PORT ANGELES — The School Board long has linked declining enrollment with aging school structures in Port Angeles, and today, the board will discuss the two again as it forges a long-term plan that could reshape the district.
Directors will meet at 7 p.m. at Dry Creek Elementary School, 25 Rife Road, to review a 2008 plan to replace the district’s older buildings.
The goal, as Schools Superintendent Jane Pryne said in a report to the board, is to determine the district’s “resource allocation and distribution of resources.”
In May, the School Board detailed a closure process that could take two to four years for Franklin Elementary School that will be triggered if the district loses an additional 100 elementary students, based on October 2011 enrollment.
The October 2012 enrollment report showed 1,882 students at the elementary school level — 22 more than in 2011.
Despite the small bump-up, the overall trend of declining enrollment is expected to continue for 10 to 15 more years, according to a real estate report cited by Pryne last year.
Monroe Elementary School, at 106 Monroe Road, was closed in 2004, and Fairview Elementary School, 166 Lake Farm Road, was closed three years later.
Fairview students were moved to the newer, larger Roosevelt Middle School building, which was converted to Roosevelt Elementary.
Roosevelt students transferred to Stevens Middle School across town.
If Franklin is closed, the remaining schools do not have enough classroom space to accommodate its students.
New construction would be needed to put students in quality classrooms, a district review of student enrollment determined.
The board met with a consultant Oct. 1 to learn whether the economic climate had improved enough for the district to ask voters to approve a bond to replace, improve or add on to older district schools.
The schools included in the 2008 plan being reviewed tonight are Port Angeles High School, Stevens Middle School, and Franklin and Hamilton elementary schools.
The district’s older schools have passed their useful lifespan, according to the district report.
While they have been well-maintained, the buildings were designed to house students for no more than 30 to 40 years — a standard lifespan for a school building in the modern era, according to information provided earlier this year by Nolan Duce, the district’s maintenance and buildings manager.
District maintenance crews have succeeded in keeping the schools looking good, but beneath the fresh paint and waxed floors lie deeper problems, Duce said.
Pipes buried in concrete under classrooms and within school walls are deteriorating and cannot be replaced without digging up floors and tearing out walls, he said.
Aged heating systems, electrical systems not designed for the demands of modern technology and single-pane aluminum windows that bleed heat are among other problems in the outmoded structures.
A check of school district buildings in 2007 graded the structures on safety, condition of plumbing and heating systems, access for those with physical disabilities, roofing and other systems.
Based on a grading scale that has a new building achieving 100 points, the oldest portions of 59-year-old Port Angeles High School, at 304 E. Park Ave., scored between 38.3 to 56.
Franklin and Hamilton elementary schools are nearly as elderly, built in 1954 and 1956, respectively.
Stevens Middle School’s main building was built in 1960.
Franklin’s main building scored a 27.5; Hamilton’s main building scored a 41.5; and a 1978 addition at that school scored a 37.
Stevens’ main building scored just 33 points, according to the 2008 report.
Plus, the schools have aged five more years since the grading, Duce noted.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
