PORT ANGELES — Construction of the new Hurricane Ridge Middle School is moving quickly, with structural steel scheduled to begin going up next month.
Capital Projects Director Nolan Duce described recent progress to Port Angeles School District directors at their Thursday meeting, focusing on foundations, utilities and concrete pours — setting the stage for vertical construction.
“The slab on grade on level one is done,” Duce said. “The crane is moving in on Feb. 9, and they’re going to start flying the steel on Feb. 11.”
Some of the first steel pieces will be roughly 42 feet tall, Duce said, giving the community its first clear sense of the three-story school’s scale.
“That is when you’re going to start seeing what this building is going to look like and how big it’s going to be,” he said.
The new facility will be 84,000 square feet, nearly double that of Stevens Middle School, which it is replacing.
A project update and photographs of construction can be found at tinyurl.com/4tuspnxk.
Meanwhile, preconstruction work at Franklin Elementary is advancing as well, with an educational specifications report expected within two weeks and a final report to the board by the end of February.
Traffic and topographic studies are nearing completion, and a hazardous materials report has been delivered to architects.
The district has issued a general contractor/construction management (GC/CM) request for qualifications for the project, and staff will begin scoring and interviews shortly thereafter.
Duce said planning work on the Port Angeles High School and auditorium is following a similar path, with required studies underway. The district released the auditorium GC/CM request for qualifications on Jan. 6, with submissions due Feb. 9.
It expects to move quickly through interviews, final proposals and contract negotiations with recommendations to the board anticipated in March.
Finance update
Also Thursday, Karen Casey, the school district’s business and operations director, reported December general fund revenue of $19.3 million and expenditures of $20,153,000, leaving a fund balance of about $2.97 million.
There was $5.2 million in revenue and $4.6 million in capital projects spending in December. A debt service fund expenditure of $715,367 was the first interest payment on the district’s bonds.
Among the transportation fund expenditures in December was $170,254 for a special needs bus.
The district reported a 27-student decline in January enrollment, dropping from 3,344 in December to 3,317.
Superintendent Michelle Olsen said winter break is a typical enrollment fluctuation point in the school year.
“Sometimes December, that January count, we can see where people are maybe transitioning or moving,” Olsen said, adding that February enrollment will be watched closely because semester changes can bring both new students and withdrawals.
Michaela Clancy, the school district’s director of special services, submitted a plan for the highly capable program, which serves 411 students, about 12 percent of district enrollment. She said the identification process looks beyond test scores to factors such as depth of thinking and creativity, and it’s intended to improve identification of underserved students.
Because state funding is for highly capable programs is capped at 5 percent, district support is needed.
The board voted to approve the plan, which the district is required to submit to the state.
The board also heard an update from Port Angeles Education Foundation Executive Director Kayla Oakes, who said the organization awarded $272,250 in scholarships to 50 students last year, along with more than $75,000 in grants to support classrooms, teachers and student needs districtwide.
Dry Creek Elementary School principal Julie Bryant introduced sixth-graders O’Shea Charles and Jackson Rood as the district’s students of the month.
Bryant said that, with 391 students, Dry Creek is the largest elementary school in the district.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
