Bond Project Update: January 2025

Thank you, voters!

NEW Cedarcrest Middle School

At a recent School Board meeting, Director of Construction and Planning Sara Coccia shared details and preliminary renderings of the much anticipated New Cedarcrest Middle School project.

“If you may recall, the 2019 Bond actually called for a modernization and addition project,” Coccia said. “But through some very careful bond planning, and some additional funding help from the state in terms of how we get our state match assistance, we were able to allocate some additional money.”

Cedarcrest is one of our older schools in the district. Built in 1982, the school is just under 88,000 square feet, which makes it a similar size to our more modern elementary schools. Along with that, Coccia said the building has a lot of issues.

“It lacks daylight, it has narrow corridors and hallways, it has a lot of safety and security areas,” she said. “Quite frankly, our community has outgrown that school. So we’re very excited that we can now build a facility that’s going to meet our current district standards.”

The new school is going to be just under 123,000 square feet. It will be a three-story building with 39 classrooms and is being designed for 850 students. The current capacity for Cedarcrest is only 700 students.

The lower level will house the CTE and art classrooms, as well as the special education suite. A new expanded commons will be on the main level, and the third floor will house science classrooms and the library.

“We worked really hard with the design team to make sure that we could capture some of the views of Mount Rainier,” Coccia said. “By having this on that upper level, the library will have really great views of the mountain.”

Currently, the team is planning to start construction in the summer of 2026. That’s the year Bethel High School students will move to the new BHS building. Cedarcrest students will then move to the old BHS for two years while construction at Cedarcest takes place. The new Cedarcrest is scheduled to open in the fall of 2028.

New Bethel High School

Construction on our biggest bond-funded project began in early 2024 and the building is taking shape! Thanks to our voters, who approved the 2019 School Construction Bond, the new Bethel High is scheduled to be completed in 2026!

Evergreen Elementary Expansion

This school year, Evergreen Elementary staff and students are “glamping” at the old Naches Trail building, while Evergreen gets its extreme home makeover thanks to our voters! The much needed expansion of Evergreen Elementary is adding 10,000 square feet to the school, which includes 10 additional classrooms and a new commons area. It is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Bonds are for building, Levies are for Learning

In 2019, our voters approved a School Construction Bond to build new schools and renovate and expand old ones. Bond funding is kept separate from the rest of the district’s budget, including our levies that need to be renewed every four years. As the saying goes: Bonds are for Building, Levies are for Learning. Learn more at bethelsd.org/bond