PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup School District is experiencing significant growth, leading to substantial overcrowding in its schools, and is seeking assistance from voters. To address this issue, the district has implemented the installation of 221 portable classrooms. At Puyallup High School, approximately 450 students are accommodated in these portable classrooms on a daily basis; these facilities are separate from the main school structure and lack restroom facilities.
“Portables are not a long-term solution, they come with some challenges,” said Brady Martin, the director of capital projects for the school district.
Instead of more consistent funding to expand buildings as part of a comprehensive project, the district has added portable classrooms at around $450,000 each to accommodate the growth and react to the challenges of aging buildings.
Puyallup High School has 19 portable classrooms, six, of which, were opened at the beginning of this year in response to the district’s need to close the science lab and library building, meaning much of that curriculum is not available for students there.
“We’ve had to take spaces that weren’t intended to be used for a specific program. We’ve converted our staff lounge and made an art classroom, we’ve taken a biology classroom and turned it into a chemistry lab. Students and families are upset because they haven’t had access to those while we were creating these spaces within the building. They’re not adequate,” Martin said.
The district has several portables at Roger and Emerald Ridge High Schools and more at Mt View, Spinning, and Waller Road Elementary. The elementary schools have significant structural issues, so if voters approve an $800 million bond, the district plans to replace them and add another primary school.
“The things that people can’t see driving by our buildings, what’s in the walls, the slabs, the sanitary sewer, the plumbing,” Martin said. “Those are things that need to be addressed and to address those properly including seismic enhancements to the building you really have to start over.”
If approved, the bond would not increase current taxes in the district. Last year, voters approved an increase to the district’s levy to fund capital and maintenance projects. This vote, in the form of Proposition 1A, would extend that levy increase to 21 years, rather than the current six.
“I’m concerned about the experience our kids are losing by the loss of the facility such as this library science building,” said Superintendent Dr. John Polm, “That limits students’ ability to have a study area or anything like that you might expect in a comprehensive high school.”
If approved, Polm is hopeful that would help unlock nearly $152 Million in matching state funding that can only legally be applied for by districts who have passed bond measures. The Tuesday vote must achieve at least 40 percent turnout from the November election and get 60 percent support in order to pass.