MARYSVILLE — The message has been emphatic: Don’t reopen Marysville Pilchuck High School’s main cafeteria.
School District leaders heard it at a December forum and, more recently, through a computer survey.
Now they’re trying to figure out how to pay for building a new one elsewhere on campus.
The cafeteria has been closed since October when a freshman shot five friends sitting at a table eating their lunches. Four died. The shooter then turned the gun on himself.
Since then, many students have been using a makeshift eating space in the gym.
The Marysville School Board has set aside money to help with the design. The district is hoping the state will pay for the actual construction.
“If we do get state money, it could save months,” School District Superintendent Becky Berg said.
The School Board vote allows the district to spend a little more than $150,000 on initial work. The money will be paid to Educational Service District 112 out of Vancouver, Washington. The same agency helped with behind-the-scenes work when Marysville Getchell High School and Grove Elementary School were being built. The contract includes additional expenses, up to $434,000, depending on whether state money becomes available.
“If news is good, we will just pay ourselves back with the construction grant from the state,” district finance director Jim Baker said.
Either way, much of the work that would be done is needed for any future construction on the Marysville Pilchuck campus, he said.
The money comes from the district’s capital improvement fund, which does not take away from the day-to-day operations.
The district received about 1,900 responses to its online survey. Sixty-seven percent favored tearing down the cafeteria and many of those urged the district to build a new campus altogether. Marysville Pilchuck was built 44 years ago. It has 77 exterior doors, which has become a safety concern.
If the district eventually passes a bond measure to rebuild MPHS, it would keep the gym, performing arts center and swimming pool. Each would need some updating, but all are structurally sound, Berg said. So, too, is the stadium.
As for the cafeteria, in the short term, the district is trying to find another stopgap arrangement for student meals.
“It’s a lot of wear and tear on the gym as well as staff time setting up every day,” Berg said. “It’s a pretty laborious process and there is a lot of competition for gym space.”
Options include borrowing space from other government agencies, using different parts of the school or renting space, Berg said.
“No matter what, we need to find a different solution,” Berg said.
When the cafeteria is torn down, that space could become a memorial site, but “that’s a conversation for another day,” Berg said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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