Bond survey distributed to Moses Lake taxpayers
Students fill the hall at Moses Lake High School in February 2012. A survey designed to find out what district patrons think of the possibility of a construction bond is available online and will be mailed to all boxes.
MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School District taxpayers can access an online copy of a district-wide survey to determine what they think about a possible construction bond at the district's website and its Facebook page.
The survey link is www.surveymonkey.com/s/MLSDbondsurvey.
An on-paper copy of the survey will be mailed to all mailboxes in the 98837 zip code by Sept. 29.
Deadline for returning the survey is Oct. 6.
The survey questions ask respondents whether or not they think the district's existing buildings are overcrowded, and if they do, what options they would support to address it. Options include a new high school, an expanded Moses Lake High School, and at least one new elementary school.
It asks respondents' opinions about school configuration (how many grades should be in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools).
There are also questions about possible modernization, and the survey asks for some demographic information.
District officials commissioned a demographic study in 2013, which projected continued growth in Grant County and the Moses Lake school district. Currently the district has enough room for elementary school students, and district officials converted Columbia Basin Secondary School to Endeavor Middle School, which will provide enough room for middle school students for about 10 years, according to the growth study.
MLHS now has about 2,100 students, in a building with a capacity of about 1,600 students. The high school instituted a sliding schedule for the 2014-15 school year as a result.
District officials asked a committee of community residents, teachers and staff to recommend whether or not to submit a construction bond to the community, and if they recommend proceeding, what should be in it. The survey data will be part of the information considered in making that decision, district superintendent Michelle Price said at a bond committee meeting held Sept. 16.
Last year the Moses Lake School Board approved a plan to move to a year-round school schedule beginning about the fall of 2016. That decision would be reviewed if district patrons approved additional facilities, Price said.