SHORELINE — In February, voters will not be asked to decide the fate of construction funds for a new or modernized Shorewood High School.
They may, however, be asked to consider funding for the design and planning of the school.
The Shoreline School District’s Bond Advisory Committee, coordinated by Paul Plumis, presented this preliminary recommendation to the Shoreline School Board at a study session Nov. 14. The board is scheduled to receive the Bond Advisory Committee’s final recommendation at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21 at the Shoreline Center.
While a total dollar amount for the bond has yet to be determined, the school board indicated that it would be comfortable with a 75 cent per $1,000 assessed property value tax increase, which would generate $150 million in funding.
The school district also is planning on placing a maintenance and operations levy on the ballot in February. Levies help pay for day-to-day school operations while bonds finance building improvements, and both must receive a 60 percent supermajority from voters to pass.
Upgrades are districtwide
The Bond Advisory Committee, comprised of 25 district staff and community members, has met four times during a period of three months to discuss the details and costs of the potential projects.
Rather than request construction funding for modernizing or rebuilding Shorewood and potentially updating Shorecrest at this time, the committee would like to see other facility, programmatic and technology work completed in the district, Plumis said.
Other items recommended by the committee to be placed on the bond include: safety and seismic upgrades as individual schools are modernized; providing laptops to each student in grades five through 12; updating and installing synthetic turf at the Shoreline Center, middle schools and potentially high schools; and addressing the performing arts, science and special education facility and equipment needs districtwide.
The technology aspect of the bond is a four-year expansion of the pilot program currently in effect at Echo Lake Elementary, Kellogg Middle and Einstein Middle schools, Plumis said.
The committee recommends approximately $19.4 million for purchasing laptops and supportive technology, staff development and technical support. Under the recommendation, the district will purchase a laptop for each child in fifth through 12th grades.
The seismic upgrade costs have been determined for all schools, although the school board indicated they’d like the upgrades done in conjunction with other construction work, Plumis said. The upgrades for all of the schools have been estimated to cost around $53 million.
Athletic field needs will likely be considered on the bond, with synthetic field turfs being considered for the Shoreline Center, middle and high schools, Plumis said.
The last time the Shoreline School District put a bond before voters was in 1994, so there are a number of basic wear-and-tear needs at schools that also will likely be recommended by the committee. Things such as roofing replacements, painting and heating needs will be addressed across the district, he said.
Shorewood’s status
By including funding on the bond for the plans and designs of Shorewood, the work could be completed in time for the school district to come back to the voters in four years with a bond for construction funding, he said. In addition, upgrades at Shorecrest also will be considered in the design and planning phase.
While the committee recognized that a need for improvements to Shorewood is great, it ultimately believes spending more time on the design elements will best serve the district in the long run, Plumis said.
“There are some substantial needs in that facility right now,” Plumis said. “Shorewood has had piecemeal upgrades to try to make it functional.”
He said a long review period of the facility’s design will likely be the committee’s recommendation.
Shorewood was not originally built to serve as a high school. Instead, it utilized the existing Ronald Elementary and Butler Junior High facilities and built an addition that linked the two schools together in the mid 1970s. Because of the nontraditional design of the school, it can take students a long time to get from class to class on the several-blocks-long campus, said Principal John Green.
With only two main hallways running the length of the school, many students end up cutting across the track and landscaping, which is affecting the grounds, he said.
Weather-related wear-and-tear to the exterior of the building is evident, with peeling paint and damage to covered walkways.
Two science classrooms were originally built to serve other purposes, such as a computer lab, but to fit the school’s needs, teachers and students have had to adapt, Green said.
The condition of locker rooms and lack of physical education facilities also are not ideal, he said, and it has become increasingly difficult to schedule gym classes.
In addition, Butler’s cafeteria was converted into a theater for Shorewood, and the stage is not big enough, Green said. The school’s music program is very strong, he said, but entire ensembles won’t fit on the stage.
“This is a glaring need,” Green said.
Other classroom areas, such as studio art, also are small, he said.
To supplement the school building, Shorewood is home to 12 portables, referred to as “portable village,” and 11 of these are used as classrooms, with one serving as storage, Green said.
Despite facility limitations, he said, the programs and students at Shorewood have not been affected.
“It shows how strong our program is,” Green said.
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