By ANNELI FOGT
Editor
Roughly a dozen islanders showed up to the Vashon school board’s first community outreach event Wednesday night aimed at educating the public about the bond for capital facilities improvements scheduled to come up for election in February.
Vashon Island School District Superintendent Michael Soltman and architect Kim Goforth led the meeting by walking attendees through each of the five facility improvement project options that are being proposed. Soltman stressed that the board is still “just at the beginning of getting these plans public,” and said that the board is “very interested” in the community’s feedback.
“We invite conversation, we want you to deeply understand this and want to hear your concerns,” Soltman said.
Of the 12 attendees, three were staunch track and field supporters and Vashon High School track and field champions: Foss Miller, a national high school title holder for the javelin throw; Todd Pearson, a VHS record holder in the 100-yard dash, and Mark VanDevanter, who currently holds a VHS record for pole vault. Throughout the presentation in the VHS commons, the trio, especially Miller, pressed Soltman and Goforth about the importance of the scheduled maintenance projects at the elementary and middle schools, and stressed how necessary they thought a better track at the high school is.
The district’s $4 million plan to renovate the track has been a hot topic among islanders because of the proposal to move the track from its current more east-west orientation to a straight north-south orientation. Also up for discussion is whether to add a synthetic turf field for an extra $950,000. Many residents believe that changing the orientation of the track will be an unnecessary expense, and islander Susan Nyman asked candidates at the Oct. 1 school board candidate forum to justify the shift.
However, Goforth said at Wednesday night’s meeting that the move would not be any more expensive than leaving it in its current orientation.
“The track and field is the same price no matter which direction it is facing, because we’re going to have to strip it down and start over either way” Goforth said. “The only difference would be that if we shifted the track, we would need to build new bleachers, which would be $700,000, but the current bleachers don’t meet code and are not ADA accessible. We would have to replace them soon anyway.”
Goforth also said that, at 400 yards (365.7 meters) around, the track is about 35 meters too short to host a track meet. The track plans drew reactions and discussion from many audience members, but VanDevanter and Pearson were the first to speak.
“I’m pissed that all the other sports (besides track) have facilities that have been made up-to-date,” Pearson told The Beachcomber at the Wednesday meeting. “Track is the only sport we have where we cannot host. A track with bleachers is the top priority.”
Pearson and another islander both said that if the school is going to make improvements, it might as well do it right and do the whole project at once. However, after comments about considering those on fixed incomes from an island woman who dropped into the meeting briefly. Pearson said islanders should be sensitive to those that the tax increase would hit hard.
“It’s crazy not to do it right, but we have to be mindful of those on fixed incomes,” Pearson said. “If we make a choice and go too high and it doesn’t pass, then (improvements don’t) happen at all.”
Board member Bob Hennessey was in attendance at the meeting and also expressed concerns to The Beachcomber about aiming too high and making the project unaffordable for the community.
In addition to the track, Goforth discussed the more than $4 million in scheduled replacement and renovation projects, which include new windows, furniture and locker rooms for McMurray Middle School, along with what Goforth said is a recommended seismic upgrade for the school’s gym. Goforth also said Chautauqua Elementary School is due for updated paint, flooring and playground equipment, and VHS needs new pavement in the front entry and parking area and a renovation of the baseball field.
Miller then asked Goforth how important the McMurray gym upgrade is, and whether it was at risk of falling down.
“Is the McMurray gym repair actually repair? Or will it fall down,” Miller asked. “Is it a liability hazard?”
Goforth explained that the seismic upgrades are important because the building has “moved” and could lose bricks in an earthquake. Soltman then clarified and said that the gym is not “an imminent failure,” but it’s on the list of projects that need to get done.
“We’re looking ahead to preventative maintenance,” Soltman said. “We’re forecasting what it will take to take care of these facilities. We will not spend the whole $4.7 million that is proposed.”
Goforth then moved on to talk about the plans to renovate the VHS gymnasium, which range from $17.5 million to $27 million, with the most expensive plan involving completely renovating and replacing the current gym building and building a new gym.
She said the cheapest plan consists of keeping the current gym, turning the locker rooms into storage, and building a new gym, which would have a ceiling high enough for volleyball and a collegiate basketball court, which is what other schools use and is 10 feet longer than the current space.
Soltman said that all but one of the school board members fully supports this cheapest option ($17. 5 million), and it is unlikely that the board will consider putting any of the more expensive options on the ballot.
Miller voiced concerns about replacing the current locker rooms with storage and how it would be logistically possible to have junior varsity and varsity games or practices going on in both gyms simultaneously with only one set of locker rooms.
“The existing gym would become the auxiliary gym, but there’d be no locker rooms, so how would that work?” Miller asked.
VHS Athletic Director Andy Sears explained that just because there would be no locker rooms does not mean that there would not be space for a kind of multi-purpose or team room. He said that many of the schools he has been to have a multi-purpose room with room dividers that can be used to create a large dance or yoga studio or break the room up to create locker or team rooms.
“These flexible spaces are a growing trend in schools,” Sears said.
VHS principal Danny Rock then talked about the importance of the projects for the entire community, not just the school’s sports teams or the football team. He addressed the football team’s use of the facilities after an islander asked whether there would be a day when VHS would not have a football team because of how tough it is to find enough players.
“When the community thinks about fields and the gym, we think about sports programs,” Rock said. “The truth is, it’s our school programs every day that are using the facilities, the gym classes and the everyday students. Our facilities should not be about a certain sport or need. The number of people on the fields for football is dwarfed by community users, the school soccer teams, lacrosse teams and track and field.”
Goforth ended the event with discussions about the proposed $550,000 renovation of the StudentLink program’s Building K and the $3.5 million project for district service facilities such as a bus barn and offices for the district’s technology and maintenance employees.
StudentLink teacher Nan Hammett said that Building K has not received much money or work since it was built more than 40 years ago.
“It has the same heating system; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Hammett said. “We tried to plug space heaters in last year and blew out the electrical. The restrooms are abysmal.”
Goforth said that the walls of the current district technology offices that are housed in the old kindergarten building at the southwest corner of the high school’s property were found filled with rat feces during a recent repair. The current proposal calls for one pre-fabricated metal building that would house all of the maintenance, technology and transportation offices.
Two community outreach events remain: one in the Thriftway shopping center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, and one at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at the VHS commons.
Soltman said that there have not been enough people giving the board feedback, and he is urging more islanders to make their opinions known. The board will likely specify the bond amount to be voted on during the Thursday, Nov. 19, board meeting.
