The dust has settled on our historic February bond election and the hard work of designing and building schools is now underway. We know that you, as members of the Bethel community, have entrusted us to be good stewards of your tax dollars. Part of that stewardship is keeping you informed and educated, so we will be using this space to give you regular updates on all our bond-related projects.

Elementary #18

Things are progressing nicely with the architectural design of our newest elementary school, and it’s looking like the School Board will begin reviewing the plans next month.

While we don’t yet know the exact design, we do know that Elementary #18 will be the largest elementary school in the district. The school will be 800,000 square feet, and will be home to 700 students — and that’s not counting the space in back for four double portables (8 classrooms) which will house an additional 200 students. In order to comfortably accommodate all of those students, Elementary #18 will utilize a three-wing model, similar to Spanaway Middle School.

Elementary #18 will also get “half street improvements” — these include pavement from the center line, curbs, gutters, stormwater facilities, and sidewalks — along the entire parcel owned by the district on Waller Road. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons we won’t be able to build a sidewalk any further than our property lines because Pierce County won’t allow us to just put in a sidewalk or an asphalt pathway. They require complete “half street” improvements. In addition, those improvements would need a larger right-of-way than what currently exists, so it would also require the district to acquire quite a bit of property from multiple property owners, which would be cost-prohibitive.

To learn more, click here!