Committee backs Mount Si annexing middle school to accommodate student growth
February 18, 2010
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 10:52 a.m. Feb. 18, 2010
Snoqualmie Middle School will become a satellite campus for Mount Si High School in the plan endorsed by the school district task force. (Photo by Dan Catchpole)
Snoqualmie Middle School could soon be a freshman academy, a science and technology facility or even a fine arts pod for high school students.
No matter what the district decides to transform the middle school into, one thing is final – the Snoqualmie Valley Long-Term Facilities Committee has recommended to the school board that Mount Si High School annex Snoqualmie Middle School to alleviate school crowding.
In the recommendation, Deputy Superintendent Don McConkey said Mount Si would annex the middle school in the 2012-13 school year, when Mount Si’s student population is projected to exceed the building’s capacity.
By the 2016-17 school year, Mount Si is projected to have 2,350 students. Today, even with new portable classrooms, the high school can hold only 1,760 students.
By annexing Snoqualmie Middle School, the high school would gain space for 650 more students, as well as more gymnasium and field space.
In the meantime, the district would spend two years building a new middle school on a 40-acre parcel it owns on Snoqualmie Ridge by Carmichael Avenue Southeast and Silent Creek Avenue Southeast. The site is near three wetland areas, but it shouldn’t affect construction, district Construction Program Manager Clint Marsh said.
By using the same architectural plan as used for Twin Falls Middle School, the district would save money in design costs, McConkey said.
“The feedback from the folks at Twin Falls is that it’s a pretty beautiful building,” McConkey said to the school board.
The new middle school would cost about $50 million plus $60,000 in annual operating costs. Since many students live on the Ridge, the committee said many could walk to the new middle school, saving transportation costs.
The committee looked into another long term facilities option – the modernization and expansion of Mount Si – but said the $99 to $104 million project would be too expensive and too difficult to coordinate during construction.
Opposition
A group of parents opposed the recommendation, saying that instead of building another middle school on Snoqualmie Ridge, the district should build a small high school on the 40-acre parcel. The high school would cost about $60 million dollars, said David Spring, a legislative candidate from North Bend.
Spring said Mount Si High School would have large grade sizes, and a second, smaller high school would make grade sizes smaller.
Parent Xiomara Pilon agreed.
“I do not believe in a mega high school,” Pilon said. “Recent tests show they don’t work.”
School board member Scott Hodgins also expressed reservations.
“My concern would be the satellite really doesn’t improve the high school,” said Hodgins, adding that the goal now appeared to be building a new middle school in lieu of focusing on improving the high school.
The district should not lose sight of its duty to improve high school education, he said
The research behind the recommendation
Before making its recommendation, the Long-Term Facilities Committee looked at student population projections and the economy. With the unprecedented downturn in the housing market, the district is still growing but at a slower rate of about 2 percent per year.
Because of the down economy, the committee used low- to mid-range population projections in their analysis of what the district will need in the next 10 years.
The committee also looked at the economic impact their recommendation will have on taxpayers and on the school district operating budget.
When the committee first started looking into the district’s options one year ago, it came up with five scenarios, including more portables for schools, a junior high model and a K-6, 7-8 and 9-12 grade model. In a public survey, people did not favor these models, opting more toward the high school’s annexation of Snoqualmie Middle School and the Mount Si modernization and expansion model.
Interestingly, Snoqualmie Middle School staff favored the Mount Si modernization and expansion model, while Mount Si staff favored the middle school annexation model, McConkey said.
Future considerations
If the board approves the annexation option, the committee highlighted several areas in which the district would need to concentrate on next. These include:
- Continuing to buy land for future school sites. For example, the land for Opstad Elementary was purchased in 1968 though the school was not built until 1988.
- Establishing a pre-school center.
- Remodeling the kitchen, commons, band and choir rooms and the auditorium at Mount Si High School.
- Revising staff and student parking at Mount Si High School.
- Remodeling and modernizing Chief Kanim Middle School, Snoqualmie Middle School and Opstad Elementary School.
- Upgrading Mount Si High School’s athletic facility by expanding seating, replacing field turf and adding lighting to the track facility.
- Improving Snoqualmie Elementary School’s gymnasium and multipurpose room.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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