Mukilteo School District wants ideas on fitting more kids into existing classrooms

Published 10:08 pm Sunday, July 20, 2008

MUKILTEO — A panel of parents and educators in the Mukilteo School District will begin looking for ways to solve a classroom space crunch early next fall.

The committee, which will include about 40 members, is expected to recommend changing elementary school boundaries but also could consider other options, such as staggering school day starting times or juggling the school calendar.

Discussions will start in September when school resumes and a recommendation to the Mukilteo School Board is expected by early 2009.

The study became necessary when voters rejected a $139 million bond measure twice this spring that would have included a new elementary school in the district’s rapidly growing south end.

Enrollment in the district rose by nearly 1,000 students over the past 10 years and is expected to increase by more than that over the next decade. There are now 14,147 students in the district, but that could increase to nearly 16,000 by 2017, according to a district consultant’s enrollment projections.

Growth has been particularly noticeable in the Lake Stickney area.

For instance, Odyssey Elementary School opened with 563 students four years ago. Enrollment there last month was 780. The school has four portable classrooms used by 96 students. Next fall, all five of Odyssey’s kindergarten classrooms will be bused to Serene Lake Elementary School to free up space.

If the district didn’t move Odyssey students elsewhere, the elementary school would have the district’s third-largest enrollment, behind only Mariner and Kamiak high schools, said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman.

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