Getchell High School on time and under budget

Published 2:09 pm Thursday, April 29, 2010

In 2006, Marysville voters approved a construction bond that would give the district two new schools. What they actually got was an impressive bit of planning that has resulted in the promised schools opening early and under budget, leaving more money for additional improvement projects.

Yet the work on these schools is high quality. Corners weren’t cut for cost savings. Instead, the district pursued every grant and matching fund opportunity that they could in order to stretch local dollars as far as they could go.

“There’s an awful lot of grant money out there,” said John Bingham, Director of the district’s Capital Projects Department. “ There was a grant program for energy efficient schools and we were awarded one of them. In addition, we got energy grants from Puget Sound Energy and the Snohomish County PUD.”

Matching funds also came from the state. Between energy conservation grants, utilizing existing resources and taking care not to duplicate some multi-use features, the Capital Projects Department is confident it has spent the bond money well. School District Web site visitors can see a breakdown of where the money was spent.

The recent school construction has kept many construction-related jobs going through the worst of the recent recession with 80 to 100 workers on site at Getchell High School alone, Bingham said.

When the new high school opened in September, the large campus be unique from both a structural and educational point of view. Instead of offering one over-sized campus, the school has been designed as a series of four small learning communities. Essentially, it is four small high schools one on campus. They share administration space, cafeteria and athletic facilities but otherwise are self contained.

The four buildings will house the Academy of Construction and Engineering, Bio-Med Academy, International School of Communications, and School for the Entrepreneur. Students sign up for one of the academies based their area of interest.

“Other than going to the gym or cafeteria the kids stay in the same building with the same kids and teachers for four years,” Bingham said.

These new buildings have been fully equipped to facilitate the students’ course of study. Additionally, they have been built with an open, airy floor plan. Classroom doors are extra wide so that they can be opened up to the central common space. There are plenty of places for students to meet and relax between class.

“ We tried to leave part of the forest intact,” Bingham said. This has allowed for attractive nature views from the soaring windows. Overall the campus is attractive yet thoughtfully planned, he said.