SNOHOMISH — Emma Doucette had her doubts when she heard Riverview Elementary would be sharing a temporary campus with another school this fall.
“I thought, ‘I have to go here?’” the Riverview Elementary School fifth-grader said with a mock wince. “I thought it was going to be horrible. When I came here, I felt that this is a bigger school and a bigger playground and that I should have come here when I was in kindergarten.”
Emma is among the more than 850 Riverview and Machias elementary school students who are sharing space on the former Snohomish Freshman Campus this fall.
Their old schools largely have been demolished. They’ll be replaced by new two-story school buildings that are expected to open after winter break during the 2010-11 school year.
All of which makes for a tight squeeze this year.
“We are using every inch,” said Tammy Jones, the Riverview principal. “Every bit of space is used for something.”
For instance, another portable will be added this week, freeing up space in the music room now being used for another classroom.
For so many young people being brought together in one place, there has been little commotion.
“There are a lot of kids on the campus, but when you walk the halls, you don’t notice it,” said Ginny Schilaty, the Machias principal. “This school has been transformed into a wonderful learning space for kids.”
The goal is to maintain each school’s identity, but blend together when it makes sense. The two schools share the library, the gym, the lunchroom and the playground, but they stagger starting times. Machias students look for color-coded blue signs and Riverview students red to guide them around the grounds that are now called the Maple Avenue Campus.
The playground is mostly equipment from Riverview with swings from Machias.
Most books in the library are from Machias so the collections don’t get mixed up when the schools go their separate ways.
Even one kindergarten class is a mix of youngsters from both schools.
School leaders said consistency is important and they have brainstormed about the best ways to make things work, right down to the decision to let students from both schools roll down a gentle grass slope on the playground.
“I have looked at this as it is going to be an adventure that we are all on together — the kids, the teachers and the parents,” said Shirley Grant, a teacher who has been at Machias for 18 years.
Henry Ginder, 11, a fifth-grader from Riverview, would seem to agree.
“It reminded me a little of Harry Potter,” he said. “It’s really a lot of kids and stuff.”
Henry, who was “kind of excited and kind of nervous” about meeting children from the other school, has already started getting to know some of the Machias kids on the football field at recess.
Rita Belvill, a mother with a sixth-grader at Riverview, said initial worries she heard from parents seemed to have been answered. Some parents joked that it would seem like camping for a year and a half, she said.
“When you see the kids there, you realize it’s not a big deal,” she said. “I think a lot of times parents look at what the hurdles would be, but there are a lot of positives.”
The wait will be worth it when the new campuses open, school leaders, staff and students said.
Each new two-story school could cost $39 million, according to original estimates that were part of a $261 million bond measure voters approved in May 2008. Bids are expected to be opened in November. Machias was built in 1969; Riverview in 1966.
Jillian Ballas, 10, was eager to meet new students this year, but can hardly wait for a new Riverview to open. “I’m really excited about the whole new school,” she said. “I like new stuff. It will be so nice.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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