Recurring mold. Pathways between buildings not accessible to people with disabilities. Lack of windows and ventilation. Not enough restrooms. 

These were among the issues identified during a public tour of College Place Middle School Monday. The school is one of several designated for replacement or improvements through the $594 million Edmonds School District School Construction Bond (Proposition 1) on the special election ballot being mailed to voters this week.

The school district scheduled the tour in response to community requests after the Edmonds School Board voted unanimously to place two propositions on the ballot that will upgrade several district elementary and middle schools. The proposals would replace College Place Middle and the neighboring College Place Elementary School with new campuses.

Nearly 40 people – including parents, schoolchildren and community members  – visited the middle school Monday night to examine the aging classrooms, gymnasium and campus that do not meet current building codes and other standards. These include:

• Steep slopes between school parking lots and school buildings that don’t meet American Disabilities Act requirements.
• Lmited access to drinking fountains.
• Lack of private changing spaces in locker rooms
• Gymnasium bleachers that don’t accommodate all students to attend a single event and that also lack disability access
• Recurring mold issues on the building’s exterior
• Lack of windows or ventilation in some buildings, such as the life science and art buildings

“The school is located on two busy streets (76th Avenue West and 208th Street Southwest),” said Director of Capital Projects Taine Wilton, who led most of the tour. Because the school includes  multiple buildings – similar to a college campus – “it’s a very difficult site to secure,” Wilton added. 

In addition, the existing school doesn’t meet current building code for the number of restroom facilities, she said.

College Place Middle was built in 1970, and it has had a number of upgrades over the years, including seismic retrofitting and roof repairs. Enrollment this year is 640 students – mostly from the cities of Edmonds and Lynnwood – and there are 50 staff members. The school has 26 classrooms, one gymnasium, one common area that is also used as a lunchroom and one library. 

The campus layout is similar to K-12 campuses that are more common in Southern California, where students are exposed to the outdoors when moving between classrooms. 

“This style was very prevalent at this time primarily because the multiple buildings are essentially residential in scale, so it didn’t take a commercial contractor to build these multiple, little buildings,” Wilton said. “It also saved on costs because you don’t have interior corridors, so there’s less buildings to heat and you can have a smaller boiler plant that heats the whole campus.”

During the 1960s, Snohomish County was experiencing a boom in population and industry growth. To accommodate growing families, schools had to be built fast. 

“There was a lot of pressure to build schools,” Milton said. “All these buildings had to be built quickly to accommodate the number of students that were here at that time. But we don’t have that pressure now. The pressure is energy efficiency and safety.”

“The rebuilding process started at the high school level, so we’ve replaced all of our high schools and two middle schools,” she continued. “This school was intended to be replaced in the 2020 bond, and that failed. And then COVID hit. It took some time to recover from COVID and that’s why we’re only coming to the voters.”

The district has already replaced its other aging middle schools – Meadowdale Middle, which opened in 1961, and Alderwood Middle, which opened in 1965 – and College Place is next on the list.

Parents from Lynnwood and Edmonds attending the tour agreed that College Place Middle needs the upgrade.

“My daughters are going to attend school here one day, and our public schools, which serve about 70 to 80% of our students in our district, are our backbone of our democracy,” said Edmonds resident Adel Sefrioui. “We need to do our part to ensure that (the school district is) vibrant and healthy for our future, and investing in our kids and schools – including the physical conditions – our communities stay strong. I really believe strong schools build strong communities, whether we send our kids to public, private or homeschools. We all benefit when our public schools are strong.”

“Driving by, it looks like a prison,” said Edmonds resident Bethany Allen, who has children attending Sherwood Elementary. When she peeked into the girl’s P.E. locker room, she felt like she was in a time capsule. 

“Once I got in, it was actually worse than I thought,” she said. “The locker rooms in Kirkland [Middle School] are so much nicer. It doesn’t have to be nice, but it has to be functional. It’s amazing that these buildings are still being used to teach students.”

Allen also supports the switch to the sixth- to eighth-grade model across the Edmonds School District in the 2028-29 school year. That would occur as part of the district’s plan to open a new middle school – also funded by the proposed construction bond. Allen thinks that two years of middle school is too short for students to establish relationships. 

“I do want my kids to go to a safe and modern school,” Allen said. “It does concern me that there’s 105 exterior doors, especially in this day and age. I think one of the biggest reasons parents send their kids to private school is security, and knowing that their kids will be safe. I’ve had friends who had this conversation, and security is key.”

“We want to increase enrollment,” Allen said, “but we’re losing kids to private schools if we don’t have schools that are competitive to match the standards we see in other places, we’re not going to draw in more students.”

Here’s a summary of what’s before voters:

Proposition 1: School Construction Bond
$594 million

Replace four of the district’s oldest schools

College Place Elementary (1969)

College Place Middle (1970)

Oak Heights Elementary (1967)

Westgate Elementary (1958)

Build an additional middle school

Middle school would switch to a sixth- through eighth-grade model across the district beginning with the 2028-29 school year. This model aligns with educational standards and expands academic options for sixth graders, the district said.

Fund capital improvement projects

Improve safety, security and accessibility

Maintain buildings

Upgrade tracks and fields

Proposition 2: Replacement Technology/Capital Levy
$30 million each year for four years

Technology resources

Chromebooks for each student

Staff technology training

Enhance cybersecurity

Capital projects

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades

Other site and building improvements

More information about the 2024 School Construction Bond and Replacement Technology/Capital Levy can be found here.

— Story and photos by Nick Ng