Schools

School Board to Review School Construction Timeline

The Mercer Island School Board will review various sequences of school building at its meeting tonight and how different schedules may affect the tax rate.

Now that the Mercer Island School Board has decided on placing a bond on April's ballot, which school should be rebuilt first?

The school board will meet in the board room at 7 p.m. tonight to analyze, among other issues, the different costs for various sequences for the proposed rebuilding of all four K-8 schools.

The school board will first meet at 6 p.m. in closed session to evaluate properties that might be suitable for the site of a sixth school — presumably an elementary school — for the school district.

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The regular meeting will begin at 7 p.m. with a recognition of 8th Grader , who was a winner of the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Earlier this month, he was invited to the White House in Washington, D.C. to present his educational video game at the White House Science Fair (see a photo of Jasper and Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Jim Shelton by clicking on the photos to the right).

During the regular meeting, part of the school board's work will be to discuss how the timing and sequencing of construction of the buildings impacts the local tax rate. 

Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

, which is nearly 200 students overcapacity and holds three 20-minute lunch periods, be rebuilt first — or , which has seven portables and is also nearly 200 students overcapacity?

The , which is set at an amount of $196,275,000, will cost a homeowner with a $1 million-valued property approximately $950 more per year than what they presently pay.

The scope (and associated costs) of the bond is as follows:

Potential Project List MIHS Mega Block Master Planning  $25,000 Prototype Elementary Design  $2,500,000 Island Park Elementary  3-1-1  $34,000,000 Lakeridge Elementary  3-1-1  $34,000,000 West Mercer Elementary  3-1-1  $34,000,000 Islander Middle School  $75,000,000 Land Acquisition  $9,250,000 MIHS - Additional Classrooms/Labs  $3,000,000 Stadium Improvments  $2,500,000 Mary Wayte Pool Modernization  $2,000,000 Bond Issue  $196,275,000

Critics question the wisdom of the decision, citing the relatively good condition of the buildings and their current valuations of approximately $31 million, according to the King County Assessor's Office.

But School District Executive Director Dean Mack said that the Facilities Committee had already reviewed preserving the existing buildings and ruled it out for a variety of reasons, including overcrowding in common spaces, loss of too much outdoor playground area and lack of building structure to support construction of a second floor.

"It's a multi-dimentional problem," Mack said. "It really comes down to this: We do not have enough space to house students."

The board will also review new math textbooks for , review performance standards for school district adminstration and discuss whether or not an explanation of the school bond should appear in the voter pamphlet.


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