School district looks to the future

Officials say space for projected growth is a top priority in MLSD

MOSES LAKE — A citizens committee along with members of the Moses Lake School District board last week reviewed a preliminary draft of a plan to update school facilities in the next couple of years.

Close to 40 people attended Thursday evening to discuss and go over a Power Point presentation compiled by LSW Visioning out of Vancouver, Wash., with recommendations made by Moses Lake community members from a symposium held last fall. The architect firm was hired by the school district to develop a long range facility plan.

Information contained in the presentation reiterated main points from the fall symposium that community members agreed were important to include in a long range plan.

Providing adequate building space to house students, planning for anticipated student population growth, expanding relationships with the community and addressing support services and diverse learning needs were ranked as top priorities by symposium participants.

According to the presentation, the district can expect to see a 780 student increase in the next six years. Most of that growth is expected at the elementary level.

In a phone interview, citizens committee member Alan Heroux stated the importance for committee members to gain an understanding of the district's population growth and what future enrollment projections are expected to be.

"I like to plan for the future in a proactive manner and planning must be done in advance," Heroux said. "I want to make sure we don't underestimate our future need because this process is going to be a difficult one as far as planning and getting everyone to understand what we're trying to do as far as the schools are concerned."

Beth Laszlo is a committee member who also attended Thursday's meeting and feels population growth must be a top priority for the district and citizens committee.

"That's a simple, basic need that needs to be addressed," Laszlo said.

Laszlo would also like to see facility plans incorporate more opportunities for academic and community partnerships.

It is what Laszlo describes as meeting the needs of the student and family by thinking outside the box about education.

At the meeting were examples from another educational facility that Laszlo said has incorporated out-of-the-box thinking by offering programs ranging from financial assistance to piano lessons to cultural opportunities.

Talk of proposing a bond in 2007 was mentioned, although the district is in the early discussion stages and has yet to make a final decision on whether to run the bond.

The bond could provide funding for a new 500-student elementary school, an expansion of the high school commons, the addition of a community room at the high school and reconfiguration of the high school parking lot to name a few.

The citizens committee is scheduled to meet every two weeks. The school district said it hopes to receive final recommendations from the committee by October but is willing to make adjustments if needed.

"We were real pleased with the turn out at the meeting and excited to start working on this project as we're crowded and we need to address that issue," said MLSD superintendent Steve Chestnut.