When the school day ends at Marysville-Pilchuck High, tidal waves of humanity are unleashed from every direction. The sheer volume of students – 2,350 of them on a campus designed for 1,850 – conveys the feel of a sold-out rock concert more than a high school campus.
At Marysville’s 50-year-old Cascade Elementary School, classroom lights flicker every time the faculty-room microwave is turned on. Crowded Sunnyside Elementary, which like Cascade makes heavy use of portable classrooms that have no running water or restrooms, can’t accommodate students whose homes are practically next door. They’re bused to another school six miles away.
Fifteen years after passing its last bond measure, the Marysville School District faces a near crisis. Population growth and the passage of time have left facilities that are too small or too decayed to provide the learning environment students need and deserve.
So the district, at the behest of a 60-member citizens’ committee, is asking voters to approve a $171 million bond issue on May 17, one that would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $22 a month.
That’s not enough to cover all of the district’s needs, but it will address the most pressing ones, including:
* A new high school on Getchell Hill, which would relieve crowding at M-P. It would also allow ninth-graders to attend the high schools, easing middle-school crowding.
* Three new elementary schools. Cascade and 55-year-old Liberty would be replaced, and a third school would relieve crowding at elementaries like Sunnyside.
* A $35.6 million modernization of the existing high school campus.
* Retrofitting the existing high school stadium and athletic fields for use by both high schools.
* Land purchases for future growth.
* High-priority technology, health and safety upgrades for other campuses throughout the district.
Voters should approve this well-considered measure. No one wants to contemplate the alternative: more portables, a staggered start on individual campuses, even evening classes are possible. With high school enrollment expected to grow by 500 students in the next five years, drastic measures will be necessary.
New district leadership has helped overcome the acrimony of the 2003 teachers’ strike, and a new spirit of cooperation and educational focus has taken its place. Teachers, administrators, parents, school board members and community leaders are united in support of this necessary measure.
Voters should join them by casting a “yes” vote by mail, or at the polls on May 17.
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