La Center School District pushes for space, upgrades

LA CENTER — It’s not uncommon to see a fridge in a classroom at La Center Middle School and La Center Elementary School.

Teachers put apples, carrot sticks and peanut butter and crackers in them to hand out to students as snacks on occasion. Because the K-8 campus is bursting at the seams, the school staggers lunch periods throughout the day, meaning some students are eating lunch as early as 10:30 a.m. while others don’t get into the cafeteria until shortly before 1 p.m.

The K-8 campus currently houses 1,736 students, 375 of whom are considered “unhoused,” meaning they have class in one of nine portable classrooms at the school, according to Superintendent Dave Holmes. There are also two portable classrooms at La Center High School.

“We have no empty classrooms in the entire district,” Holmes said. “I have bids on my desk for bringing in another portable next year (at the K-8 campus), and we don’t have room for it. If we get another portable, we’ll probably have to put it on the football field.”

The district will turn to the community to help with overcrowding on Feb. 13, when the district will ask residents to vote in favor of a $48,093,000 bond measure. Most of the money will go toward the construction of a new 81,375-square-foot middle school. A little more than $1 million of the bond money would go toward renovating the K-8 building into only an elementary school. That building would require some repairs, but most of the work would be things like lowering the water fountains and cabinets, and getting smaller furniture.

Holmes said he’s not sure what the grade breakdown of the two schools would be, should the bond pass. That will be determined by the expected growth coming into the district. The district has seen a 19.8 percent increase in enrollment in the last seven years, and with numerous housing developments under or nearing construction in the city, the school district could see an influx on another 700-plus students in the future.

“By the time we open the new school, that could already be at capacity,” Holmes said. “We’re always playing catch up.”

If the bond passes, the school is expected to open in time for the start of the 2020 school year. The district is projecting the bond would increase the tax rate by 77 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The bond will require a supermajority to pass, meaning it needs 60 percent plus one vote in favor, and the district needs 40 percent of the turnout from the most recent general election.

The Citizens for La Center Schools have been at work getting information out about the upcoming bond vote. Melinda Mazna, chairwoman of the group, said the group will hold door-to-door campaigns in the coming days to talk to residents about the vote and their concerns. She also said the group is hoping to organize some time for sign holding in favor of the bond, and has heard from residents who want yard signs.

Eric Hoppe, co-chair of the group, said so far the public response he’s heard about the bond has been all positive, with residents aware of the district’s need for growth.

“This is for a needed cause,” Mazna said. “There is nothing in there that will go to waste.”

Holmes said the district has shown it can stretch a dollar. The new school would be the first built in the district since La Center High School was constructed in 1991. La Center Elementary School and La Center Middle School were built in 1961. The high school was renovated in 2006, and the other two schools were renovated in 2004.

“We want to be thrifty, not cheap,” he said.

This is the first time the district has asked residents to vote on a bond in nearly a decade, since La Center’s $34 million bond in May 2008 failed with 40-plus percent approval. That was around the start of the recession, Holmes said, and enrollment dropped right after the bond vote, which was going to build a new elementary school and revamp the athletics stadium.

Holmes said residents made it clear they want the district to focus on education, so none of the bond money from the upcoming bond would go toward new athletic fields for competition. The new school would have a gym and some fields for physical education classes. Plus, the district ended up getting a new football stadium in recent years thanks to grant money, donated materials and volunteer labor.

“We can’t build a school with volunteers and donated materials,” Holmes said.

If the bond doesn’t pass, Holmes said the district will have some “real hard decisions” to make. It could lead to more portable classrooms on the K-8 football field, or moving kindergarten students to the high school, which has room to add portable classrooms and room to build a new wing, although that would most likely require a bond vote to do so. When Holmes discussed the idea of moving kindergarten students to the high school previously, residents were resoundingly against it, he said.

Whether the bond passes or not, growth is coming to La Center, Holmes said, comparing it to the neighboring Ridgefield School District, where voters passed a $78 million bond in 2017 to construct a new campus for grades 5-8 to deal with overcrowding.

“It’s scary. We’re going to look like Ridgefield,” Holmes said. “Everyone is moving north.”