District orders deeper cost analysis for Curtis High renovation after tour of new Highline school

The superintendent updated the board on facility planning, reporting that several district leaders toured a recently built high school in the Highline School District to inform local planning and that the district has commissioned a cost analysis for a major renovation of Curtis High School.

"Yesterday morning, we actually were, had the opportunity to several of us to take a tour of a Tai'i High School," the superintendent said, describing the site visit in SeaTac and the architects' briefing on construction methods and costs. The superintendent characterized the new school as "classy, but not extravagant" and said the tour provided useful perspective on modern construction and costs.

The superintendent told the board the district contracted RC Financial Group to do a deeper cost analysis for renovating Curtis High School, citing the campus's unique geography and varying building ages as complicating factors. "We've asked them to do a little bit of a deeper dive into a cost analysis of what a major renovation of Curtis High School would cost because it does have some unique features like the geography of that site and the difference in age of many of the buildings," the superintendent said.

Staff said they will receive the construction-services group's report at a meeting the next day and will combine that with the RC Financial Group analysis. The combined materials are scheduled for presentation at a study session in September to inform what a school-construction bond might look like, the superintendent said. No formal board action on bond placement or voter measures was taken at the meeting.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the construction consultant. The superintendent said the construction supervisor on the project is Jennifer Hallock and that the construction partner is based in ESD 113 (Southwest Washington).