Mukilteo School District ponders change as enrollment continues to surge

MUKILTEO — Enrollment in the Mukilteo School District eclipsed 15,000 for the first time this fall.

It is a sign of the times: The growth has led to construction of a new elementary school to open next September and the need to change attendance boundaries.

Forecasters had been following rising birth rates within the district and expected some increase in the total headcount.

What was harder to gauge was how much of an impact new high-density apartments would have in the east end of the school district. Developers built them and families moved in in droves.

The district now uses 67 portables at its elementary schools.

“Enrollment is as high as it has ever been,” said Debra Fulton, the district’s director of support services. “We see the district continuing to grow at all levels.”

In the past 10 years, the district has added about a thousand students and, under some growth projections, could add another 800 by 2020.

That has meant a need for new schools. The district in 2014 made its case to voters, who approved a $119 million construction bond measure to accommodate growth and renovate existing buildings.

Now, with a new $37 million Lake Stickney Elementary School scheduled to open in the fall, a team of parents, school employees and district officials is redrawing attendance boundaries. Their work could affect roughly 1,000 students from eight of the district’s 11 elementary schools. Not affected are Columbia, Mukilteo and Endeavour elementary schools.

The committee, which took testimony from parents earlier this month, is expected to decide on its final recommendations Tuesday and forward its proposal to the school board for public comment at 6 p.m. Dec. 14 at the district office, 9401 Sharon Drive, Everett. It could vote on the boundary changes Jan. 11. To learn more about the boundary proposals, go to mukilteo.wednet.edu.

The new Lake Stickney Elementary School is being built on the site of the old school, which closed in 2003 when Odyssey Elementary School opened. The district held onto the land in anticipation of future growth.

In 2017, the district expects to open a new kindergarten center alongside the Fairmount Elementary School campus.

It is part of a strategy to offer all-day kindergarten across the school district by sending several hundred students at crowded schools to the one-year program.

Enrollment for the new kindergarten center will be determined by space needs at elementary schools each year. Some students will attend the kindergarten center while others could remain at their home school.

“We don’t want to throw 5-year-olds into a gigantic school,” said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman. “It will be broken into smaller sections with separate playgrounds. They will feel they are in a much smaller school.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.