Bond Projects — June 2019 Update

Elementary #18 is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2021/22 school year.

The detailed timeline for Elementary #18 is now available, and it looks like construction will begin in late March of 2020. There is a lot to be completed before then, including a traffic study, design and permitting, but so far everything is on track for the start of the 2021/22 school year.

Elementary #19

We are currently planning for our second new elementary school to be located in the Lipoma Firs community. The School Board recently authorized the Superintendent and Director of Construction and Planning to conduct a feasibility evaluation of the land there.

Because the Lipoma Firs community falls within both the Bethel and Puyallup school district boundaries, work needed to be done to identify which houses would be in which districts.

The current boundary between the districts follows the township section line, not the proposed parcel lines. Both districts worked together to redraw the boundary before the houses were occupied. The proposed line now follows the roads instead of running through proposed living rooms.

The proposed boundary results in one single-family lot gain by Puyallup and a gain of 2.5 acres of multi-family to Bethel.

Bethel and Puyallup staff will now move forward with Educational Service District 121 to modify the boundary as shown below.

The previous boundary line between Puyallup and Bethel in the Lipoma community.

The proposed boundary follows the new road system.

New Bethel High School

The current Bethel High School building is getting new portables this summer to house the school’s growing population. When construction of the new BHS is complete, it will be the biggest school in the district.

Architects are continuing to work with the district as they prepare the plans for the new Bethel High School. They have been touring local high schools, and have even shadowed some students at BHS to help identify problem areas, like bottlenecks and circulation issues, inside the current building.

Challenger High School Phase I

Phase I of the Challenger High School project is not funded by the bond, but Phase II will be. Phase I will add an 8,000 square foot building. This building has been ordered and is scheduled to be delivered in early July.

Our construction camera is up and running, so you can follow the site prep work that is being done, and can watch the building go up starting next month.