SEQUIM — Voters in the Sequim School District will see a $49.5 million bond on the Feb. 10 special election ballot.
The School Board approved the bond measure in a 4-0 vote Monday night. Board member Walter Johnson was absent.
The bond would fund a new elementary school, add classrooms at Greywolf Elementary and Sequim High schools, and renovate or repurpose other district buildings.
Neighboring Port Angeles also has a bond measure on the Feb. 10 ballot.
The Port Angeles School District is asking voters to approve a $98 million bond to rebuild most of the high school.
A 60 percent majority is required for voter passage of a school bond issue.
In addition, there must be a 40 percent voter turnout based on the number of votes cast in the school district in the Nov. 4 general election.
The Sequim School District learned a lesson from its loss when a $154 million bond for construction projects was rejected by voters in April, according to Superintendent Kelly Shea.
“It was too much money. There were too many projects, and there was no focus,” Shea said.
A new committee to examine the district’s needs was formed. Many of the members were residents who voted “no” on the April bond measure, he said.
The committee identified eight immediate district needs:
■ Build a new elementary school.
■ Add a wing of classrooms at Greywolf Elementary.
■ Renovate Helen Haller Elementary, convert it to house fifth-graders and Olympic Peninsula Academy, which is for home-schoolers.
■ Add band, choir and science classrooms, and renovate the science wing at Sequim High School.
■ Demolish the former Sequim Community School.
■ Convert the community school gymnasium to a district warehouse.
■ Convert the former Olympic Peninsula Academy building to maintenance headquarters.
■ Modernize the district kitchen.
The district kitchen, where 1,800 student meals are prepared daily, was last updated with used U.S. Navy equipment in the 1970s, Shea said.
Equipment in the kitchen is so old that replacement parts are no longer available, and they are worn out, he said.
He said many of the schools do not have enough space for all of the students.
“We need at least 14 new classrooms” to house present students, Shea said, noting that this does not take into account future growth.
The district also will have to address the implementation of Initiative 1351, which creates smaller class sizes in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The measure narrowly passed in the Nov. 4 general election.
Shea said the state initiative will fund additional teachers, librarians and other staff who work directly with students, but not the classrooms that would be needed.
The current Helen Haller Elementary building doesn’t have enough to house the school’s present 600 students.
Many classes are housed in temporary portable classrooms.
During Monday’s meeting, the board also approved hiring a project manager to oversee the installation of four portable classrooms at Helen Haller Elementary, in which the fourth grade will be housed next year.
Adding the four classrooms brings the number of portables up to 13 at the school, including the district’s self-contained special education classrooms and the district’s special-needs preschool program, Shea said.
The portable classrooms being purchased are more expensive and need a project manager because they are plumbed for bathrooms and need additional systems hookups compared with non-plumbed portables, he said.
There are only two student restroom stalls available in the A Wing at the school, which serves more than 100 students.
Greywolf Elementary has converted the school library and computer labs into classrooms, and moved those services into three portable units, Shea said.
A fourth will be installed at Greywolf Elementary this summer, he said.
Greywolf was designed for an additional wing to be added on as needed.
The 950-student Sequim High was built for 850 students, and the science wing has only four classrooms, said Brian Lewis, director of business services.
A new science wing would be added with six modern science classrooms, since upcoming high school seniors will need to take one additional year of lab science to meet state graduation requirements, Lewis said.
He said band, orchestra and choir rooms would be added to the current performing arts wing. Current students must cross the street to the former Sequim Community School for music classes.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.