STANWOOD — The school district is pulling together a proposal for a new high school.
It’s been eight years since voters turned down a bond measure centered around the same request.
A preliminary timeline puts a new bond in front of voters in 2017, with the school opening in 2019.
“Everything would have to work like clockwork to get that kind of a timeline,” said Gary Platt, the district’s executive director of business services. “We have to be proposing something that’s feasible, too.”
That means the timeline isn’t set in stone. In fact, nothing about the new school is set in stone. How much it would cost, where it would be built and how many students it would serve are questions the district aims to answer in research that is just beginning.
The Stanwood-Camano School Board on Tuesday approved a contract with McGranahan Architects for up to $191,315 to draft a basic design and cost analysis, among other research. Another $97,705 of optional services are listed in the contract.
A draft report should be complete by fall 2016, according to a letter from Christopher Lilley, McGranahan’s managing principal. Lilley plans at least two community forums to gather ideas and answer questions.
One key decision the report will addresses is whether to tear down the existing high school and rebuild, or start from scratch on a new property. A capacity study, looking at enrollment and space needs, is another piece of the research.
About 1,400 students attend Stanwood and Lincoln Hill high schools. District enrollment has been flat or declining.
Stanwood and Camano don’t necessarily need a bigger school.
The large, open campus is part of the problem, Platt said.
“There are a number of issues, but safety and security is a really big one,” he said. “That building right now has a lot of exterior doors, so if you talk about a lockdown and keeping students secure, that’s hard to do.”
It’s a sprawling campus with outside walkways, and students are given seven minutes between classes. A more compact design could allow for shorter passing periods, adding hours of instruction time to the school week.
Changing state graduation requirements call for more science and technical education, which require labs, shops and art rooms.
“We’re just flat out of space for stuff like that,” Platt said.
In November 2013, voters approved a $29 million capital levy to upgrade school buildings and technology. The heating, ventilation and lighting at Stanwood High School were updated over the summer.
Repairs to the gym, restrooms and some classrooms are in the works, and the district plans to repaint the outside of the building and resurface the track.
“We’re not doing a major facelift,” Platt said. “We’re just doing safety repairs and weatherization stuff to keep the building good for five or six years, whatever’s needed.”
The levy rate drops by about 90 percent in 2017 and expires in 2018, and the district paid off past bonds in December 2013.
In 2006, voters rejected a $110.7 million construction bond that centered on rebuilding the high school.
“One of the messages we got from the community in 2006 was that we needed to wait until other bonds were paid off so we can build a new high school without raising taxes,” Platt said.
This year, people in Stanwood and Camano Island are paying $3.78 per $1,000 assessed property value for schools, according to the county assessor. That’s $945 on a $250,000 home. A 2017 bond measure would maintain or lower the rate, Platt said.
Public meetings are planned in early 2015 to get ideas from the community about the new high school. Dates have not been set.
Kari Bray: kbray@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3439.
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