EVERETT — Marysville Middle School is becoming the new Liberty Elementary.
Part of that transformation includes a new playground built by school staff and volunteers on Wednesday.
Following hard financial times, Marysville School District closed the 74-year-old Liberty Elementary School building in May, which now stands empty across the street. Marysville Middle School closed at the same time. Its students will be split between Cedarcrest and Totem middle schools.
Northwest Playground Equipment, Inc. awarded the school district a community build grant to install a new playground at no labor cost. This is an approximately $50,000 savings, according to Connor Krebbs, Marysville School District director of facilities and safety during a school board presentation Aug. 4.
Members of Northwest Playground came from across the Pacific Northwest to help with the build, President Chris McGarvey said.
“Bringing everybody here is fantastic,” he said. “We’re together, and if we’re building the playground at the same time, there’s nothing better.”
Northwest Playground participates in around six community builds each year, McGarvey said, but this project marks the first time the organization was the sole sponsor.
The project in Marysville was chosen in large part because of its significant community impact, McGarvey said. “Having folks that were enthused about the project” also played a role.
Volunteers mixed cement, attached handrails and sledgehammered a plastic boundary into place to hold a bed of wood chips underneath it all. The project included some equipment from the old Liberty campus, but most of the old playground will be used as replacement parts for the district when needed, Krebbs said.
Various school staff took part in building the playground, including Liberty Principal Tarvis Hammond.
“This is amazing,” he said about the group coming together. “We’ve got people coming from Idaho Falls that are here.”
Hammond’s fourth year of leading Liberty will be in the building where he started teaching. Hammond became a science teacher after a few months of subbing at Marysville Middle School, he said. He taught in Room 103 for 14 years.
“Seeing this disappear was hard, but it’s good to be back,” Hammond said. “It’s hard to change everything — change from Wildcats to Eagles — but it’ll be good. It’s a good change.”
At the start of the school year, the district will bring three schools and over 700 students together, Hammond said. Liberty Elementary, all of the district’s highly capable students and the Marysville Cooperative Education Program will be located in what used to be Marysville Middle School.
The building is about 80% ready, Hammond said. The floors were polished the same day, and some painting in the parking lot will happen a week later. Other decorative pieces will be installed throughout the school year, he said.
Teachers have been setting up their classrooms since July, Krebbs said. Custodial and maintenance staff from around the district repainted the hallways, moved furniture and lowered the toilets and sinks.
The school’s signs will be changed, too, Hammond said. “They’re just banners that we’re putting over them — outdoor banners — but they’ll say Liberty by the end.”
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
