LAKE STEVENS — In a crowded cafeteria, more than 100 first-grade students chatter excitedly as they eat their lunches. Recess is next, 15 minutes of afternoon freedom before they start the second half of the school day.
There’s not enough room in the cafeteria for the two kindergarten classes that share the same lunch time. They eat on the stage, where tables are set up and taken down each day. That space also serves as a physical education classroom, music room, after-school activity area, occasional staff meeting room and a church on Sundays.
Staff at Sunnycrest Elementary School on 99th Avenue Northeast have gotten good at using their space efficiently and creatively, Principal Timothy Haines said. The school has 203 more students than it was designed to hold. It’s one of the Lake Stevens School District’s most crowded elementaries, all six of which are over capacity.
The district is working on a long-term facilities plan to keep up with the area’s growing number of students. Officials created a Facilities Advisory Committee last year to look at current enrollment, projections through 2020, school capacity and space needs. The group — made up of parents, teachers, administrators, students, school board members and business owners — put together a list of recommendations.
Top of the list: two new elementary schools.
There are enough students now to warrant a seventh elementary in Lake Stevens, the committee concluded. With full-day kindergarten expanding and state requirements to reduce class sizes, an eighth likely will be needed in the next decade.
“The committee saw the need for one elementary to be immediate and urgent to deal with existing capacity issues, while the second elementary was important within the ten-year planning period but did not have the same urgency,” according to the report.
The group also suggested building a new early learning center, possibly as part of or adjacent to an elementary school.
The school board has not proposed a bond measure for the schools. The committee’s report is a guiding document rather than a formal plan, district spokeswoman Jayme Taylor said.
Four of Lake Stevens’ elementary schools were built for 500 students, and two — Sunnycrest and Highland — were built for 550. Those numbers don’t include portable classrooms set up on campus, Taylor said. Ideally, the schools wouldn’t have portables, which are built to be temporary classrooms rather than permanent fixtures.
Overall, the district’s elementaries are designed to hold a total of 3,100 students. Enrollment is 3,886, putting the district 786 students over capacity.
Skyline Elementary is the least crowded, with four students more than the recommended 500. Skyline and Mt. Pilchuck elementaries house special education programs with extra space needs, so enrollment there tends to be a little lower, Taylor said. Still, Mt. Pilchuck has 609 students on a campus meant for 500. Glenwood is 95 students over capacity and Highland is 146 over. Hillcrest and Sunnycrest are the most crowded; Hillcrest has 229 students more than it was designed for, and Sunnycrest has 203.
There are seven portables at Sunnycrest. The last one was added about seven years ago, and no more can be installed under local building requirements, Haines said. Sunnycrest was built in 1969 and updated in 2008 with new windows, carpet, paint, mechanical systems, a front office and to meet earthquake safety standards. The size of the school didn’t change.
“We have a couple of spaces that are not intended to be classrooms that are being used as classrooms,” Haines said.
Rooms about half the size of a full classroom have up to 27 kindergartners in them but don’t have sinks or direct bathroom access.
“A lot of time and energy goes into creatively thinking about how to maximize our options,” Haines said. “It’s working, but it’s not ideal.”
Because of the crowding, Lake Stevens is not accepting new out-of-district students between kindergarten and fifth grade for the 2015-16 school year.
Normally, families can request variances so kids can attend school in Lake Stevens even if they don’t live here. Variances for middle and high school students are being accepted on a case-by-case basis, Taylor said, but new elementary variances are frozen.
“This was not a decision we made lightly, and we understand the impact this has on families who already have students in our schools and are now attempting to enroll a younger sibling,” Superintendent Amy Beth Cook wrote in a letter to parents. “However, we have to ensure that our schools have enough capacity to house the students who live within our district.”
The freeze does not affect out-of-district students already enrolled in Lake Stevens schools.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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