WA Legislature continues work, as SB moves school planning ahead

Community members and staff working on building concept design with architects

The South Bend School District and a team of community members are working hard on plans for a new South Bend elementary school, with the hope of state capital budget dollars coming to fruition in the next several weeks. [see previous story, "Senate capital budget proposes $7.7 million to South Bend Schools"] As the second special session of the Washington State Legislature moves closer to its June 21 deadline, the likelihood of a third special session becomes more probable. Even so, the school district is not taking this opportunity lightly, and is moving ahead to be ready when the special funding is finalized.

Since the beginning of the first special session called by Governor Inslee back in May, there has been relatively no information coming from behind the closed door negotiations of lawmakers. All we really know at this point is what we knew at the beginning: 1) South Bend is identified in the Senate capital budget to receive $7.7 million dollars for elementary school construction; 2) legislators from both the Democrat and Republican caucuses, in both the Senate and House, support our need; 3) we must be ready to move forward when the funding is approved.

After forming a community-based facility committee, the school district engaged Tovani-Hart Architects of Olympia to assist in preliminary planning, and we have been meeting on a regular basis since April. At our first meeting, the committee considered all possible options to site the new elementary school, with the goal of finding the most cost effective location to best serve our needs. The second meeting consisted of the first phase of concept design, where the group organized individual school spaces into a model that fits on the site.

Some of the challenges in determining a site is remembering the various needs of the campus.  For instance, the current elementary contains the only cafeteria for K-12. With this in mind, it becomes clear a new school needs to be built close enough to the 7-12 school so that food service can continue in an efficient manner. We also need to align a new school within close proximity to gym space and school bus access. Even the idea of sunlight comes into play, making sure we build a school with maximum exposure. And, of course, distance to utilities is important when considering development costs.

Sample mockup showing scale building areas

With these and many other considerations in mind, the committee is looking at a site toward the west end of the current elementary building that could accomodate a partial 2-story design.

Our next meeting is June 27 when we will finalize concept development to prepare for our July 10 meeting to align final scope and budget.  All of this work culminates with our July 25 school board meeting to approve a bond resolution to go to voters in November, as the Pacific County Auditor requires the bond resolution by August 1. The bond proposal will make up the difference between state capital funding, state construction match funding, and actual building cost. As funding becomes solidified and design progresses, we will be engaging the larger community for ideas and feedback. It is important the community has a voice in such an essential component of our district.

The potential funding included in the Senate capital budget is vital to us in South Bend. As we have explained throughout the time leading up to this point, South Bend's low assessed property values make it impossible for the community to replace our nearly 70 year old building on our own. Though the district has taken good care of the building for seven decades, the infrastructure is beyond its designed life.  Our school floods and is not built to modern seismic codes.  It is certainly time to rebuild.

We are thankful for the leadership of both Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature who understand our problem and who are working to provide needed assistance.

We will continue to update the public as work progresses.  If you have questions, please contact Superintendent Jon Tienhaara at jtienhaa@southbendschools.org