Lake Chelan School District to build new high school if bond proposal is approved by voters in April

CHELAN – The Lake Chelan Mirror met with Lake Chelan School District Superintendent Barry DePaoli to talk about the Lake Chelan School District Bond Proposal which will be voted on April 23.

It all began in 2016 when the Lake Chelan School District held a community visioning forum in which 100 people participated. The forum was an opportunity to look at long-range strategic plans and goals for the district which for the most part focused on academics. Time was also spent discussing facilities, early childhood learning, as well as community business partnerships and technology.

“With that, we looked at what do we align those strategic goals with the facilities and learning environments of the future,” said DePaoli. From there a facilities audit took place, “we brought in a contractor to look at all of our buildings and they looked at all the demands the school district has, what repairs we need to do. Then we had an architect come in and analyze our buildings and look at how we can best reconfigure for the future,” DePaoli explained.

During a the long process, the Facilities Committee and the School Board spent lots of time looking and exploring ways to realign the district.

Right now the district has two campuses, the elementary and the middle/high school. Morgen Owings Elementary houses more than 600 students, kindergarten through fifth grade. Across the street from MOE there’s is a portable building with two fifth grade classes and a special programs building where the Pre-k is located in the basement and above that is the Chelan School of Innovation.

“On that total campus which is a very small footprint, we have 680 students, Manson has two campuses for fewer students than that,” said DePaoli. “We have traffic issues, we have congestion and we have substandard learning environments,” he added.

A similar situation is taking place at the middle/high school, “we have extreme traffic congestion there, we have nine buses, 150 students cars, 50 staff and middle school parents trying to pick up students and leave the building at 3:05 p.m.,” said DePaoli.

He also mentioned they are also compromised with all athletic facilities being offsite, “they have to drive to tennis, they have to drive to baseball, they have to drive to softball.”

Due to this, it was decided that MOE will be converted to a primary school, Pre-k to third grade. “It will shrink down the classes and we will be able to renovate and provide an early center for Pre-k and kindergarten, so they are no longer in the basement,” DePaoli stated.

The fourth and fifth grades will transfer to the current middle/high school, which will become an intermediate/middle school with grades fourth through eighth. A new high school, for grades nine through 12, will then be built on property already owned by the district on Apple Blossom Drive near WalMart and soccer and baseball fields.

“When we move that high school we move 150 cars, half of our staff and we connect them to all of our facilities,” he added.

The new high school would have tennis courts, all of softball, baseball facilities right on campus, including a new rubberized track.

The plan also includes the renovation of Sargent Field, which will become a soccer and football stadium with turf to accommodate more users. The field is 53 years old and the district has looked at restoring and modernizing that facility.

“We believe it is the best way to amplify learning opportunities in our schools … we feel that the project are extremely well thought out and it serves the best interest of our students and the community at large,” said DePaoli.

The LCSD will have no capital bond debt as of 2021 and it is estimated that the property tax will increase by .86¢ per thousand in 2020 and by .76¢  in 2021 over a 20 year period. The total bond costs are $75.5 million, which 79% of the money will be allocated to building the new high school campus.

If the bond is approved, the LCSD has 30 days to issue the bond. Following the issuing, LCSD will spend May and June with community and staff engaging on Sargent Field and how it will come together. This will be followed by a  year-long process of planning for the high school, which will be constructed in the 2020-2021 school year and it will be ready for occupancy for the year 2021-2022 school year. Renovations at MOE and the intermediate school would follow after the construction of the new high school. “This is a pretty clean transition for us,” said DePaoli.

A brochure will be mailed out by Monday (March 4) which contains more information on the Bond Proposal. To learn more visit www.chelanschools.org, type “Bond” on the search bar. Barry DePaoli is available to meet and answer questions with the community in person or over the phone (509)682-3515.

Five district informational meetings will take place starting on Monday, March 4 at the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce at 5:30 p.m.

The ballots will be mailed out April 5 and Election Day will take place on April 23. If approved homeowner will begin paying for the bond in 2020.