Washougal schools ask voters for bond measure
$57.7 million would pay for buildings, security
By Justin Runquist, Columbian small cities reporter
Published: November 18, 2014, 9:56 PM
The Washougal School District will send voters a multimillion-dollar bond measure next year, hoping to gain approval to build three new schools and bolster security throughout the district.
The Washougal school board approved a final draft of the roughly $57.7 million bond measure Tuesday night. Voters will decide the fate of the funding package in a special election on Feb. 10.
The measure will need at least 60 percent approval from voters to pass. A $55 million proposal failed in 2008, but this time far more preparation went into the bond measure, said Brian Wallace, the district’s business manager.
It’s a “very high bar to reach the 60 percent supermajority to pass,” Wallace said. “We feel we did our homework and put forth a good process, because the projects are needed, but it’s not easy to pass these measures.”
The package includes money for a number of projects, the largest of which is the $47 million replacement of Jemtegaard Middle School and the addition of an elementary school. District officials intend to build both new schools on the current Jemtegaard site. The new middle school would be designed to accommodate up to 600 students, and the elementary school could serve as many as 400, Wallace said.
Building a new middle school was also the largest piece of the 2008 bond measure. Now, past the thick of the Great Recession, Wallace said he feels more confident that voters will stand behind the idea.
“The middle school is our biggest challenge, and that was tough timing,” he said.
In addition to those new campuses, the district’s bond measure also would replace the three aging portable buildings that make up the campus of Excelsior, Washougal’s small alternative high school. About 70 students attend the school, and the cramped facilities aren’t large enough for the school’s student body, said Joe Steinbrenner, the district’s facilities director.
“The program has outgrown the facility,” Steinbrenner said. “The facility is not really set up for an alternative high school.”
A little more than $4.8 million is included in the measure to replace Excelsior with a single building that would have room for 90 students.
The measure also includes more than $2.3 million to move Washougal’s bus storage facility to a new property with more space, and about $1.2 million for security upgrades around the district. Several measures would be taken to enhance security, including installing a new camera system at Washougal High School, and building fences and sallyports at a number of campuses to direct visitors to a single entry point.
