Washington Elementary Schools Get Much-Needed Updates

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Clover Park School District (CPSD) recently opened the new Carter Lake and Hillside elementary schools in Lakewood. Both schools were built adjacent to their existing locations, which were torn down when the project was completed this past summer.

The schools are two of six elementary schools on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). In 2006, CPSD and JBLM began a partnership to evaluate the conditions and capacity of the six schools on the Army base. This led to the launch of the Military Child Education Initiative, which raised awareness to the failing conditions of school infrastructures on military bases across the U.S. After tours of these schools and outreach to U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Congress and White House officials, the fiscal year 2011 defense appropriations bill included $250 million to fix educational facilities on military bases.

Carter Lake and Hillside elementary schools are the first two schools to be constructed as a result of the initiative, as they ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the top 25 schools that needed immediate attention based on a scoring of enrollment capacity and building conditions.

“The grand opening of the new Carter Lake and Hillside elementary schools represents a federal, state and local partnership designed to ensure our military students have access to the safe and updated facilities they deserve,” said Debbie LeBeau, superintendent of CPSD.

The two schools total more than 132,000 square feet with the additional parking and new sports fields included in the construction project. Carter Lake has a capacity of 500 students and Hillside can accommodate 650 students. Tacoma, Wash.-based BCRA was the architect on the project, while Seattle-based Skanska USA served as the general contractor construction manager.

The schools, which house K-5 students, feature rooms that have breakout areas to accommodate a variety of teaching methods. Each school also has a technology lab, a library and playgrounds.

“The schools were not only outdated in terms of technology but also in respect to lighting, safety and seismic repair issues,” said Rob Robinson, project manager for Skanska USA.

The time frame for the project was one of the larger challenges, Robinson said, but the school district has the option to initiate an alternative procurement process on public projects. As such, the design of the project started in February, with construction starting soon after in June.

“We were able to do work early while the design team was still completing design finishes,” Robinson said. “The primary piece was the schedule.”

Robinson said that as a project team, BCRA and Skanska USA was really able to succeed and build a very high-quality project. There were very few change orders throughout the process, which helped with how quickly the schools could be built. In fact, Robinson said he thinks the school district would agree it’s one of their best projects ever in terms of being done since actually started moving into the schools in early July.

“When you look at building schools, you can build them from a partnership perspective,” he said. “It’s very valuable to be able to do so, especially so quickly and at such high quality.”

Three other schools on JBLM — Clarmoor, Greenwood and Beachwood — received funding as part of the fiscal year 2012 Department of Defense appropriation of $250 million. Construction on Clarmoor and Greenwood are currently underway, while the groundbreaking for Beachwood is anticipated to begin in June 2014.