Why Does the February 2015 School Construction Bond Proposal Include a New Elementary School and Additional Classrooms at Greywolf Elementary? The district’s February 2015 School Bond Proposal includes a new elementary school. The district’s elementary student population is growing and is expected to continue doing so for the next 5 years. The most reliable predictor of Kindergarten enrollment in our district is births of children to families who live within the district boundaries. Beginning in 2008, birth rates in our district began increasing. Combined with the planned implementation of All Day Kindergarten in 2015-2016, the population of our elementary grades is expected to peak in 2023 near 1,300 students (implementation of All Day Kindergarten district wide is dependent on state funding, but current state law requires all districts offer All Day Kindergarten by 2018). If we balanced the student population between our two elementary schools, this would mean a peak student count near 650 students in our already crowded buildings. Adding a new elementary school and more classrooms at Greywolf provides adequate permanent space for our current and future students and helps plan for the future. Our facilities plan includes retaining the Haller Elementary buildings. Buildings D and A at Haller would be renovated to house Olympic Peninsula Academy. Buildings B and C at Haller would be kept and held for future use. Those two buildings have 20 classrooms. If student populations do rise to 650 students per elementary, Buildings B and C at Haller could provide classroom space for 5th grade students from Greywolf and the new elementary. This would help the district reduce class sizes at the two elementary schools. This would also help the district to delay the construction of a third elementary school until necessary. While this is only one scenario, it provides an illustration of how Haller Elementary could still be useful in the future and how a new elementary will alleviate overcrowded classrooms as our elementary student population grows.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:23:39 +0000