LAKE STEVENS — Work could start by the end of the month on a new preschool and elementary campus between Soper Hill Road and Lake Drive, just east of Highway 9.
On Wednesday, the Lake Stevens School Board awarded a $1.6 million contract for site work at the 38-acre campus. That work includes clearing and logging part of the site, grading and excavation and setting up building pads for the next phase of construction.
Work on the schools themselves won’t begin for several more months. The school board aims to award a contract for the rest of the construction in September.
Interwest Construction Inc., a Burlington-based company, received the site work contract after submitting the lowest of eight bids.
The new elementary and preschool is a roughly $30 million project, paid for by about $20 million in bond money and $10 million in state matching funds. Lake Stevens voters passed a $116 million bond with 62 percent of the vote in February 2016. Money from the bond also is going toward new buildings at Lake Stevens High School and updates at schools across the district, including the installation of more security features, such as cameras, upgraded intercoms and door access controls.
The goal is to open the new elementary and preschool for the 2017-18 school year. The site work should be done by September and work on the buildings would start soon after, district spokeswoman Jayme Taylor said.
The campus is expected to have a school for 550 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. There also would be an early learning center that would be home to two preschool programs: a developmental preschool for children with special needs and the early childhood education and assistance program, or ECEAP. There would be space on the property for a new middle school, though officials don’t anticipate needing to build that for another 10 years.
Designs call for the gym and cafeteria to be built with room for up to 700 students. Common areas have become crowded in Lake Stevens’ six other elementaries.
Boundaries for the elementary schools need to be reviewed and updated to include the new campus. That change also is expected to shuffle some kids around at the other elementaries. A public process is planned for district officials to share information and gather comments before the boundaries are changed. A committee is expected to be created this fall. More information will be shared on the district’s website, Taylor said. The web address is lakestevens.wednet.edu/bond.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus is planned for 3 p.m. on June 23. It’s a chance to thank the community, Taylor said.
The elementary already has a principal. Matt Pewitt, currently principal of Highland Elementary School in Lake Stevens, has been hired for the job and plans to switch over to the new school when it opens. Starting in the 2016-17 school year, he’ll serve as a part-time planning principal for the project.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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