School building boom
Published 11:45 pm Saturday, September 1, 2007
More than three-quarters of a billion dollars is being spent to build new schools and remodel old ones in Snohomish County.
This week, when fall classes begin, three new schools will open. Two more will follow by January.
And that’s only the most recent rapid-fire burst in the building boom: Lynnwood, Marysville and Snohomish will unveil new high schools during the next three years.
Overcrowded classrooms and worn-out buildings have spurred voters and state lawmakers to invest at record levels in the bricks and mortar where children learn. Lower housing costs continue to lure families who are willing to make longer work commutes from north and east Snohomish County.
That area is part of an outer ring of Puget Sound suburbia and one of the few spots in the state where new schools are being built to deal with overcrowding, said Carter Bagg, who spent 15 years as a regional coordinator for the state overseeing school construction projects from King County to the Canadian border.
Bagg can’t remember so much school construction happening at once in so many districts in Snohomish County.
“You still have the growth where you need the space,” he said.
The trend of school construction statewide is to fix existing schools or build anew on the same campus.
“I would say they are a bit of an anomaly,” said Jon Gores, referring to Snohomish County. Gores is vice president for D.A. Davidson, a Seattle brokerage firm. “They are growing and adding high schools. A lot of my clients around the state are looking to modernize (existing) schools.”
The regional enrollment growth along with aging schools and a complex combination of industry factors are resulting in some big bond measures, said Gores, who has worked for 24 years in financing school projects in Washington.
“I think you are seeing a high number of bond issues being passed, especially in Snohomish County,” Gores said. “And then you look at the size of the bonds. I am seeing the greatest increases in school construction that I have seen in my career.”
Rising construction costs have created sticker shock, leading school districts with the money in hand to press ahead quickly to avoid even greater costs.
Analysts say the surging cost has many roots. Steel, concrete and copper wiring are at a premium because of China’s construction boom, the rebuilding in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina and preparations for the Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. High oil prices are jacking up the cost of getting those materials to building sites. And construction projects closer to home, such as high rises in downtown Bellevue, are gobbling up workers and intensifying the competition for labor.
Combine the cost of schools opening this year and projects over the next three years and the tab for local school construction exceeds $760 million. That figure includes voter-approved bonds, state matching money and, in a few cases, other revenue sources.
More than half of that figure is to build new high schools, starting with a $40 million Granite Falls High School that is scheduled to open in January with an initial enrollment of 800. The school with a full view of Mount Pilchuck is being built so it can be expanded to 1,200. It includes 38 classrooms, a performing arts center that will seat 400, a manufacturing lab, five science labs and a greenhouse as well as business and library technology labs.
The current Granite Falls High School will be converted into Granite Falls Middle School and the existing middle school will eventually become a third elementary school.
Also in January, the Marysville Secondary Campus is scheduled to open. The grounds on the Tulalip Indian Reservation will house three small schools: Marysville Arts &Technology High School, Tulalip Heritage Option High School and Tenth Street School. All are districtwide option programs students can choose instead of attending more traditional schools.
The $24.7 million price tag is being paid by fees charged to developers for growth impacts. The custom-designed schools have been built in sections in a factory at Smokey Point and are being connected by crane and construction crews at the school site.
By next fall, Glacier Peak High School will open in the Snohomish School District at a total cost of $88.8 million. Another $63.7 million will be spent on the first phase of an upgrade of the existing Snohomish High School. By 2009, Glacier Peak is expected to have an enrollment of 1,460 and Snohomish High of 1,500.
A new Lynnwood High School will follow in 2009 at a cost of $99.8 million. It is being built on a 40-acre site one mile east of the existing Lynnwood High School, which will be turned over to commercial developers under a long-term lease that will generate money for the district to pursue more school construction projects and give taxpayers a break.
Marysville-Getchell High School is scheduled to open in fall 2010 at a total cost of $96 million. It will help Marysville-Pilchuck High School shed the distinction of being one of the two largest high schools in the state along with Pasco High School. It is likely to be Washington’s largest in 2009 when a second large high school opens in the Pasco School District.
Logging the site is expected begin this fall for the Marysville campus designed for 1,600 students who will attend small schools in separate buildings.
Here’s a look at the schools opening this week:
Cavelero Mid High School
The corridors smelled more like the inside of a new Lexus than teen spirit.
A week before school was set to start, Principal John Gebert passed more construction workers in the hallways of Cavelero Mid High School in Lake Stevens than he did staff members.
The baseball field was mountainous piles of dirt and the gym wouldn’t be ready for an opening-day assembly, but that doesn’t in the least deter Gebert, who is just grateful to have a spacious new campus on the tree-lined hill that will serve all the eighth- and ninth-graders in the Lake Stevens School District.
“We really needed this,” he said.
Gebert speaks from experience. He has been principal at Lake Stevens Middle School and Lake Stevens High School.
Cavelero will provide a relief valve for the district’s overcrowded two middle schools and its high school, freeing up space by taking in 1,200 students.
With 240,000 square feet, the two-story $66.8 million school is larger than Lake Stevens High. And some day, as Lake Stevens grows, Cavelero will become the school district’s second high school with a capacity for 1,600 students.
“It was built to meet future need,” said Arlene Hulten, a school district spokeswoman.
Cavelero has four academic wings where students will spend most of their school days. Its high-tech classrooms include speakers to improve acoustics. The school has many large windows to bring in natural light and look out at picturesque views of Mount Rainier.
On the football field are a couple of overlapping horseshoes painted into the turf that also make two large Cs. That stands for Cavelero Colts and serves as a reminder of the land’s past as a horse farm.
Forest View Elementary School
Gaze out the large windows from the second-story library and it becomes clear why Forest View was chosen for the name of the Everett School District’s 17th elementary school.
It looks into a stand of fir and a seasonal stream that feeds into Little Bear Creek each winter.
That woodsy feel was incorporated into the design of the two-story, $23.8 million school with fir logs lining the wide corridors on both floors.
“We really tried to bring the outside into the building,” said Principal Brenda Fuglevand. “As a result, we have an absolutely gorgeous school.”
And it’s quiet and smells good, too.
Inside, the school features a constant flow of fresh air from the outside and lots of natural lighting. Sliding walls can serve as doors to neighboring classrooms, but when they are closed all is silent.
Forest View was built for 550 students and will include students who attended three elementary schools in the growing south end of the district. It will open with about 390.
Judy Nicholson, construction manager for Forest View, said the design was built to fit into the site, both technically and aesthetically.
“This site demanded something different,” she said. “We adapted to it and we played with it. I think we respected it and put something in here that seems to conform to the beautiful property we have.”
Little Cedars Elementary School
Principal Becky Brockman keeps a photo of her new school’s first staff meeting in her computer.
In truth, it was more a photo op than a staff meeting with Brockman and her teachers standing in the mud last October in the spot that is now her office.
Less than a year later, Little Cedars is ready to open for more than 700 students on Wednesday. The total project cost $24.1 million and the school fills nearly 68,000 square feet.
“It has been an incredible process, literally from the ground up,” Brockman said.
Little Cedars includes an academic wing and an activities wing that are connected from a second-floor sky bridge. The activities wing includes two music rooms, a gym, library and multi-purpose room.
“It is designed with great places for kids to learn in larger groups, in the classroom and in small learning spaces,” Brockman said.
The school uses state-of-the-art technology as well.
For instance, there are no roll-down maps. Instead, teachers simply tap into their computer-connected whiteboard at the front of their classroom and have hundreds of different maps to choose from and display at their fingertips.
“I am really excited about all the educational tools that will be able to enhance learning,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
