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| RHS Expansion: 14 classrooms, 4 portables, small gym, staff parking |
OPINION: Everybody remember the dire warnings last January before the Lake Washington School District special election? If we didn’t approve the $65 million levy for additional classroom space then our schools will be so overcrowded that there would be double shifting at the high schools and portable classrooms!
The levy was approved in the February 8, 2011 election and the school district started plans to build the new schools right away. The election mailings sent out by the district projected that enrollment would increase from 24,500 to 27,000 in just a few years.
After the predictions of exploding student population growth and overcrowding, the Redmond High School Expansion will add only a small gym and 14 classrooms to the school: 11 classrooms, 2 science labs and 1 art room. At maximum capacity, that’s enough additional space for 448 students. READ MORE >>
The 9-12 grade level reconfiguration is supposed to add 500 ninth-graders to RHS and there will also be new students in the swelling student population of 10th, 11th and 12th graders. And so, to accommodate the additional students, the district is adding 4 PORTABLES! When the RHS addition opens in September 2012, the school will be overcrowded even with the portables!!
The Lake Washington School District is spending almost $18,600,000 on the Redmond High School expansion. The RHS South Wing addition will add 23,800 square feet and the gym will add 8,400 square feet. The construction bid for the classroom and gym addition will cost about $10,000,000. The remaining $9,000,000 will be spent on architect plans, portables, permits, thermal and solar energy generation, land use fees and mostly, to pay the salaries of the construction subcontractor, Heery Industries, a company that was hired to oversee the construction of many of the district’s new school construction projects.
The Lake Washington School Board approved $18,600,000 for this expansion. Did they do the math? That works out to over $1,000,000 per classroom or $580 per square foot. The new classrooms will not even hold the incoming freshman class.
Ask any RHS student if the school already feels overcrowded. They will tell you that the halls are packed between classes, the classrooms are at capacity, the lunchroom is standing-room-only with inadequate seating (with 3 lunch session, the first starting at 10:15 AM) and the library is impossible to get into. No additional lunchroom or library space will be added - and this issue was brought to the attention of Chip Kimball last February and during the RHS expansion hearing. Traffic getting into the school in the morning is a nightmare! (Last month, there was an emergency east of the high school at about 7AM and it took the fire truck nearly 10 minutes to get past the traffic on NE 104th Street in front of the high school to an emergency on the east side of the hill.) Next year, because none of the 9th graders can drive, parents dropping off students will add another 350 more vehicle going into and out of the RHS parking lot each morning and we will probably have grid-lock.
What will Redmond High School be like in September when 2100 students arrive for the 2012-2013 school year? It will not be pleasant for students or staff or for Education Hill residents who will be stuck in traffic. We have to ask: What is wrong with the facilities department that can’t adequately plan the expansion of a high school? Why isn’t there adequate and efficient Metro and LWSD bus transportation to help mitigate the traffic jams? Why are we getting portables? What is wrong with our school board and superintendent who voted to present this undersized, overpriced expansion plan to the voters? We’re paying nearly $19,000,000 to create this disaster. In the end it is our students who will be the ones who pay the biggest price with reduced educational opportunities in a crowded, under-sized facility.
Opinion By Susan Wilkins
LWSD Redmond parent, PTSA volunteer
Map Photo of LWSD On-Site Notice Board, by Yoder
Floor Plans to follow
Well said Susan! These are all issues that I have asked/commented to the school district in the last year. I was raised to believe that you always vote for a school bond because education is so valuable. The bond issue for this expansion was the very first one where I have questioned whether voting for "education" was the right vote. I felt like my arm was being twisted, but unfortunately made the decision to support the district as I have 3 children who will soon enough be at the high school and I knew space was important. Upon seeing the expansion plans, I have not regretted a vote as much as that one. I chose to vote against any of the incumbant school board members in the recent elections because of the poor decision making, although many ran unapposed. It seems they have all acted as puppets to Chip Kimball and he is leaving them and us, high and dry.
ReplyDeleteATTN: Those who comment and leave their name to a worthy opinion such as this can have it posted as a Letter on it's own page.
ReplyDeletePortable are so trashy :( Should have invested in more permanent classrooms and a larger gymnasium
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