MLSD bond proposal facts

Recent letters to the Columbia Basin Herald (CBH) present mostly positive feelings toward the proposed Moses Lake School District (MLSD) bond. Growth and overcrowding are key issues. What seems to be missing in the letters and the recent op-ed by Kevin Donovan, board president, are facts and related numbers. When considering Moses Lake High School (MLHS) and the proposed new high school, we are looking at adding 1,600-student capacity and updating MLHS which has a capacity of 1,800. People like to use the original MLHS design capacity of 1,600, but it was expanded to 1,800 in the last remodel (OSPI lists it at 1800). Using the 2020/2021 year as a start and assuming enrollment in grades five through eight stays the same, the district will need space for 2,557 high school students. If the bond passes, MLSD will have a high school capacity of 3,400. This is over 800 more than needed. If two equal high schools are the preferred configuration then each would be at 1,300 with room for 500 growth at MLHS.

The MLSD has 10 K-5 schools with 40 portables and more portables planned (CBH, Jan. 24, 2017) even with the 11th elementary school from the bond. Why are we ignoring the needs of our young students at the expense of excess high school capacity? Why do we need a two-story new high school on over 50 acres? Surely it costs more than an all-on-one-level building. Need for elevators and fire escapes come to mind. We should build three new elementary schools and scale back the new high school. This is, in fact, one of six options (Package 6) in the MLSD Long Range Plan.

John V. Fletcher

Moses Lake