Thom Garrard, who was appointed earlier this summer to fill the vacant Edmonds School Board District 4 director position, took his oath of office during the board’s Aug. 27 meeting.

Garrard was appointed to the board in June 2024 after Director Deborah Kilgore resigned. He served as a technology coach, classroom teacher and teacher librarian in the Bremerton, Central Kitsap, Mukilteo and Edmonds school districts before retiring in 2020.

Along with Garrard’s swearing in, the board elected a new vice president, since Kilgore had been filling that role. Board member Carin Chase was nominated and unanimously voted into the position. Chase will serve as the both the board’s vice president and its legislative representative.

In other business, the school board held a public hearing on and voted to approve the district’s 2024-2029 Capital Facilities Plan (CPF).

The CFP describes the facilities needed to accommodate projected student enrollment at acceptable service levels for Edmonds School District, Snohomish County and the community over the next 20 years. It also meets the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) planning requirements, Snohomish County’s Comprehensive Plan, and county code SCC 30.66C, ensuring adequate school facilities are available for new growth and development areas.

Per the GMA, the district’s facilities plan must contain the following:

– A minimum level of service and how the district meets that level.

– An inventory of existing capital facilities owned by the district, showing the locations and capacities of those facilities.

– A forecast of the future needs for capital facilities owned and operated by the district.

– A description of the forecasting methodology and justification for its consistency with the Washington State Office of Financial Management population forecasts used in the county’s comprehensive plan.

– An inventory of existing facilities

– A six-year plan for financing capital facilities, their proposed locations and capacities of expanded or new capital facilities

The 2029 Edmonds School District enrollment projections show 19,866 students compared to 19,688 in 2023. The 2044 projection is 21,339 enrollments.

By grade span, elementary schools (K-6) will see the most significant increase in enrollment, from 10,460 in 2023 to 10,711 in 2029, a total of 251 students. Middle schools, grades 7 and 8, will drop enrollment by 86 students by 2029, while high schools will increase by 13.

The projections for 2044 predict 11,497 elementary, 3,170 middle school and 6,672 high school students.

Part of the minimum level of service required by the GMA is average class size maximums as follows:

– 24 kindergarten

– 25 Grades 1-3 general education

– 26 Grade 4 general education

– 28 Grade 5-6 general education

– 30 Grades 7-8 general education

– 31 Grades 9-12 general education

The weighted average of these values for a K-6 elementary school is 25.84.

To read the complete 2024-2029 District Capital Facilities Plan, click here.

To view the environmental checklist, click here.

Other items approved by the directors:

– A resolution to replace College Place Elementary and Middle Schools instead of modernizing them. Further, the directors approved the resolution certifying that the replacement projects will not create or aggravate racial imbalance.

– An interlocal agreement with Snohomish County for Coronavirus local fiscal recovery funds. The agreement authorizes the purchase of a modular building to expand the school-based health care center at Meadowdale High School. Construction is to be completed by Aug. 31, 2026.

– Authorization of the OSPI Construction Grants process. This resolution authorizes the district’s executive director, business and finance director, capital projects director and budget and finance director to act as agents of the district for construction of the new College Place Elementary and Middle School.

– The right-of-way dedication along both Oak Road and 18th Avenue West property frontages to Snohomish County for the Oak Heights Elementary School Replacement Project. 

– School board goals for the 2024-25 school year, which can be seen here.

– The easement agreement with Ziply Fiber for College Place Elementary School.

The next school board meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the Educational Services Center, 20420 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood, WA 98036. 

You can watch the meeting online by clicking here.

To view the meeting agenda, click here.

— By Rick Sinnett