point Roberts.
“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Linsey,” Chaplik said. “She is a strong leader, fantastic person, and I couldn’t think of anybody better to connect with Point Roberts Primary.”
The school board approved a first reading of Policy 3245, which concerns cell phone use by students while on school district grounds. The most recent telecommunication policy was ratified in 2017.
The 2017 policy allowed for each school to set its own rules about use during lunch, passing periods and classroom learning. The new policy explicitly allows an exception for 9-12 graders to use phones during lunch, with no exceptions for passing periods or for other schools.
Chaplik said he noticed during his previous role as superintendent of the Sultan school district that students were more engaged with each other and their work with an “off and away” cell phone policy.
The newly-introduced policy still requires cell phones be turned off during the school day, with exceptions for situations of imminent danger or when allowed by staff. Both the 2017 and drafted policy also state that devices must not disrupt the learning environment and academic integrity, students can’t use phones for sexual purposes on school grounds, school officials may confiscate the device, and the school reserves the right to search the phone.
Chaplik asked the board to consider amendments and hold a second reading at next month’s board meeting.
Pat Grubb contributed to the reporting for this article
