The updating process is in the embryonic stages for the committee members of the Mercer Island School District (MISD) Long Range Facilities Plan.
One of the early steps took place on Aug. 24 when the district’s board engaged in a study session that featured an update on the committee’s continuing efforts on the plan from facilitator and Mahlum Architects principal LeRoy Landers.
“The committee’s done a lot of work in looking at the need that exists and the cost of potential projects,” said Construction Planning and Management’s Brandy Fox, who is the MISD owner’s representative on its capital projects, and handling and management of architects, permits and budgets. “It’s now time to go out and start talking with the larger community about what their priorities are.”
According to the MISD website, the committee’s work will include reviewing the prior plan, along with delving into current demographic information, facility condition, vision and mission and the district’s financial status. The update is a continuation of the committee’s work from the 2019-20 process.
Facilities that are being eyed for potential renovation or replacement in some portions of the buildings or continued construction are Lakeridge, Island Park and West Mercer elementary schools, Islander Middle School and Mercer Island High School, according to Fox.
“We know we have some very 60-plus-year-old schools on the Island and really the priorities are based on enrollment facts, based on conditions and educational needs. In what order do we kind of want to tackle those?” said MISD board director Deborah Lurie, who is also a committee board representative.
Landers, two school board members and a diverse collective of 30-plus community members — from students to parents who work in the architecture and development realms and more — sit on the committee. It’s a broad range of members whose expertise is beneficial to the process, Fox said.
Lurie said that community members bring a vital voice to the table when it comes to their schools and that will help the committee traverse the next steps in its planning process.
“What we’re really looking for in this process is to have a really solid understanding of what the community will support before we go out to a bond,” said Lurie, adding that they hope to present their end results by the close of the 2023-24 school year.
In the potential 2025 bond realm, the committee developed four plan options (which include the majority of the aforementioned schools plus the Crest Learning Center):
Scenario A — Address all levels; $279.0 million (tax rate increase, $0.59/$1,000). Scenario B — Focus on elementaries; $298.5 million (tax rate increase, $0.62/$1,000). Scenario C — Finish what we started; $144.5 million (tax rate increase, $0.44/$1,000). Scenario D — Start with an elementary; $160.5 million (tax rate increase, $0.45/$1,000).
Fox said the costs presented were educated order-of-magnitude numbers, “But before anything went out to the community, there would be a much more detailed kind of concept design upside community engagement and actual pricing,” she said.
Within the school district sphere overall, Lurie said that community members have posed questions about enrollment numbers and class sizes, and staffing levels have also been part of the district’s discussions. She said the district wants to reassure the community that no decisions have been made regarding any major impacts and they are in the early process of information gathering.
“These are very, very complex decisions and issues and that it’s really a balancing in order to make sure that we serve our students in the best way possible,” Lurie said.
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