SNOHOMISH — Valley View Middle School was too crammed to fit the 675 students within its walls.
Today, the Snohomish School Board is scheduled to select which construction company will demolish and build its replacement at 14308 Broadway Ave.
Students are now at the Maple Avenue Campus, Principal Nancy Rhoades said.
“It’s going to be a learning experience to adapt to the new environment,” she said.
The campus is located at 601 Glen Ave., almost five miles north from the school. Students started attending in January.
There is a need for the new 169,000-square-foot school because the student population was outgrowing the older building’s capacity, Rhoades said. The aging building was also getting more expensive to maintain.
The proposed new three-level school will be double the size of the old building. It’s designed to have 24 classrooms, six science labs and a computer lab. It will also have a library, a performance arts area and a gym, among other amenities.
Demolition is planned for late February. The school is scheduled to be ready for the 2012 school year.
It will be paid for by the same voter-approved 2008 bond measure of $261.6 million that paid for the construction of Machias and Riverview elementary schools. The bond is also paying for the addition of 10 classrooms and remodeling four science labs at the Centennial Middle School.
The School District has bids from eight companies. The bids ranged from $50.6 million to $56.5 million. Each company also submitted an alternate bid that includes adding three solar panels, said Kristin Foley, the district spokeswoman.
The lowest bidder is Absher Construction Co., of Puyallup. Its total bid with the alternative of solar panels was $51.9 million.
According to the company’s website, it built the Intensive Management Unit for the Monroe Correctional Complex in 2006. It also built the Marysville Getchell High School, and it is currently working on the new bachelor quarters and parking facility for the Naval Station Kitsap in Bremerton.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
Meeting
The board meeting is set for 6 p.m. in the Resource and Service Center Training Room, 1601 Ave. D.
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