EVERETT — The Everett School Board has lengthened the timeline to alleviate overcrowding at Henry M. Jackson High School.
As the board decides how to deal with growing high school enrollments, directors voted 4-0 Tuesday evening to postpone implementing its solutions until fall 2020, instead of 2019.
The district has never had more students than it does now.
Jackson was nearly 380 students over capacity this year. There were 17 portable classrooms on the campus. By 2023, the district estimates the Mill Creek campus will need 30 if nothing is done.
Directors said they need the extra time for more public outreach.
A committee will be formed to research and recommend action to the board.
The superintendent will present a plan outlining the committee’s process at its Aug. 28 meeting. The board’s final decision, which could come next June, may consist of adjusted boundaries that determine which students will attend which high schools. Other possibilities are adding more portables, staggering student schedules or switching to year-round schooling.
A boundary change could send 375 Jackson students to Cascade High School. Additionally, 375 students from Cascade would switch to Everett High School.
In June, the board voted to adjust other school boundaries because the district is opening a new elementary school. Those changes will take effect in 2019.
Director Traci Mitchell said activities such as marching band, sports and leadership make it more difficult to move high school students.
The plan will be a temporary fix, and the long-term solution would be a fourth district high school.
In February, the board floated a bond measure that would have paid for a new school. It needed 60 percent of the vote to pass but received 55 percent. If it had passed, the school could have opened in fall 2022.
The district now has its eyes on a ballot item for spring 2020. If passed, a school could be completed by fall 2024.
If the school is built, boundaries will be redrawn again.
Joseph Thompson: 425-339-3430; jthompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @JoeyJThomp.
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