PORT ANGELES — Newly elected Port Angeles School District directors Nancy Hamilton and Ned Hammar were sworn into office before the board turned to updates on capital construction projects, including upgrades to Monroe Playfield, along with enrollment and financial reports.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Simon Barnhart delivered the oath of office on Thursday night.
Nolan Duce, the school district’s director of capital projects, presented updates on construction of Hurricane Ridge Middle School, which will replace Stevens Middle School, along with planning underway for Franklin Elementary and the Port Angeles High School auditorium.
Construction of the three-story, 84,000-square-foot Hurricane Ridge Middle School on the Stevens campus is progressing steadily, Duce said. It is nearly double the size of Stevens and designed to meet modern seismic, safety and instructional standards.
Crews have completed major foundation work, including brace frames that support the structure.
“This is a really heavy building,” Duce said, noting that the second and third floors will consist of concrete poured over metal decking, requiring substantial support.
Large retaining walls needed to stabilize the hillside site have been poured in stages and waterproofed. Each section required roughly 150 yards of concrete and had to be completed in multiple pours.
Rain has delayed some work, particularly slab-on-grade concrete pours that require dry conditions, he said. Those pours require careful coordination among concrete suppliers, installation crews and finishers.
“When we schedule a pour like that, we’re basically taking all the concrete that the batch plant can put out that whole day,” Duce said. “You also have to make sure the installers and finishers can all get here on the same day.”
Steel erection is expected to begin later this winter. At that point, progress will become easy to see as the frame takes shape.
“When the steel starts going up, the whole project goes fast,” Duce said. “Once the roof and sides are on, things really move.”
The contractor is scheduled to begin working on the gym on April 1, with completion targeted for Dec. 31. Extensive upgrades include new foundations, structural work, a new roof, HVAC systems, fire sprinklers and cooling.
“We’re touching every wall, every foundation,” Duce said. “There is a tremendous amount of work going into that gym.”
Franklin Elementary is in the design and pre-construction phase, with traffic studies, topographic and utilities surveys, hazardous materials assessments and geotechnical investigations nearing completion. Preliminary findings have identified areas of unstable soil that will influence the final building placement.
“If we can stay away from those areas, it saves the district money,” said Duce, explaining that planning carefully up front would help keep costs down later.
The district will use the general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) delivery method for Franklin Elementary and the Port Angeles High School auditorium projects, as it is doing with the middle school.
Preparatory work is underway at the high school for modernization of the auditorium with destructive and non-destructive testing to verify structural conditions because existing blueprints have been proven unreliable.
Non-destructive testing includes X-ray scans to locate rebar and grout inside walls, while destructive testing involves extracting concrete and masonry samples to test strength.
The district is trying to get ahead of any unforeseen problems, Duce said.
“If what we have matches the design assumptions, that’s great. If not, we need to design to what’s actually there,” he said.
Cost management on capital projects will allow the district to add a six-lane running track at Hurricane Ridge Middle School and amenities at Monroe Playfield.
Lights, signage, restrooms, water and utility hookups for food trucks will be installed at the playfield. Infrastructure like conduit was put in during initial construction with the goal of building it out when funds became available.
“It’s not often you get to over-deliver on what you told people you were going to do,” Duce said.
Enrollment
Karen Casey, the district’s director of business and operations, presented enrollment and financial reports showing improved results for the 2024-25 school year.
The district budgeted about $61.6 million in general fund revenue and finished the year at about $61.5 million, while expenditures totaled about $59.8 million — below budget. The year ended with a general fund balance of approximately $3.75 million, about $1.6 million better than projected.
“That just shows the hard work of every single person in this district,” Casey said.
Directors unanimously approved a budget extension to the district’s 2025-26 transportation fund, increasing the amount from $172,000 to $225,000. The action protects the district should the cost of a special education school bus that has been ordered end up being more expensive than anticipated due to tariffs or other financial impacts. The approval does not require the district to spend the full amount.
New board officers also were elected at Thursday’s meeting. All were unanimous.
Sandy Long was voted president, Kirsten Williams, vice president, Stan Williams, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association representative, and Nancy Hamilton and Ned Hammar, PASD Board Audit Committee representatives.
In other business, the board approved its consent agenda, which included a $4,000 donation from the Seattle Seahawks to the high school girls flag football team and $75,300 in grants from the Port Angeles Education Association for class activities, trips and supplies.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
