Tsunami of kids threatens to inundate ML schools

MOSES LAKE — A tsunami of children is coming. And it is threatening to overwhelm the Moses Lake schools.

“We’ve got no less than 650 students at every level from sixth grade on down,” said Michelle Price, superintendent of the Moses Lake School District. “Each of our elementary schools is full or fuller than when we build Park Orchard and Sage Point.”

In fact, right now, the district has over 700 students enrolled in kindergarten and the third grade across its 10 elementary schools.

This isn’t a problem now, Price noted, but it will be in a few years when this wave of children is old enough to start high school.

Moses Lake High School, which was built to hold 1,600 students, now holds around 2,200. School and district officials have been able to make this work by staggering student schedules. Some kids start class at 7 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m., while others start at 10 a.m. and go to 5 p.m. And some attend their required seven-hour school days in-between.

“Eleven periods are available,” Price said. “That allows us to fit everyone into the building, to fit seats into classrooms. We don’t do it well, but we manage.”

The 665 fifth-graders currently enrolled in the Moses Lake schools will all start high school in the fall of 2021, and none of the classes behind them are any smaller. They are why, according to Price, Moses Lake needs a second high school, and needs it up and running by the 2020-21 school year.

And the numbers don’t get any smaller: 661 in fourth grade, 716 in third, 687 in second, 681 in first, and those 721 kindergartners.

“These are just the kids we have. None of this considers growth,” Price said.

The school district has proposed a $135.3 million bond initiative for Feb. 14 to build a new high school, another elementary school, and do a number of improvements to existing high school. If voters approve the measure — which requires 60 percent in favor to pass — Price says that in the best case, a new high school can be up and running in about three years.

“2020-21 is the first year it can realistically be open for the entire year,” she said.

While there are measures to alleviate crowding — Running Start, which allows students to take community college classes and earn an associate’s degree while still in high school, or the Columbia Basic Technical Skills Center — Price said these programs aren’t for everyone.

“Running Start works for some kids, those who are academically able, whose parents are able to let go,” Price said. “Besides, Big Bend Community College isn’t big enough. Running Start is based on college prep, and it’s not for all kids.”

About 175 Moses Lake High School students are enrolled in Running Start, with a similar number of students at CB Tech.

The district also shares CB Tech with 11 other school districts, and students there only spend part of their school days at CB Tech, Price said.

As for the new elementary school, Price said the district is looking to the southeast of Moses Lake for a site, since the greatest pressures are on Garden Heights and Lakeview Terrace elementaries.

“We’re still working on where it could go,” she said. “We have 10 acres on Yonezawa [near the district offices], it’s not the best fit and it’s slated for Phase Two of CB Tech.”

But, Price added, the district is going to have move grade school students around in order make sure there’s room for every child in the district. And add more portable classrooms to some campuses.

“It’s part of our plan. It’s costly, but they meet code,” she said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.