The Washington School Board was presented several options to address their middle school facility during a work session last week.

Superintendent Willie Stone says SVPA Architects and construction manager Carl A. Nelson presented four options: renovate the current building, partial renovation of the current building and demolition and rebuilding part of the property, building an addition to the high school and renovating the “old junior high wing” of that building, or constructing an entirely new building at a new location. Stone says this was an initial discussion of these options with generalized costs, and the next step will be to get community input, “We want to make sure we share, ‘Hey, here’s our options, here’s kind of the costing for our options,’ and try to figure out what our community wants, because ultimately we have to pass a bond issue for it. This project is going to range from $20-30 million, and we’ll need our community’s support, and our middle school is at that point where we have to do something with it. I personally don’t care what way we go, it’s just we need to do something to make sure it’s up to date for our students.”

The board wishes to hold community input meetings on the options this spring, though an exact plan has not been set amid the pandemic. Stone predicts the board will want to make a decision on which option to pursue sometime around May.