The Sequim School Board voted 4-0 Monday night to approve a resolution to send a greatly reduced $49.26 million school bond to voters in February.
The bond would be used to build a new elementary school, add a wing at Greywolf Elementary and Sequim High schools, and renovate or repurpose other district buildings.
Voters in the Sequim School District will see the bond on the ballot for a Feb. 10, 2015 special election.
Board member Walter Johnson was absent from the meeting.
The district learned a lesson from its loss when a $154 million bond for projects was rejected by voters in April, said Superintendent Kelly Shea.
“It was too much money. There were too many projects, and there was no focus,” Shea said.
The district pared their needs down to the most urgent, including creating more space in the schools and renovating existing facilities, such as the district kitchen, which was last updated with used U.S. Navy equipment in the 1970s, Shea said.
Shea said many of the schools do not have enough space for all of the students.
The board also approved hiring a project manager to oversee the installation of four portable classrooms at Helen Haller Elementary, in which the fourth grade will be housed next year.
Adding the four classrooms brings the number of portables up to 13 at the school, including the district’s self-contained special education classrooms and the district’s special needs preschool, Shea said.
