"Overview of the Sammamish High School Capital Project (Construction)"
Jack McLeod
Director, Facilities and Operations Bellevue School District
Scribe: Colleen Turner Introduced by: Howard Johnson
IN THIS ISSUE
Bellevue School District’s Capital Construction Projects- Rotarian of the Month – New Member Induction -The Rotary Foundation – Fun With the SAA
SPEAKER PROGRAM
Howard Johnson introduced Jack McLeod who began his presentation by giving us an overview of the Bellevue School District capital construction projects. The last three school bond authorizations were in 2002, 2008 and 2013, when $324 million, $545 million and $450 million was raised, respectively.
Bellevue School District has made great strides in renovating or completely rebuilding many of the schools originally built in the 1950’s. The following is a list of schools and the year construction was completed:
Phantom Lake – 2003; Somerset – 2004; Interlake – 2005; Lake Hills – 2005; Medina – 2006; Newport – 2007; Woodridge – 2007; Newport Heights – 2008; Sherwood Forest – 2008; Eastgate – 2009; Ardmore – 2010; Spiritridge -2011; Bellevue – 2012; Tyee – 2012; Cherry Crest – 2012; and Chinook – 2014.
The following is a list of schools and the year construction is expected to be done:
Odle – 2016; Sammamish – 2017; and Tillicum – 2018.
Jack spoke in more detail about Cherry Crest Elementary because it is the most energy-efficient building in the district; 434 rooftop solar panels offset about 10% of the building’s total annual energy usage.
Jack then focused on Sammamish High School, which will be completed in 2017 at a cost of $78 million. He showed us several renderings of the 330,000 square foot facility. One of the biggest challenges has been to keep all of the school’s systems running during construction.
Sammamish is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school; it was awarded a $5 million grant to develop the STEM program. The new school is designed around the Performing Arts Center and the teaching spaces will vary in size and function to accommodate the STEM program. Some of the classrooms will be very large to accommodate science experiments. Although Sammamish currently has 900 students, it will have the capacity to serve 2,200.
The district’s goal for traffic mitigation is to keep parents from queuing up on the arterials and allow enough room for them to queue up on school property to pick up and drop off their kids.
Jack told us there are plans to build a brand new elementary school to accommodate growth in Bellevue.
Club Business
Wendi Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:30am.
Margie Burnett gave the invocation and Jim Gordon introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.
Rotarian of the Month
Wendi announced that Carmela Ramaglia is the Rotarian of the Month for February due to her work on the Fellowship Committee and her enthusiastic and energetic planning of the Dine Around.
New Member Induction
Chris Boland was inducted and is the newest member of the BBRC. Congratulations, Chris! Chris is transferring to the BBRC from the Woodinville Rotary Club. He is very familiar with our Club because he served as Assistant Governor for a few years. Chris was born in Berkeley but moved to Washington at an early age. He graduated from WSU. Chris is Co-Owner of MerCom, a promotional marketing company. He enjoys mountaineering and recently climbed two peaks in Mexico.
The Rotary Foundation
Dick Brown awarded several Paul Harris awards. Megan Sweeters, Girish Bhatia and John Cherry became Paul Harris Fellows for the first time while other members received the following pins for increased giving:
Mitch Freedman: 3 sapphires – $4,000; Chris Monger: 3 sapphires – $4,000; Jeff Cashman: 3 rubies – $9,000. Congratulations!
Fun with the SAA
Tim Leahy called Alan Bohling to the front of the room to give him a hard time about chatting publicly with our guest speaker from the Sea Scouts last week about Cobalt boats, which Alan happens to sell at his business, Seattle Boat Company. The more Tim kidded Alan, the more Alan elaborated on his business. Although Tim fined him $100 for the privilege, Alan raised the ante and offered to donate $1,000 of diesel fuel to the Sea Scouts. What a guy! Thank you, Alan.
Announcements
1. Michel Carter announced that due to popular demand by many groups to volunteer at Rotary First Harvest, Rotary’s volunteer time on the second Saturday of each month has been reduced to two hours, 9:00-11:00am. Apparently, Rotary First Harvest wants to accommodate three groups instead of two. Make sure you go to www.bbrc.net to register to volunteer. The BBRC is currently leading in the Golden Donut Award competition.
2. Tom Leonidas presented a flag from the Rotary Club of Kapolei in Oahu.
3. Fred Janssen encouraged us to sign up to be a judge at DECA on March 6. Go to www.WADeca.org to register for a half day or a full day.
4. Colleen Turner asked us to refer potential Bellevue 10/5K booth sponsors to her and Sheldon Sweeney. We want the Race Village to rock!
5. Annual Rotary Books for the World Sorting & Palletizing Day: Saturday, March 21, 9:00am to 12:00pm (1:00-4:00pm if needed ) at Northwest Harvest Warehouse, 22220 68th Ave. South, Kent
6. Madeline Gauthier announced the Seattle Children’s Autism Center Heroes for Life Luncheon will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue on March 26. See Madeline if you would like to go.
Thought for the Week
“A man who quits advertising to save time is like the man who stopped the clock to save time.” ~ Henry Ford