Kennewick Moves Toward Possible 2027 Bond to Renovate 4 Aging Schools

At their Tuesday school board meeting, the Kennewick School District took more preliminary steps toward a possible 2027 construction-renovation bond.

   Board Approves Initial Design Work on 2 Middle, and Elementary Schools

According to school board minutes and discussions, the board is looking ahead to renovating four potential facilities that have been years overdue to renovations.

These discussions could involve renovations, or possible complete building replacements.

The two middle schools are Highlands, built in 1959 and last renovated in 1994, and Horse Heaven Hills, which was built in 1993 and remains as is. Highlands is pictured below.

Highlands MS google street view

  Two Elementary Schools Also On The List

Hawthorne, which opened in 1956, is one of the oldest operatioinal buildings in the District, it underwent internal renovations 31 years ago.  Washington Elementary, which opened in 1957, was also last renovated in 1995.  A few months ago, the board began discussions about these renovations.

So far, no concrete figures have been compiled for what renovation costs would be, which is why Design West is going to look at the schools, and come up with several potential renovation packages.

   If A Bond is Sought, It would Contain the Plans

Following Design West's work, the board will likely look over the plans and if they decide to move forward, will be able to compile a cost, which would then be put to voters in a bond.

The last bond in KSD was in 2019, which was used to build a brand new Kennewick High School from the ground up,  add 12 classrooms and turf fields at Southridge and Kamiakin High Schools, and renovated Ridge View and Amastad Elementary Schools--which were completely rebuilt.