The district’s bond ask to create a unified K-12 campus and improve safety includes securing Columbia High School, which now comprises of several buildings over sloping terrain.
The district’s bond ask to create a unified K-12 campus and improve safety includes securing Columbia High School, which now comprises of several buildings over sloping terrain.
WHITE SALMON — The Feb. 10 Washington State Special Election ballot will include White Salmon Valley School District’s (WSVSD) $77.8 million bond ask to create a unified K-12 campus and improve safety.
It calls for decommissioning Whitson Elementary and remodeling the Henkle Middle School / Whitson Primary Intermediate School (HMS / WPSIS). Columbia High School (CHS) will be updated as well. Built in 1970 — and designed by an architect out of Southern California — the school is made up of multiple buildings spanning a hilly 80 acres.
In part 1, Columbia Gorge News examined the sizable needs at the elementary school, a 75-year-old building at the end of its usable life. WSVSD intends to keep Whitson as a community asset, decided through a public process several years down the line. Now, we explore the challenges at CHS and planned improvements to HMS / WPSIS.
Columbia High School
When Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn came to the district in 2023, he heard “loud and clear” from community members, staff and students that facility improvements should be prioritized in the strategic plan, including CHS.
The current design of the high school means students walk between classes outdoors in all weather — and up and down some steep elevation changes between buildings. With a property spanning nearly 80 acres, Polkinghorn described CHS as unsecure and disconnected.
“We have a lot of space,” he said. “The idea, at least with the school, is to bring it together so it’s a little more centralized and contained.”
Architects spent considerable time at CHS, and revisions have incorporated community feedback to a design that will create a more continuous and efficient school configuration, with a connected shop, library, and new commons area.
“Columbia has some significant challenges with the terrain or elevations, and so [architects] spent a lot of time at Columbia, sort of thinking about and looking at how they could make that campus accommodate two more grade levels, while also improving the security of the facility,” he said. “I think they’ve taken advantage of the terrain in a thoughtful way.”
The school faces challenges inside, too; this wheelchair lift is no longer in service because it is so old, parts are no longer available.
Zach Thummel photo
It would also include seismic updates — the CHS gym ranks as one the top needs in the state — and ADA upgrades. The enclosed campus, complete with fencing and gates, will prevent unauthorized access during school hours.
“The main office would get bumped out to become a vestibule area for security,” he said. “The other idea is that the middle gym would connect to the building so it would be enclosed and you wouldn’t be able to drive around to get to the back side of the gym, which is a problem we have now — just drive around the back of campus when school is in session.”
As with Whitson, CHS has electrical and HVAC issues. “They didn’t have heat in the original build, so they added what’s called room ventilators,” Polkinghorn said. “They’re very inefficient and a very loud way of heating. They were discontinued soon after the school was built, so, same thing on the maintenance side with parts, trying to find the parts for them. It’s a struggle.”
HMS/WPSIS
Moving Whitson to this building and creating a one campus, two school model also means remodeling the current intermediate / middle school. Architects looked at enrollment trends and available space and added three full kindergarten classrooms.
“Kindergarten rooms were chosen to be the addition because of the need for bathrooms inside those rooms — and building new classrooms with bathrooms in mind versus trying to retrofit old bathrooms seemed to make the most sense,” Polkinghorn said.
Conceptual plans of the CHS and HMS/WPSIS redesigns are available on the district’s website, www.wsvsd.org.
“I think with this bond, we can really bring the current high school and middle school campuses up to a new standard … so when our community drives by, they see beautiful schools and there’s a source of pride,” Polkinghorn said.
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Columbia Gorge News will look at available School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP) funding, available this year only, in part three of this series.
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