HIGH SCHOOL BOND APPROVED

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum Editor

The Quillayute Valley School District (QVSD) board unanimously approved putting a bond issue before voters in the November general election at a special meeting held Tuesday, July 29.

The vote took place at a special meeting held Tuesday night at the board’s meeting room in the Auto Tech Center on South Forks Avenue.

Voters in favor of issuing the bonds will be asked to select from two propositions. One would request about $11 million for replacing buildings from the older sections of the high school with a new 34,000 sq.-ft. facility. The second choice would fund the replacement building plus replace the existing Spartan Stadium facility and a synthetic surface for  the school’s football field. The cost would add about $4 million to the total, bringing the second option up to around $15 million total.
Property tax payers would be paying an additional $1.82 per thousand dollars of property valuation if just the high school construction is approved. This would be in addition to the $1.02 already being paid for a Forks Elementary School bond approved in the past. The bond payments would run for 21 years, and the combined rate would remain the same after the elementary school bonds are paid off in 2017.

If voters approve construction of both the new high school building and the stadium/track improvements, there would be a $2.34 increase per thousand on top of the $1.02 already in place, with bond payments running for 23 years.
The stadium work can only be approved when combined with the school replacement project.
Reaume said a community board without ties to the school district is being formed to inform the public about the bond. A meeting is set in early August to announce the leadership of the board and to begin work.

The price for the replacement facility is greatly reduced due to a promised $7 million in state matching funds, which lowers the estimated cost by that amount. QVSD Superintendent Diana Reaume said the $7 million in state matching funds would drop to about $1.5 million if it wasn’t for online Insight School of Washington students who come under the umbrella of the QVSD.

Under current state education rules students studying online are counted as equals to students attending traditional “mortar and brick” schools.

Reaume said it is highly likely that the Legislature will cut off such funding in their 2009 session. The online students now on paper double the size of the QVSD student population.

An earlier “first phase” of construction completed about five years ago added classrooms plus a modern gym, commons area and auditorium.

The “second phase” now being proposed would replace administration offices and classrooms in the landmark 1925 brick faced Forks High School building, along with other older facilities at the school.
Reaume said the older building doesn’t come up to modern building codes, and the offices and classrooms must be relocated.

They will be temporarily moved to the online school building located just north of the brick building.
Community members have spoken out about keeping the brick building intact, saying it is an historic element of Forks that preserves the town’s identity.

Architects working on a design for the new addition have said it must be torn down. Representatives from Tacoma-based BLRB architects are suggesting that elements of the brick facade be saved and used in the entrance and elsewhere as decorative elements in the new building, which would encompass about 34,000 sq. ft. They said the community will have input into how they are used.

Community members have called for preservation of the brick building, which they cited as the oldest public building still standing in Forks.

Administrative offices for Forks High School are being moved next door to an annex building. State education officials several years ago determined the building fails to meet modern school building code standards.

BLRB said if the bond is passed and work goes ahead, a final design of the 34,000 sq. ft. building will be made with community input.