PORT ANGELES — If elementary schools lose another 100 students, the process will begin to close Franklin Elementary School for the 2014-2015 school year at the earliest, the Port Angeles School Board agreed this week.
As of May 1, the district had 1,860 elementary school students — 92 students fewer than it did at the same time last year.
But the news isn’t all bad.
Unexpectedly strong enrollment at Port Angeles High School has helped keep the district within budget, and the state school funding also has stabilized this year.
“We dodged a bullet. We have never had this trend of retaining kids at the high school,” board President Patti Happe said.
“The sky isn’t falling,” she added.
Franklin has been the district’s first choice for possible closure because the 58-year-old school needs a lot of work to bring it up to code and because it is one of two schools within eight blocks of each other in central Port Angeles.
A parent meeting to discuss elementary school realignment options is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 31, at the Central Services Building, 216 E. Fourth St.
A decade-long trend of declining enrollment among younger students already has resulted in the closure of two schools and redesignation of a third.
Monroe Elementary School, 106 Monroe Road, was closed in 2004.
Fairview Elementary School was closed in 2007, with students moved to the newer, larger Roosevelt Middle School building, while Roosevelt Middle School students transferred to Stevens Middle School.
The incoming kindergarten class looks like it will be enough to keep enrollment up for the time being.
But if elementary school enrollment falls below about 1,760 students, then the board will begin the process of closing a school.
After that, it would take two to four years to prepare for a school closure.
The best indicator of the year’s enrollment is the October student count, so the board will need to monitor October enrollments each year to make a decision, Superintendent Jane Pryne said.
If the trigger point is reached this fall, then the process would begin.
The current configuration of schools cannot house all of the students, even with a loss of 100, so the district proposed the addition of a new wing containing eight classrooms if it is deemed necessary to close a school.
“I will not put students in portables,” said board member Cindy Kelly.
Under the proposal being considered, two existing portables would be removed and the playground and parking areas reconfigured.
The addition of Jefferson’s new classroom wing would cost about $7 million, according to a 2008 estimate, said Nolan Duce, district facilities supervisor.
The process could take two to four years before the school actually closes, Duce said.
Funding the new wing would require voters to approve a property tax levy, board members said.
Construction would be disruptive to students at the school, so students would be transferred to other schools in the district during construction, then transferred back to the newly expanded Jefferson campus.
The district prepared a preliminary look at how a change of boundaries would look for four schools.
Dry Creek Elementary boundaries would be south of Lauridsen Boulevard except for a section where the boundary is formed by Park Avenue between Valley Creek and Race Street, and east to Ennis Creek and west to district boundaries.
Dry Creek has a capacity of 525 students and would have an enrollment of 464.
Hamilton Elementary boundaries would be north of Lauridsen to the water and west of South Valley Street.
Hamilton has a capacity of 555 students and would have an enrollment of 557.
Jefferson Elementary boundaries would be from Valley Street in the west to Race Street in the east, and from Park Drive in the south to the water in the north.
Jefferson, with eight new classrooms, would have a capacity of 370 students, and enrollment of 363.
Roosevelt Elementary boundaries would be from Race Street in the west to the district boundary in the east.
Roosevelt has a capacity of 525 students and would have enrollment of 513.
In addition to Franklin, Port Angeles High School and 56-year-old Hamilton Elementary School also are in need of immediate replacement, Duce said.
Both schools had major additions and upgrades in the 1970s, but their infrastructure is aging and beyond simple repairs or upgrades.
“There’s no way they can meet current seismic codes,” Duce said.
One possibility for saving money in the replacement of the old schools would be to co-locate Hamilton Elementary with Stevens, forming a K-8 school.
“We have a lot of acreage at Stevens,” Duce said.
Any new school probably would be two or three stories because building up is cheaper than building out, he said.
“By getting creative, we can make it work,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
