I believe parents and community members want what is best for their kids, their neighbor’s kids and their neighborhood schools. Planning a bond to solve district-wide problems, like we are considering now, it is so hard to prioritize with finite funds.
That said, I have some concerns about this current bond proposal, and whether it will address the needs of my neighborhood in the Evergreen service area, and further, whether it will adversely affect Evergreen area neighborhood schools, especially the quality of our high school.
Highline, Tyee and Evergreen are all operating far past their intended lives and need to be rebuilt, and students at all three schools deserve much better. My concern with the Highline High School rebuild proposal, is that if voters approve a new $160 million dollar Highline High School, there will be a deep and stark divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” among Highline Secondary Schools and neighborhoods.
Both Highline and Mount Rainier High Schools will have new facilities that can accommodate a wide variety of courses including core classes at different ability levels,…a wide array of fine arts electives like band, orchestra, drama, choir, painting and ceramics,…interesting vocational classes on campus like woodworking, cooking and automotive…and, state of the art athletic facilities.
Evergreen and Tyee small high schools have NONE of that! The Evergreen facility has a persistent rat problem with occasional presents in the classrooms, water damage and black mold causing some teacher health issues, and infrastructure failures.
Most of the Evergreen students are not offered ANY fine arts, and are only offered a couple of electives. Evergreen kids who want to take vocational classes have to get over to the Puget Sound Skill Center and then back to Evergreen for their core classes. The weight room has hand-me down equipment from the YMCA and a dirt patch for an athletic field.
Worst of all, the Highline School District prevents Evergreen and Tyee students from attending either Highline or Mount Rainier traditional high schools! Our families are relegated to choosing from Highline’s 12 themed, small high schools. How equitable is that policy? That means that half of the district’s high school students have to attend worn-out schools and receive bare-boned educations, while the other half will be able to attend state of the art comprehensive high schools and choose from an additional hundred classes unavailable at small high schools.
Yet, Evergreen and Tyee service area citizens are being asked to pay into a $160 million traditional high school rebuild on the one hand, and on the other the district tells us, “Oh no, you can’t have a high school like this.” The total proposed allotment for bond building improvements in the Evergreen service area is $12.5 million for the Evergreen High School Campus…or 3.3% of the bond! I am all for paying my fair share for better schools, but I cannot support an expensive bond that promotes unfair student opportunities and solutions at the expense of my neighborhood.
This bond must spread school improvements to all district areas:
Here is an idea…Evergreen and Tyee are slated to receive improvements to their schools’ inadequate science labs, so why not build stand-alone, state of the art science and technology buildings on each campus. They can then be incorporated into a new school facility in the future rather than renovating classrooms at great expense that will be eventually bulldozed?
(1) Evergreen and Tyee High Schools simply must receive more funds from the $380 million bond. There is close to $100 in non-specified funds proposed in the bond, and each high school should get $25 million.
(2) Both Evergreen and Tyee high schools should receive renovations to improve school health and environments, like new bathrooms, new roofs, improve ventilation and replace leaking pipes.
(3) In addition, build a separate science/technology building at each campus that all students can use and that can be later attached to a new facility. Each high school can conduct science in state of the art science labs, and offer robotics and technology that Mount Rainier, Highline and Aviation High Schools already have.
Half of all Highline District high school students simply cannot be left out of basic science and technology opportunities for another 20 years!
(4) Providing school improvements in all four service areas will generate more bond buy-in around the district. The Evergreen and Tyee service areas have really been left out of this bond and bond discussion. By building a science/technology building on Evergreen and Tyee campuses, we can begin planning for the high schools’ rebuilds down the road rather than another episode of kicking both schools to the curb to address some other “urgent” need.
The current wave of kids will be packing the high schools shortly, and Highline School District must start planning for the process of rebuilding Evergreen and Tyee. Doing nothing now for two of our four high school campuses, and creating unjust and unfair high school opportunities for half of our district in unconscionable. Please, let’s think creatively, and create more equitable solutions within this bond for every Highline student!
Sarah Gengler Dahl
