The plan is officially in motion.
At its first meeting after a brief summer hiatus, the Bainbridge Island School District Board of Directors authorized staff to begin considering a bond or levy package that would support several major updates to district facilities that would affect nearly every school around the island. It won’t appear on the upcoming November ballot, but the sooner the better, advocates said.
“It’s thrilling to me that this may become a real option,” Adriana Zimova said during public comments. “I can’t imagine a better capital investment. The need for a structurally sound, safe and modern elementary school serving the center of the island is what motivates me to speak tonight.”
The Long Range Strategic Facilities Planning Committee, a blend of stakeholders from both the district and public, has been in talks with architectural firm Mithun since early 2024. Together, the committee and the firm established a 75-year master plan for the district, guided by five priorities for design — to address aging facilities, equity, safety, resilience and sustainability.
Out of a gamut of projects ranging from district-wide energy conversion to athletic field replacement, the committee determined the most pressing issues to be the complete replacement of two schools, the creation of a central-campus geothermal heat pump and the addition of solar power to several buildings. Other improvements to BISD facilities would follow, including renovations to some buildings at Bainbridge High School, Sakai Intermediate and Woodward Middle School and district vehicle fleet electrification.
Committee members recommended Ordway Elementary and Commodore Options School both be replaced in lieu of renovations, due to the extent of necessary seismic updates that buildings at both schools require. A state seismic safety assessment in 2021 labeled both Ordway and Commodore as “high priority” projects, which has spurred calls for action from parents.
School boardmembers Sanjay Pal, Evan St. Clair and board president Mark Emerson agreed that this was a big step in the process toward needed improvements, but more hard work is still to come, particularly with public messaging and project focus.
St. Clair highlighted the importance of keeping functional value for students and staff top of mind.
“I appreciate every architect in the world, but are we taking their views into consideration as the secondary consideration, and [prioritizing] students and educators first?” St. Clair asked. “They have wonderful ideas, but some ideas that may be bigger than necessary for the problems we’re trying to address. As we start this train of decisions, how do we come back to that central North Star as often as possible to make sure that we don’t get distracted?”
Emerson added that this has been a long time coming, but it will still be a big ask.
“This is our opportunity to build a campus that can really meet future needs for quite a while […] We’re always going to need funds here and there, but something this big, we can go for quite a while without needing another occasion,” he said. “This is the last major step in a plan that has been on the books for years and years and years. This is the promise now: to get everything done. It sets us up for future success.”
