PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School District is facing a complicated dilemma: Aging facilities are in need of expensive renovations at the same time student enrollment is declining.
The combination of these issues contributed to the formation of a committee that has been looking at the problem since June.
The focus of much of the committee’s responsibility is to determine what to do with the site of Mountain View Elementary at the corner of Kearney and Blaine streets in Port Townsend, said Jay Piper, chairman of the school district’s 20-member long range planning committee.
“Mountain View is definitely our most expensive property,” said Piper.
“Twenty-five percent of the budget of utilities for the school board is spent on Mountain View.”
That figure amounts to about $100,000 a year.
“One of our preferred alternatives is to shut down the Mountain View campus,” said Piper.
Even if Mountain View Elementary is closed, the school district looks to spend between $17 million and $26 million to either rehabilitate Grant Street Elementary or build a new school on its unused 12 available acres, said Piper.
And, he added, Port Townsend High School is looking at about $28 million in renovations and upgrades.
The committee is expected to deliver its recommendations to the School Board on Dec. 11.
