The 21st Century Facilities Planning Committee gave the Mercer Island School District Board of Directors plenty too think about at the board’s biannual retreat on June 29.
It’s a known fact that 650 students are in portables; that’s enough kids to fill a school. The committee predicts that the number will increase to between 950 and 1,350 by 2015. The committee also concluded that all MISD schools will need to be replaced within the next 25 years.
Several options were presented, keeping in mind that the district’s real estate holdings are limited to the “mega-block” campus where the high school, administration building, PEAK and the Crest Learning Center are, and the South Mercer campus, which includes the playgrounds and the three elementary schools.
Remodeling the existing one-story schools won’t work. It’s not feasible to build up on the existing footprints because of construction costs, and the schools were not built for expansion. At all three elementary schools, a new school could be built on site while keeping kids in school.
Nothing is going to happen in a hurry. Several options were presented to the board.
The first is to build larger elementary schools, then a new middle school, on their current properties while school is in session. Island Park elementary was built in 1956, West Mercer in 1964 and Lakeridge in 1953. All three were remodeled in 1995. IMS was built in 1958, and remodeled in 1994. The high school was built in 1954 and remodeled in 1997.
With this plan, immediate capacity needs would be met in six years. A new high school would be 12-15 years away, and would require a second bond. With option one, the tax rate would move from 2.52 to 3.54 with a 20-year bond, or 3.26 for elementary schools only.
The second option is to build a new IMS on site, then use the old middle school as a swing school while the elementary schools are built. Immediate capacity needs are met sooner, but there will be three schools-worth of kids on the South Mercer campus for two years. The tax rate would increase from 2.52 to 3.54.
In the case of a new high school, there is nowhere for 1,500 kids to go, so it would have to be built somewhere else on the mega block while school is in session.
The group threw out several more ideas, including building a K-8 school. Another idea was to put the bus lot under a new stadium on the mega block. Superintendent Gary Plano supports a preschool being incorporated into the three elementary schools as well.
Board member Adair Dingle said the immediate need is K-8, with so many kids in portables.
Regarding other options, the group discussed a sixth building, but Dingle and Plano pointed out that would involve more infrastructure and more utilities that would have to come out of the general fund. A “Town Center” school was tossed around, but property acquisition is a problem.
The board hopes to have a plan in place by the end of the year, when they can present it to voters.
In discussion, Plano said pre-K through grade 12 fits the mission of public education, but he said a community pool or community theater did not.
Plano said the district has an emergency back-up plan in case enrollment suddenly soars by a couple hundred kids. It would involve vacating tenants in buildings the district owns on the North end, possibly demolishing them, and putting up portables.
For more information, go to www.misd.k12.wa.us.
