On Oct. 23, the Northshore School Board unanimously approved the 2018 Capital Projects Bond. If passed by voters in the Feb. 13, 2018 election, the 275 million dollar bond will support new infrastructure and maintenance throughout the growing school district. As a part of the bond, Inglemoor will receive a performing arts building to accommodate both instruction and production as well as traffic reconfiguration to reduce congestion on Simonds Road.
These two projects were added to the bond in May 2017. They were added later in the process by the Capital Bond Planning Task Force, a representative cross-section of district leaders that had the responsibility of drafting the bond.
School Board member and Inglemoor parent Sandy Hayes said the construction of a performing arts building would make Inglemoor equitable to the three other high school, all of which have theaters that are newer and can seat at least 450 people. The current Little Theater can only seat approximately 200 people.
“Since the inception of the school, the main performance area for the music program has been the gym,” said band teacher Ted Christensen. “So this is a really, really big step for the district to build a performing arts center for our school.”
Additionally, Hayes said the new performing arts building would make both music instruction rooms and the performance venue more accessible for handicapped people.
“[The performing arts building] is really for students, staff and families,” Superintendent Michelle Reid said. “We have some wheelchair-bound parents, for example, who are trying to attend events or be present for their students. [Access] has been a real challenge.”
Another difficulty, Dr. Reid said she has heard from the community, is the heavy traffic on Simonds road. This problem was exacerbated this year with the addition of the freshman class.
In the upcoming months, the proposed changes to campus will be finalized and the design process will be completed. During this time, district employees will inform the community about this bond.
