PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School District hosted public tours of its high school campus to illustrate current infrastructure needs.
Improvements could lead to the district putting a $90 million bond before voters, Superintendent Dr. Linda Rosenbury said Wednesday.
The tours, which were attended by about 50 people, were led by students and staff. They visited a number of classrooms where teachers shared information about their work and the limitations their rooms presented.
In terms of safety, the school needs seismic improvements as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) improvements for air quality, Rosenbury said.
Jeff Taylor teaches anatomy and chemistry in the Annex building. He said his labs feel cramped and that maintaining a safe learning environment can be a challenge.
“Students have to pile around the side of a lab bench,” he said. “That makes for safety issues just trying to move around; they’ve got scalpels and tools in my chemistry class, potentially chemicals. It just is controlled chaos. It’s me constantly trying to monitor safety. I have to limit some of the things that I would do in a lab.”
English teacher Virginia Grace teaches on the second story of the Annex building. Her classroom gets southern and eastern sun exposure through a wall of windows.
“We have one window that partially opens,” Grace said. “It gets really stuffy. The entire school day, the sun just beats in. I moved to this room because I used to be on the other side of the building, which meant I never had sun and I was really sad over there.”
Grace said spent $500 of her own money on paint and had her whole family into her classroom to paint it over the summer.
While the campus is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), mobility could use improvements, said Rene Olson, who teaches special education.
“The security of the campus in general is difficult, with five different building where students are learning throughout the day,” Rosenbury said.
Still in an assessment phase, the leading concept is to demolish the Annex building, bringing classes previously housed there into an expanded main building, Rosenbury said.
“The concepts that the facilities committee are recommending to the board would have students learning in one building throughout most of the day,” Rosenbury said. “The current concept is to do a heavy renovation of the main building and then add onto the main building a large addition.”
The addition would include a more accessible main office, an expanded cafeteria and updated science labs.
The Annex building was built in 1928. It currently houses science labs, among other areas of study.
“What we heard through the design advisory committee, from students, family and staff, is that the Annex building layout is really poor,” Rosenbury said. “That is the building that was identified as the most in need of seismic upgrades because it was constructed with hollow clay tile.”
All of the campus buildings currently in use are in need of seismic improvements, Rosenbury said.
The school also is likely to transfer the Gael Stuart building to the OCEAN K-12 School’s usage, Rosenbury said.
The OCEAN School has been located behind Blue Heron Middle School in some portables, she added.
“The OCEAN K-12 alternative school has doubled in enrollment; it has a wait list,” Rosenbury said. “The OCEAN design advisory committee of parents, students and staff went through a process of identifying priorities and considering different sites, and they landed on a recommendation for the Gael Stuart building to have a renovation and addition to fit their new school.”
The full projected cost for infrastructure upgrades for Port Townsend High School and the OCEAN School is about $100 million.
“We’re hoping for about $10 million covered through state funding and grants,” Rosenbury said. “Currently, the board is considering a bond of about $90 million.”
Some of the money would go toward sidewalk and streets improvements around the campus, as well as stormwater improvements, Rosenbury said.
The financials were discussed in more detail at the school board meeting on March 20.
The board authorized Rosenbury and the long-range facilities committee to work all year with TCF Architecture, to create a final report to go before the board for discussion at the June 5 meeting, Rosenbury said.
“During that time, the school board will be considering a bond vote,” Rosenbury said. “They would be passing a resolution in the fall for no sooner than a February 2026 election.”
Remaining funding for the demolition of the Lincoln Building was reached when voters approved the capital levy in February.
Money from that levy also will contribute to the assessment and design of the infrastructure improvements currently under consideration, Rosenbury said.
The district hosted about 100 people for a similar tour in the fall. It had a booth at the Port Townsend Farmers Market last week, and it presented at Port Townsend Kiwanis and American Association of University Women meetings, Rosenbury said.
More information on district assessments can be found at https://tinyurl.com/mwsve5fp.
Information about the bond and how it could affect property taxes can be found at https://tinyurl.com/573kd669.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
