By Michele Smith

On October 14th citizens from across the district held the first Capital Facilities Advisory Committee (CFAC) at the Highline Public Schools Educational Resource and Administrative Center. A 40 member committee was elected to develop a long term facilities plan including a future bond measure.

Following a harsh report by KOMO News earlier this month claiming Highline high school is rat infested and mold ridden, the committee was formed and is tasked with developing a plan to present to the school board in June of 2016 which could include rebuilding and remodeling or tearing down and replacing the building all together. After the report, an extermination plan was initiated to deal with the rats and the room with the mold (which is not a student area) was closed off completely and air quality inspectors brought in to assess the damage.

Fifteen committee members were appointed by community organizations, employee associations, and local government leaders. Twenty-five at-large members were chosen by lottery from a pool of over 70 community members who volunteered to serve, they will meet monthly. Their charter is to develop recommendations for a capital facility plan that ensures adequate, equitable, and sustainable school facilities that provide students with a high-quality learning environment. 

Catherine Carbone Rogers – Chief Communications Officer for Highline Public Schools, told us “We look forward to long term solutions that benefit the entire community and welcome community input, all meetings are open to the public and meeting notes can be found on the website.”

The committee elected leadership from their ranks to run the monthly meetings and guide the process, they are:

Chair Rose Clarke – Rose is a former Burien City Councilmember and a retired Highline Public Schools staff member.

Co-chair Danielle Houle – Danielle is a former secondary math teacher. She has 18 years of private sector business experience, including operations management.

Student Co-chair Larissa Merlo-Huerto –  Larissa is a senior at Health Sciences and Human Services High School (HS3). 

The next meeting is November 19, 2015
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Educational Resource and Administrative Center
15675 Ambaum Blvd SW
Burien, WA 98166

To read a synopsis of the 10/14/15 meeting online, see a list of committee members and read more about the committee charge visit http://www.highlineschools.org/Page/1.