KINGSTON — About six months from now, the North Kitsap School District will begin construction of its $37.9 million high school off West Kingston Road.

During the remaining time before construction, many tasks still need to be finished. Kane Environmental is wrapping up its work delving into the former Nike missile site on the property and two more governmental agencies will begin doing investigations of their own. Construction bids for the 800-student school will be awarded in that time as well. A principal for the school will be hired by July 1.

More than anything, getting to August will require a lot of work — and more questions for district officials to answer.

THE ISSUE OF

ON-SITE SPACE

Outlined by the district is a plan to build a 112,700-square-foot school building that will initially house 800 students. The main source of land on which the school is planned to be built was purchased from Bob Thompson for $370,000 in December 2001.

Located in the northwest corner of the site is the “Phase II” area, an add-on to the school that will bring its capacity to 1,200 but will require another bond — estimated at around $20 million — to build. The Phase II portion would include new classrooms, an auxiliary gym and a performing arts facility.

Including athletic fields, district officials said NKSD has around 26 acres to build upon but a large wetland at the center of the property has made designing the campus more of a challenge.

That challenge has Kingston resident and concerned citizen Steve Mackey wondering if there’s actually enough room for the new school and its expansion. Mackey cited North Kitsap High School’s need to expand five times in its current building’s 48-year history as a point to consider.

“What I’ve heard is Phase II is it (on the site),” Mackey said. “I find that to be a little startling — 30 years down the road that might not be what we want.”

But NKSD Board President Catherine Ahl said she believes that, given the fact Kingston High would become a “small school” — one of more intimate, integrated learning like NKHS’ Polaris Project which opens in September — expanding further will not be needed.

“If the whole idea is small schools,” Ahl said, “then there won’t need to be a Phase III.”

NKSD Board member Dick Endresen said that while he thinks the site is too inhibited by the wetlands and topography, he wonders if there will ever be a Phase II.

“Do you think the voters will vote for another $20 million bond? No way,” Endresen said.

Recently, another wetland was discovered at the crux of the property where the southwest athletic fields lie. That wetland is yet to be classified — something that will determine how the construction can take place around it.

Exactly how much room there is to build upon is tricky question, given the wetlands on the property. But the district is confident that what they’ve planned for the site — athletic fields and main physical plant — will fit. ??? WHO

Will Nike site problems

fight — or flight?

The school district’s investigation of the Nike site, which included hiring Seattle firm Kane Environmental for about $100,000, has nearly concluded. Kane representative Tom Cammarata presented his findings Jan. 22 to the school board. Those findings stated that: “… soil and groundwater quality in the areas of the Nike site investigated do not contain concentrations of contaminants of concern that pose a risk to human health and environment.”

Kane’s sampling included areas primarily on top of or around the former missile site’s infrastructure.

Methalyne chloride, the one volatile organic compound Kane found to be “ubiquitous” in testing, required the district to spend $10,000 additional funds to determine whether the the compound came from the West Kingston site or laboratory tests. Results of Kane’s additional study should be available within the month.

The other area of the site Kane has been asked to test is the former missile silo’s septic field where one of the proposed high school’s southwest athletic fields will be located. That test, with results coming soon as well, will cost approximately$27,000, although combined testing could be cheaper, Kane reported.

If Kane’s final results prove the site ultimately safe to build a high school, the district will keep its target ground breaking of August of this year.

The other variable for the Nike site testing is what the federal government could determine. The Environmental Protection Agency, petitioned by Indianola resident and concerned citizen Terry Benish, will be examining the Kane report and then conducting any further work it deems necessary. The EPA’s site assessment manager on the project, Denise Baker, has said her report will be finished by August, pitting the Kingston high school ground-breaking tightly with the environmental results.

The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was also petitioned by Benish and will attempt to determine if the former Nike site has caused human illness. Unlike the EPA, there is no target date at which they are required to furnish a report.

Benish said he believes both governmental organizations should have been called upon in the first place, rather than funding an outside agency.

“We thought the district should have joined with us in the process (petitioning the EPA) and jointly said, ‘Yes, the site is safe,’” Benish said. “But instead they spent $100,000 to date with (Kane).”

Benish added that there are still areas that haven’t been tested on the site that he believes should be tested.

“We know they didn’t test where the physical plant is going to be,” he said.

Ahl said the results given by Kane provide assurance the site is safe for the new high school.

“I feel confident that we’re given a report (from Kane) with no concerns and we can carry forward,” Ahl said. “If I felt at any point along the way that there was danger I’d have said let’s stop and go no further.”

Benish also stated he does believe the district wouldn’t intentionally put children at risk on the site but that it needs to do more to make certain it is safe.

“I feel (the district) doesn’t intend to put any of the kids in physical jeopardy but I don’t feel they are doing enough to ensure the kids aren’t exposed to danger,” he said.

Ahl, on the other hand, said she wonders if the district will ever have approval from nay-sayers of the site.

“When (testing) is finished will it really end?” she questioned. “If the site is declared clean will they move on?”

District officials have said they will relocate the project, along with the bus barn and Spectrum Community School to an alternative location if the site is deemed environmentally unsafe. Only time will tell if any of the three organizations — Kane, the ATSDR, or the EPA — will raise a red flag that could potentially avert the entire project.

WILL THE NKSD RUN OUT

OF TIME — AND MONEY?

Critical on district officails’ minds is the timeline to build the high school, set to open in 2006. But NKSD Executive Director of Finance and Operations Nancy Moffatt said, the timeline’s purpose is not contingent upon the bond but on the district’s massive programming change of adding ninth grade to high school and subtracting sixth grade from North Kitsap’s elementaries.

“The bond is indefinite — its just a matter of doing all the projects in the bond,” Moffatt said. “The timeline is our own need to complete the projects for our kids. It is completely programs-driven.”

Moffatt added that opening the new high school in 2006 would allow the major North Kitsap High School renovations to begin due to the fact that 800 students would be moved into the West Kingston Road school.

The district does face the possibility of the site being declared environmentally unsafe but Moffatt said it would be ready for that scenario, should it occur.

“There is additional money set aside for site acquisitions,” Moffatt said. “If (moving) had to happen here there are resources to cover it.”

When the district raised the square footage of the high school to 112,700 and the price tag increased to $37.9 million from $31.2 million, many questions emerged regarding whether or not there was enough money to complete all projects in the bond.

Part of the new funding came from a Washington State matching account, the Timber Trust Fund, which currently is funding $7.1 million of the total project.

Ralls Clotfelter, President of Pacific Steel Structures Corporation and Poulsbo resident, said he believes due to the public nature of school projects, which announce how much funding each project will get, the district is paying entirely too much money for the new school.

“We put out right in the newspaper that we’ve got $31 million to build a high school — it’s going to cost $31 million,” he said. “If you put out its going to cost $21 million, it will cost $21 million.”

Clotfelter also mentioned that he thought the bidding on school projects wasn’t hard-fought, keeping the price high.

“I don’t think we have a real competitive bidding,” Clotfelter said.

Moffatt disagreed.

“The bidding climate has been very good,” she said. “I honestly wish we were bidding now for the high school.”

Moffatt said the district has benefited from a slumping economy and will pick for the high school the “lowest, most responsible bidder.” She also said that building the high school off West Kingston is not unusually expensive.

“My experience is that we’ve been in the ballpark — I don’t think this (project) is abnormally high,” she said.

Moffatt explained that Washington schools average around $150 per square feet to build.

Using the estimated current construction-only cost of the Kingston High School Project, $24, 579,807, the price per square foot comes to about $218.

Moffatt said the $37.9 million it will cost to build the school will not change significantly, barring shifts in the state Timber Trust Fund match. Though there are still some construction variables, Moffatt said she is confident estimates are close to what it will actually cost to build.

“There’s never a project that doesn’t have its glitches,” she said.

As far as the entire $60 million bond, Moffatt reported the district will keep a 5 percent reserve to negate any emergencies.

Building a school within Kingston’s Urban Growth Area has also saved the district money that it would have had to spend on necessities like a septic system, Moffatt said. Like District Supt. Eugene Medina, she said she believes the overall center the new school would create a center for Kingston.

“It’s a good idea to be within the UGA,” Moffatt said. “This complex will end up being the focal point and center of Kingston.”

Not everyone agrees the school needs to be within the UGA, including Board Member Endresen.

“They built the Kingston fire station is outside of the Urban Growth Area, so why can’t we build a school?” he questioned.

Mackey said he doesn’t understand why there is a need to build the school inside the UGA, stating the original 2001 bond measure relayed the message a school would be built within the “greater Kingston area.”

“It never said anything about the UGA,” he said, noting that students from all over the North End — not just from Kingston — would use the new school.

ONLY TIME WILL TELL

Building a high school in Kingston has faced many challenges. The North Kitsap area hasn’t built a high school since 1956, when a new building for NKHS opened.

The possibilities of a new school and a district that is also changing much of the way it educates children — with the switch to middle schools and the use of “small schools” — is an huge transformation, given $60 million to make come to life.

How the district has gone about putting the bond money to work is met with excitement and skepticism alike. In reality, only when a new high school — and transformed school district — is completed, will it become apparent how wise the decisions made getting there have been.