Bond would fund upgrades to MLHS

MOSES LAKE — The fate of a $135.3 million construction bond proposal will be decided by Moses Lake School District voters in a special election Feb. 14. If approved, the bond would pay for a new, second high school, a new elementary school and upgrades to the existing Moses Lake High School.

Of the total bond, $13.8 million would be spent for upgrades at MLHS.

One of the options considered by the school board was expanding MLHS, at an estimated cost of $106 million. Moses Lake School Board members opted for the second high school, which is projected to cost about an additional $5 million but take much longer to fill to capacity, Price said.

The existing high school dates to the late 1950s, and was remodeled and expanded in 1998. But it was built to accommodate 1,600 students, said district superintendent Michelle Price, and it’s currently housing about 2,200. Price said she has been superintendent for eight years, and in that time the district has grown by about 1,100 students.

That growth has had an impact, at MLHS as elsewhere. “It (the high school) getting the heck beat out of it,” Price said.

High school administrators changed the schedule for the 2015-16 school year, adding classes before and after the traditional school day. Students take seven classes during the day, with different schedules starting at different times. The first class begins at 7 a.m., with the last class dismissed at 5 p.m. This year more students are taking those classes, especially the 7 a.m. class, she said.

A committee, made up of MLHS staff, is identifying needed upgrades, Price said. So far they’ve found “big items,” such as roofing and flooring, bathrooms and the heating-cooling systems, along with remodeling to some classrooms.

If the bond is approved and there’s a second high school, MLHS as it is currently configured would be big enough to accommodate all the students going there, Price said. But some classrooms need to be renovated to take advantage of educational and technological advances.

The existing technology spaces need some help to accommodate updated systems, the video production labs being one example, Price said. Teaching science has changed, and the science classrooms and labs “are inadequate currently.”

The district has a procedure for determining in-district boundaries, in this case which students would attend MLHS and which would attend the new high school. The procedure was last used when Columbia Basin Secondary School was converted to Endeavor Middle School. The policy involves multiple community meetings to show district patrons the proposed boundary lines, hear community reaction and adjust accordingly.