By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch The Bethel School District will find out from voters in three weeks if it can reap the benefits of a bond measure that supporters say will benefit students and the community well into the future. The measure calls for modennizing and increasing enrollment capacity of schools by replacing or renovating six elementary, middle and high schools. Also tied together in the $236.7 million proposal are roof repairs, upgrades of security and fire-safety systems, earthquake safety improvements, new energy-efficient heating and lighting, and new playfields and athletic facilities. For all of that to happen, a 60 percent super-majority of yes votes is needed in voting that will end Feb. 9. Also required under bond election law is a total of 6,046 ballots cast for validation. Ballots will be mailed Jan. 21-22 by the Pierce County elections department. Voters can mail back their ballots or deposit them in official dropboxes, which will be available Jan. 22 to Feb. 9 around the clock except the last day, when voting will close at 8 p.m. An example of how district officials and bond supporters say growth has squeezed the state's 16th-largest school district (with about 18,000 students) into a corner can be seen at lunchtime at Graham-Kapowsin High School. More than 500 students at a time eat in a lunchroom designed for 400. Graham-Kapowsin, which opened in 2005 and still looks new, has an enrollment approaching 2,000. It was designed to accommodate about 1,400 students. "We just need more space," said principal Matt Yarnosky. To relieve overcrowding and update its schools districtwide, the district proposes in the bond measure: " An expansion of classrooms, the cafeteria and the gym at Graham-Kapowsin. " Modernization and partial replacement of Bethel High. " Replacing Challenger High School, currently a collection of 14 portable buildings, with a new building on the former site of Spanaway Elementary School. " Remodeling Cedarcrest Middle School. " Building a new elementary school adjacent to Cedarcrest . " Updating Evergreen and Naches Trail elementary schools. " Building an indoor swimming pool next to Bethel High School and a sports park behind Bethel Learning Center. The new facilities would be open to the community. " Replacing the existing grass fields at Graham-Kapowsin and Spanaway Lake High School with synthetic surfaces that would be better-suited for year-round use. The bond would be for a 20-year period and paid for through annual property tax collections. District officials have been inviting community members to take organized, guided tours of schools that are sites of proposed bond-funded projects. For a tour Jan. 7, a school bus carried about 30 people to Challenger, Graham-Kapowsin and Bethel High for some close-up looks at conditions that officials want to improve. At Challenger, the portable buildings that make up the alternative high school include one that is used by two classes that sometimes are conducted at the same time, with only a curtain to divide them. Another portable serves as a cramped administrative office that doubles as a library and a place for meetings of students and counselors. And the entire school has three bathrooms for students and one for staff members. At Graham-Kapowsin, bond plans call for a new classroom wing to be added onto the main building, allowing the school to do away with most of a cluster of portable classrooms. That would put an end to the equivalent of a middle school-size number of students who must go outside to get to and from the main classroom building and portables throughout the day, sometimes in bad weather, Yarnosky said. Even if the addition is built, some of the portables might stay for additional classroom space as more students move to the district, Yarnofsky added. The district has gained an average of 166 more students each of the past three years, and total enrollment is expected to continue to increase, according to the district. Bethel is the oldest of the district's three comprehensive high schools and looks it, district officials say. Built in 1951 and now home for about 1,600 students, its roofs and ceilings need to be fixed, and Korean War-era restrooms and portable classrooms need to be replaced, officials said. The Bethel campus would be the site of the proposed aquatics center. The pool, in addition to giving the district's high school swim teams a place to practice and compete, also would be a community asset. District superintendent Tom Seigel has said the facility would provide "something for everybody" as a hub for swimming-related activities. Seigel, who led the Jan. 7 bus tour, displayed a sense of humor about some of the schools' shortcomings. But the need to improve them is serious, he said. "It's all about doing the best we can for our students," Seigel said.
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