Bond Project Update: July 2022
Thank you, voters!
New Naches Trail Elementary (2023)
When our construction bond passed in 2019, Naches Trail Elementary was slated to get a complete remodel and expansion. But a cost analysis determined it would actually be more expensive to modernize the current Naches Trail than it would be to build a new school.
The new school site is being prepared and the team is excited to see the building “go vertical” later this summer.
The 77,000-square foot school will house 41 general classrooms and is scheduled to be ready for students in the fall of 2023.
Evergreen Elementary Expansion (2025)
Once the New Naches Trail Elementary School is completed and staff and students move into the new building, the old Naches Trail Elementary will be home for the Evergreen Elementary staff and students while the renovation and expansion of their school takes place.
This project will modernize the current Evergreen Elementary building, which was originally built in 1979, and will add 15,000 square feet.
Our planning team is currently conducting traffic studies before the design phase of the project gets underway this fall.
Graham-Kapowsin High School Expansion (2023)
Construction is also underway on the Graham-Kapowsin High School expansion project. The 33,000-square-foot expansion will add a new classroom wing, an auxiliary gym and weight room, along with a larger commons area and administrative spaces. The new wing will allow students and faculty members to move from portables back into the main building.
GKHS will also be home to a new School-Based Health Clinic, the construction of which will be funded separately from our bond projects.
The center will be funded through a $3.5 million congressional award that Congresswoman Kim Schrier spearheaded. It will offer students and staff from GKHS, Frontier Middle, and Nelson Elementary a free clinic for an assortment of medical needs.
When it opens next year, the clinic will be the second of its kind here in Bethel. A clinic inside Bethel Middle School opened in 2019.
The GKHS projects are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2023.
Elementary #19 (2024)
The district purchased land in the Lipoma Firs area that will soon be the site of our nineteenth elementary school. The 64,000-square-foot building will be home to 550 students. Construction crews will break ground on the project in 2023 and look to have it completed in 2024.
Challenger High School Phase II (2022)
The Phase II project of Challenger High School is nearing the finish line. The 31,000-square foot project is adding more classroom space, as well as more parking and a practice field to the school. It is on track to open this fall.
New Bethel High School (2025)
The original timeline for opening the new Bethel High was September 2023. But changes to the Pierce County Stormwater regulations delayed the opening until 2025.
The updates to the Pierce County Stormwater Manual’s regulations have resulted in development standards that are different than when the District purchased the property in 2009.
But that hasn’t stopped the design work on the new school. Earlier this year the School Board approved a plan to build a memorial in honor of Casey Crate as part of the New Bethel High School campus. Plans show a plaza that would memorialize Crate and all the other graduates of the Bethel School District who lost their lives in combat activities in defense of our country.
Other projects to be funded by the 2019 School Construction Bond
2025
Elk Plain School of Choice Improvements
New Kitchens at Bethel Middle and Roy Elementary
2026
Cedarcrest Middle School Improvements
2028
Old Bethel High School Renovations
