Finding the right fit: Responses to new high school options mixed

MOSES LAKE — So. Expand the existing Moses Lake High School? Build a second high school? Build a campus designated for eighth graders and freshmen? Add grade schools? None of the above?

Would a new high school be too expensive? Is Moses Lake ready for a second high school? Would one big MLHS be too big? What about opportunities for ninth-graders?

Does Moses Lake need more grade schools? If it does, where should they be situated?

When it comes to a possible school construction bond, there’s a lot to talk about.

The Moses Lake School Board is indeed considering a construction bond, which would be submitted to voters in February 2017. School board members settled on three options, and sponsored community forums in early June to find out what voters thought about them. District officials also accepted comments through the district website, and asked voters to rate each proposal.

The first option includes a new, second high school with a 1,600-student capacity, a new 450-student elementary school and upgrades to Moses Lake High School. The second option would expand MLHS to 2,500 students and build a new 450-student elementary school. The third option includes a new school for eighth-graders and freshmen, converting the existing Endeavor Middle School (formerly Columbia Basin Secondary School) into a grade school and expanding Park Orchard and Sage Point grade schools.

The symposiums drew 175 people (some people attended more than one) and about 60 people commented online, said district superintendent Michelle Price. The need for school facilities is driven by community growth – and since Moses Lake has been growing for a while, the conversation has been going on for a while. “We’ve been at this for 10 years,” Price said, starting with a bond approved by district patrons in 2007. Voters rejected bond proposals in 2012 and 2015.

Price said the comments received reflect the same concerns that marked bond discussions dating back to 2007.

Many people who liked the idea of a second high school were concerned that a bigger MLHS would be too big. Conversely, many people who supported the idea of expanding MLHS liked the idea of one high school, and were concerned about splitting the community. Some commenters were also concerned about the cost of building a second high school.

“Too expensive. Not sure Moses Lake is a two-high-school town,” wrote one. “The sheer dollar amount is pretty overwhelming to look at as a taxpayer,” wrote another. “The cost is prohibitive based on what we need. By the time this high school is at capacity it would be decrepit,” wrote another. “They (two high schools) are smaller and don’t give the same number of opportunities that a big high school gives,” wrote a commenter.

Others were concerned that the two high schools might not have equal facilities, “dividing the students in a way in which one feels like the better school,” a commenter wrote.

People who supported a second high school were concerned about an expanded MLHS being too big. “It creates a mega-high school where kids will only become more lost in the shuffle,” wrote a commenter. “And more traffic on Sharon, Monroe and Yonezawa streets, more kids crammed into the same number of sports and extracurricular activities.”

“I don’t want my kids attending school as a number, not knowing their teachers or peers,” wrote a commenter. “I attended a very large high school and felt it was a serious disadvantage to not be engaged in school activities,” wrote another. Others said the plan as presented destroyed the school greenhouses, other ag and shop program facilities and didn’t replace them.

Commenters who favored the eighth- and ninth-grade building liked the fact it reduced overcrowding at the high school without remodeling MLHS or building a second high school. “I liked going to the high school when it was 10th through 12th grade. Developmentally, I felt it was a good fit for the ninth-graders to be with the eighth-graders rather than the 10th graders,” wrote one. Others said the school could be turned into a second high school in the future.

The option “solves the sixth through ninth (grade) overcrowding projections better than other options,” wrote one proponent. “Having taught ninth grade a lot, I am realizing more and more they really are much more similar to eighth-graders than they are to 10th-graders.”

Some were skeptical of the proposal to convert Endeavor Middle School. “Endeavor is a very bad location for an elementary school. We need something on Nelson Road or on the ridge,” wrote one. “Changing Endeavor again is a big mistake. The cost to turn Endeavor into an elementary school is too much money in an area of the community where we don’t need another elementary school” wrote a commenter.

School board members discussed the reaction from district patrons at the board retreat recently, and will hold a study session prior to the board meeting Thursday.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.