Bond Project Update: September 2022

Challenger High School

Students, staff, and parents were thrilled to finally get a look at the brand new Challenger High when school began earlier this month.

Phase II of the project wrapped up on schedule, and the 31,000-square foot structure is now open and in use. The project added more classroom space, common areas, and sports facilities.

“It was a really exciting project because it took all of our students at Challenger High School out of really dilapidated portables into a brand new space,” said Sara Coccia, the district’s Director of Construction and Planning.

Once the main campus was finished, crews turned their attention to the old portables that had been used as classrooms for the past several decades. The portables were demolished and cleared out, making room for outdoor space on the campus, including a sports field.

Graham-Kapowsin High School

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.

Coccia said her team has worked hard to ensure that our bond projects are done with local workers. She said 71 percent of all the subcontractors working on the GKHS project are from Pierce County.

“That’s really awesome. We want our community working in our community,” she said

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.

New Naches Trail Elementary

Our new Naches Trail Elementary is also sailing along. Crews have put down a foundation and the project has now gone vertical.

The 77,000-square foot school will house 41 general classrooms and is scheduled to be ready for students in the fall of 2023. The 77,000-square foot school will house 41 general classrooms and is scheduled to be ready for students in the fall of 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.

Elementary #19

Our planning and design teams are also hard at work on what will soon be Bethel’s 19th elementary school.

The two-story, 64,000-square-foot school will be located in the Lipoma Firs community will house nearly 500 students in 24 classrooms.

Because the school will be located in Lipoma Firs, which has sidewalks throughout, Elementary #19 will be one of Bethel’s only “walking schools,” according to Coccia.

“We’re really excited to get that opportunity to have our students have a safe way to get to school that doesn’t include bus transportation or car transportation,” she said.

Construction crews will break ground on the project in the 2023 and look to have it completed in 2024.

Pierce County Skills Center — Evergreen building

While it’s not a bond-funded project, the Pierce County Skills Center will soon have a brand new facility for two of its most popular programs. The new Evergreen building, which is currently in the planning stages, will house the Fire Sciences and Construction Trades programs.

The building is scheduled to be ready for students in 2024, and when it opens it will include a brand new Pre-Electrical program, which was selected as a result of a survey of student interest and industry demand.

The project is all thanks to a $9.8 million award from the Washington State Legislature