Bond Project Update: June 2022

Now that the new Katherine G. Johnson Elementary School is finished and online, our construction teams are turning their attention to a host of other exciting bond projects.

Naches Trail Elementary

One project that’s beginning to heat up is our new Naches Trail Elementary. When our construction bond passed in 2019, Naches Trail was slated to be 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.

“We’ve hit the ground running and look forward to getting this project going vertical,” said Sara Coccia, Bethel’s Director of Construction and Planning.

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

Once the New Naches Trail Elementary School is completed and staff and students move into the new building, the old Naches Trail Elementary will become a swing school for the Evergreen Elementary staff and students while their renovation and expansion takes place.

This project will modernize the current building, originally built in 1979, and add 15,000 square feet. That will increase the capacity to 625 students.

“That area and that community is really going to benefit from that [project],” said David Hammond, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools, at a recent School Board meeting.

Our planning team is currently conducting traffic studies before the design phase of the project begins in the fall.

Graham-Kapowsin High School Expansion

Construction is also underway on the Graham-Kapowsin High School expansion project. The 33,000-square-foot expansion will add a classroom wing, an auxiliary gym and weight room, along with administrative spaces and a larger commons area. The new classroom wing will allow students and faculty members to move from portables back into the main building.

District and school leaders met with community members in May for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the school.

“It’s wonderful that we have the opportunity to see this school, which is a wonderful school with wonderful traditions, get expanded, and the portables will finally go away,” said Superintendent Tom Seigel.

The project scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2023.

Elementary 19:

The district recently purchased land in the Lipoma Firs area that will soon play home to our nineteenth elementary school. Thanks to a host of environmental and zoning regulations, it took six years of work for the district to acquire the property.

“If anyone thinks getting property in this area — or really anywhere in Pierce County — is easy or straight forward, it is not,” said Superintendent Tom Seigel. “It takes literally years to work your way through all the bureaucratic requirements.

The roughly 64,000-square-foot school will play home to 550 students. Construction crews will break ground on the project in 2023 and will look to have it completed in 2024.