Dear Issaquah School District Community,

 

While this is an update that will directly affect students in the Plateau and Corridor regions, I want to make sure everyone is up to speed on important construction projects, which are supported by residents District-wide.

 

When we created the timeline to convert Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus (PCFC) into a middle school in fall 2009, we made two promises: That we would not make the conversion until it was the best option for student learning and safety and that we would let you know as soon as it became clear if we could not meet our aggressive construction benchmarks.

 

After evaluating our summer progress in light of new developments last week, we are at that point: We are announcing that PCFC’s conversion will be delayed until fall 2010.

 

When the School Board authorized the PCFC conversion in February 2007, we knew we had a tight timeline to rebuild Issaquah High and remodel and expand Skyline High so they could reclaim their freshmen by fall 2009. But we were optimistic, and we used that timeline to ensure our contractors and workers were on board from day one to stay on pace. Our community’s greatest construction priority in the 2006 bond was alleviating crowding in Corridor and Plateau middle schools, and that was our aim for fall 2009.

 

Several things changed over the summer, however. We updated you about the setbacks at Skyline High, including a longer-than-expected process to obtain the final clearance for our building and portable permits. We were still confident that we could accelerate the schedule to catch up to the original timeline. Then we had another unanticipated event last week when the City of Issaquah asked to re-look at our traffic mitigation plan along Second Avenue Southeast for Issaquah High. Although this is not a major source of concern, it could add up to three months to our timeline. Combined with our other summer setbacks, it has become apparent that our best decision is to delay the conversion.

 

Please know that these occurrences in the permitting processes are not unusual (as you well know if you have ever built or remodeled a home). Our original timeline included a reasonable frame for permitting approval; while these were good-faith estimates, we understand that municipalities must reevaluate permits until they are satisfied any project will have minimal negative impacts on their jurisdictions.

 

Our first construction priority is always a safe, quality learning experience for all students. If we had been able to execute our original timeline, that would have meant conversion in 2009—alleviating any crowding at middle schools and welcoming freshmen to campuses well prepared for them. Our new realities and altered construction timeline have caused us to realize the strain of adding those 450 additional students to both Issaquah and Skyline High in fall 2009 would outweigh the potential benefit.

 

So what does that mean? Well, our Plateau and Corridor middle schools, Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, and Issaquah and Skyline High will operate next year just as they are operating this year. Our fall back plan is already happening in our schools—and we know quality education is occurring in the current configuration. That is a sure bet compared to the uncertainties of an early conversion.

 

While we do not anticipate any significant growth at middle schools next year, we know we are beyond capacity in several buildings. Please be assured we are putting our top focus on supporting these students, doing our best to ensure they have the services and resources they need. We will never allow a student to go through a year of education in a sub-par learning environment.

 

Please stay updated as our construction projects continue through 2010 and beyond on our District Web site.

 

Sincerely,

 

--Dr. Steve Rasmussen, Superintendent

--Steve Crawford, Director of Capital Projects