Map provided by MCS Levy Committee A map shows the location of the proposed Marietta City Schools building project, which would consolidate all K-12 schools in the system into a single building on Washington State Community College property.

MARIETTA — The Marietta City Schools board of education Thursday morning disclosed the broad outlines of a project that would replace all the system’s aging buildings with a single new campus.

The board intends to put a levy to pay for the local share of the project on the Nov. 5 election ballot.

The district’s six classroom buildings – four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school – range in age from 105 years (Washington Elementary, 1912) to 53 years (Marietta High School, the most recent structure, built in 1966). Those buildings have a capacity of 4,500 students, and this year’s enrollment in the district is about 2,600.

The aging buildings have become an obstruction to improving education in the district on several fronts, the board and administration said at the special board meeting.

“We have real class-size disparities,” said superintendent Will Hampton. “There might be classes of 26 or 27 students in one building, 16 or 17 in another, and that’s something I can’t balance. To fix that, we need to come together, even the playing field.”

The proposal is to put up a single new building for all grades that would be divided into several distinct areas to separate elementary, middle and high school levels. The district is working toward an agreement with Washington State Community College for 49 acres at the upper end of its property, contingent on passage of the levy to finance the project. That agreement is expected to be brought to the board at its May 20 meeting, board president Doug Mallett said.

A single campus would solve numerous problems for the district in terms of logistics — class sizes, transportation and centralizing resources — and also provide a better education for its students, board members said.

Wendy Brewer, a Marietta High School class of 1993 graduate, has undertaken the marketing and communications function for a committee to promote the levy.

“We have a collection of buildings 50 to 100 years old. There are issues that we can address in the short term, but no amount of money can fix some of these things,” she said. “Our educators do a great job with what they have, but if they don’t have the resources, they are limited.”

Hampton said the nature of delivering education has evolved in a way that the old buildings can no longer accommodate.

“We have rows of desks in the classroom, you’d memorize things, move from one task to another, but the workplace now is different, it’s collaborative, the workplace is looking for people with open minds, thinkers, creative people,” he said. “We want bright open spaces where free thinking is encouraged, places for collaborative play instead of blacktop playgrounds, a much more enriching experience. We know we have to do this now, and if we don’t we’ll be left behind.”

The board emphasized the urgency of getting a levy passed this year.

Board vice president Russ Garrison noted that the district currently qualifies for 39 percent state aid on the project, which he estimates will cost altogether between $75 million and $86 million. That level of state assistance will decline by at least 10 percent if the levy isn’t approved this year, and it is expected that costs of construction and borrowing will increase.

The board also discussed the local portion of the project. Treasurer Frank Antill said the district is in a good position regarding debt, which is near zero. The bonding limit is about $78 million, and Antill said the financial advisory group for the project recommends the district borrow no more than 80 percent of its full capacity — about $62 million.

Garrison said the board is viewing that amount as a ceiling.

The board doesn’t know yet what the millage on a bond issue would be or the cost to property owners.

The communications group intends to hold a visioning session May 20 and 21, Hampton said, that will involve 45 to 50 people from a variety of different interests in the community.

“We’re trying to firm up the course that education will take for the district, and the facility project is a piece of that, but ultimately it’s the instructional process. We’ll have interaction with community members, parents, students,” Hampton said.

Brewer said the advocacy group for the levy, which has adopted the catchphrase “The Time Is Now,” expects to launch a website within the next two weeks, MCSLevy.org. Brewer can be contacted at brewer1111@hotmail.com.

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Marietta City Schools Building Project Proposal

* Location: 49 acres on Washington State Community College campus

* Campus concept: Single building, divided into grade levels from pre-kindergarten through high school

* A levy is expected to be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot

Source: Marietta City Schools