New Othello High School part of district's construction bond discussion

OTHELLO — Rebuilding or replacing Othello High School was a subject of discussion at the Othello School Board meeting Monday. 

District officials appointed a committee last year to review existing and future utility needs, and the “Future Ready Schools” members report to the school board each month. Assistant Superintendent Josh Meek said recent discussions have centered around OHS. 

“There’s been a lot of conversation about the right size of a new Othello High School,” Meek said.  

That could be a remodel of the existing building, or a new OHS on a new site, he said. Either way, committee members have changed their minds about the building’s size, given enrollment trends.  

“We’ve really dialed that back, for a variety of reasons,” he said.  

The committee used a method called a full-time equivalent, which estimates the number of students who spend all school day at OHS. Othello, like most school districts, has students enrolled at OHS but who attend classes at other locations at least part of the day, like Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center.  

For the 2025-26 school year, Othello had the equivalent of about 1,305 students. That’s down from a peak of 1,357 student equivalents in 2023-24.  

“Over the last four or five years we’ve hovered right around that 1,300 (student) range,” Meek said.  

With that in mind, committee members have tentatively rejected the idea of a 1,600-student high school, he said. They’re looking at buildings that would accommodate 1,200 to 1,500 students. 

Any of those buildings would be bigger than the existing OHS, he said. A remodeled or new building with a capacity of 1,500 students was estimated to be about 50 percent bigger. A 1,500-student OHS would be about 225,000 square feet, he said.  

Square footage was only part of the discussion, however. 

“Today we’re going to focus on the actual cost of the project,” Meek said. 

Othello is eligible for funding from the state to offset part of the cost, but construction would require a bond approved by Othello district patrons. 

For a 1,400-student high school on the existing site, the local construction bond was projected to be about $131.7 million. A new 1,400-student on a new site would cost an estimated $183.3 million, Meek said.  

A 1,500-student, OHS on the existing site was estimated at about $145.8 million, while a new high school on a new site was projected to require a construction bond of about $197.4 million.  

Meek said the district’s bonding capacity is about $150 million. 

The estimates have some options that school board members may or may not decide to include, Meek said. He presented a list of the options under consideration, which include a 400-seat auditorium, an expanded student parking lot, upgrades to Huskie Stadium and track – or an entirely new stadium – a baseball field, two softball fields and a tennis court.  

The auditorium was the most expensive option at an estimated cost of $9.75 million. Additional student parking was estimated at $4.87 million, and a new Huskie Stadium was estimated at $6.47 million. Upgrades to the existing stadium were estimated at $1.5 million. 

The estimate for a new baseball field was $2.5 million and about $4 million for new softball fields. New tennis courts were projected to cost about $1.8 million. 

“Perhaps some of those items come in a future project or come at a later time,” he said. 

Board member Isauro Pruneda said he thought voters would be more willing to prioritize the sports facilities, because they would get more use. 

“This list tends to be right now the most place of contention,” Meek said. “There are definitely some differing opinions about which of these things are the right ones to prioritize.” 

He cited the auditorium as an example. As of now, McFarland Middle School has the district’s only stage. 

“Some would say, ‘You would prioritize this list by starting with something we don’t have.’ Others would say, ‘Why would we build something we don’t have, unless we have adequate facilities for what we do have?’ There’s a lot of debate going on,” Meek said. 

    Othello High School drama students rehearse “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on the stage at McFarland Middle School. A new performing arts auditorium is one of the options under discussion for inclusion in a possible construction bond.