Sno-Isle Tech school building will be rebuilt

Published 10:20 pm Tuesday, May 12, 2009

EVERETT — A burned-down school building will be rebuilt with a new design, but it’s still too early to tell when it will reopen.

It’s also too soon to know how much damage the fire from last week caused at the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center.

Insurance companies for the Mukilteo School District and for the contractor, which accidentally caused the fire, are working on their estimates, said Andy Muntz, a spokesman for the district, which oversees the campus, 9001 Airport Road.

“Right now, it needs to be made safe so they can go in there and start evaluating the losses,” Muntz said. “There is still a lot of work to be done. That probably won’t happen until later this week.”

Fire destroyed one of the campus’ eight buildings, which housed programs for dental and medical assistants, culinary arts and computer services and networking. Smoke reached classrooms in other buildings.

Tom Clemans teaches precision machining classes in a building near the one lost to fire.

“In the classroom and shop, you’d get a black finger by touching anything,” Clemans said. “A crew came in and cleaned the shop and classroom from ceiling to floor. The whole place is almost spotless. It is the first time in my 17 years at Sno-Isle that the shop has been truly clean. It’s now my goal to keep it this clean.”

Teachers are trying to get the message out that business is returning to normal.

“We’re persevering,” said Susan Rowe, Sno-Isle’s fashion and merchandising teacher. “We haven’t stopped teaching. We’re up and running.”

Her classes will host an annual fashion show of student-made and department-store clothes at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Future of Flight Aviation Center, 8415 Paine Field Boulevard, Mukilteo. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The class had traditionally used the Sno-Isle building that was destroyed in the fire but happened to pick the new venue this year, Rowe said.

Students have been relocated to classrooms off the main campus to nearby office buildings.

New computers were ordered within hours of the fire and are expected to arrive by midweek to replace ones that were lost in the fire.

Trailers will be brought to the campus for administrators who lost their offices.

Muntz said the district most likely will have the building redesigned. One advantage is new construction would probably take less time than a remodel, he said.

Sno-Isle offers 21 different technical programs from 14 different school districts throughout Snohomish and Island counties. More than 830 students divide their time between Sno-Isle and their home high schools.

“The fire did set us back a little, but the outlook looks brighter each day since,” Clemans said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.