Pioneer Intermediate-Middle School would receive reconstruction and remodeling if an $11 million bond for the Pioneer School District is approved Feb. 5.

Three districts hope bond measures will allow construction, expansion

ALMA D. SHARPE, THE OLYMPIAN

SHELTON -- It will be hard to recognize Pioneer Intermediate-Middle School in a couple of years if voters approve an $11 million bond Feb. 5.

Pioneer School District officials plan to completely reconstruct several of the buildings that now make up the 50-year-old school, and they intend to renovate the rest.

In total, the bond would allow the district to add 36,700 square feet and remodel more than 15,000 square feet at the school.

There would be new classrooms and room for vocational education, said Superintendent Dick Sirokman.

"We don't have any (space for) home economics, any art room or wood shop," he said. "It's time for these kids to be involved in some of those life skills."

The bond also would pay to enlarge the library and cafeteria. Students now eat in two classrooms that were converted into a dining area.

Yelm Community Schools and Griffin School District also have bonds on the February ballot.

Yelm High School, a school built for fewer than 1,000 students, now houses 1,400. The $39.6 million bond would pay for the construction of a junior high school.

The new school would take the high school's ninth-graders as well as eighth-graders from the middle school.

This would give the district the ability to accommodate growth in high school enrollment.

The bond also will pay for enlarging and modernizing McKenna Elementary, half of which needs to be completely rebuilt because of its age.

The Griffin School District is asking voters to pass a $12.9 million bond to improve both its elementary and middle schools. The district would construct new classrooms and a new playground away from traffic.

Pared down

Pioneer officials hope to have better luck than they did a year ago, when a $16 million bond failed. This year's measure is different and pared down.

The $16 million bond would have been used to build a high school for Pioneer students. The district's high school students now attend Shelton and North Mason high schools.

The passage of Shelton's own bond last year to expand and improve Shelton High School makes the idea less attractive, officials said.

Last year's bond proposal also included about $5 million of work at Pioneer Intermediate-Middle School, but the improvements would not have been as extensive as those under the current bond.

"We felt we couldn't afford to let it deteriorate any longer," Sirokman said.

This year's proposal includes $450,000 to contribute to the improvements at Shelton High, which about 330 Pioneer students attend.

The bond would run 17 or 18 years and would cost taxpayers an additional 93 cents per $1,000 of assessed property values.

Sirokman said he's received support for the bond from various community groups.

"It appears to me that people are in favor of it," he said. "I understand that people sometimes have to vote their pocketbook, but I don't think anyone wouldn't recognize the need."

School bonds on the Feb. 5 ballot

Tax per $1,000

District Amount assessed value Duration

Pioneer School District $11 million $0.93 17-18 years

Purpose: Reconstruction and remodeling of Pioneer Intermediate-Middle School

Griffin School District $12.9 million $2.09* 20 years

Purpose: Remodeling and expansion of Griffin Elementary and Middle Schools

Yelm Community Schools $39.6 million $1.40 20 years

Purpose: Construction of new junior high school and remodeling and expansion of Yelm High School as well as McKenna Elementary.

*Includes 57 cents for the district's current bond. The $2.09 is the resulting rate once both bonds are merged, and it remains through the 20 years.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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