MLSD looking to innovate with next school design

MOSES LAKE — As the Moses Lake School District sets out to find an architect for its two planned new elementary schools, the district is looking for ways to make those schools “efficient, low-maintenance and excellent educational environments” while saving the district money.

“Specifically, we told them we want to build more efficient buildings, a lower cost to build and maintain,” said school board member Elliott Goodrich.

While district officials are not yet sure what that means, they have scrapped the previous design process and instead will work with one of eight architectural firms that have bid to design the district’s new schools.

The district, which was originally planning to build only one new elementary school as part of the school construction bond that passed in February 2017, voted this summer to build two new elementary school and a smaller high school instead.

However, the district also decided to scrap design plans for the new elementary schools — based on the district’s two most recent schools, Sage Point and Park Orchard — and start from scratch after those schools received “unsatisfactory” grades following a state review of the district’s facilities.

“We are primarily looking for a strong partnership to design schools to fully meet our educational specifications,” said superintendent Josh Meek.

Meek added that the district has completely revised those specifications — the “rules to the architect” that describe the kind of building — though they are not entirely sure what durability, easy to maintain and lower cost of construction will mean.

“We don’t know what the details are yet,” Goodrich said. “But it’s all about the choices you make and what you do with that space.”

Meek said the design contract should be awarded before Christmas, and work on the design will begin as soon as possible afterwards.