Everett middle school celebrates opening of new gym

EVERETT — Students and staff celebrated the opening of a new gymnasium at an Everett middle school on Tuesday, five years after voters approved a multimillion-dollar bond to pay for the new building and other improvements district-wide.

Kendrah Leone, the principal at Explorer Middle School — part of the Mukilteo School District — said the team of district staff and outside contractors who designed and built the project centered the priorities of students when making decisions on how the new gym would look.

“It was really important to that team to take the student voice and bring it to life with this project,” Leone said Tuesday. “It truly is an innovative space that has students’ learning, growth and well-being in mind in every corner of this space.”

Students and staff who used the former gym described it as hot and dark. The roof in the gym was so low that volleyball player Dina Worku said she recalled “countless” serves striking the ceiling during games. Parker Brooking, Explorer Middle School’s Associated Student Body president, said the old gymnasium made holding events difficult.

“With this gym, we don’t have to worry about that,” Parker said.

The new gym includes brighter lighting, a higher ceiling and enough bleacher seats to fit the entire student body, said Shelly Henderson, the district’s director of capital projects. The changing rooms and gym lockers were also expanded to improve safety.

Voters narrowly approved the partial replacement of the school in 2020 as part of a $240 million bond measure. That also paid for additions to three elementary schools, a high school, and the partial replacement of two other elementaries.

As part of the first phase of Explorer’s replacement, the district built a new gym, auxiliary gym, fitness room and new support spaces. The football field and track were rebuilt with synthetic turf, walkways around the school were improved and an underground stormwater system was built to prevent flooding. Construction began in 2024 and was completed by the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Officials at the Mukilteo School District will go to voters in February 2026 with a $400 million ask for additional district-wide construction, including the completion of the Explorer Middle School replacement, the bond’s $134.7 million centerpiece. Explorer was originally constructed in 1973, with some renovations done in 1989 and 2005.

Other projects in that 2026 bond would pay for an $88 million replacement of Mukilteo Elementary School and work toward replacement of two other elementary schools: Serene Lake Elementary and Olivia Park Elementary. Among other projects, the bond would also fund a $27 million expansion of the Kamiak High School gym, new synthetic turf fields at some schools and district-wide building maintenance and fire alarm replacements.

The Mukilteo School District serves the city of Mukilteo as well as parts of Everett, Lynnwood, Edmonds and unincorporated Snohomish County. Just over 15,000 students attend schools in the district.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.