Kennewick’s newest middle school ready to open Jan. 4

The sounds of hundreds of students will soon fill Kennewick’s newest middle school.

Construction crews are putting the final touches on the $40 million Chinook Middle School, which is set to open Jan. 4 with about 790 students.

The last reports posted on the district’s website show Principal Kevin Pierce moving into his new office, new computers being delivered and lighting being installed on the outside of the building.

The 110,400-square-foot building houses 37 classrooms, two gyms, a fitness lab, a library, five computer labs, and orchestra and band rooms. It uses the same design as Desert Hills Middle School.

A few bus routes may change because the school’s new location at 4891 W. 27th Ave. puts some students within a one-mile walking radius, said Robyn Chastain, the district’s director of communications and public relations.

The majority of bus routes are staying the same. District officials notified parents before the holiday break if anything changed, Chastain said.

Students and their parents can get a peek at the new school from 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 3.

They are welcome to walk around the school, find their locker and place their things in it, and locate their classes, according to a district news release.

A ribbon-cutting and public tour is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 10.

Construction on the project started in July 2015, after voters approved an $89.5 million bond in February 2015. The money was slated to pay for the new middle school and two new elementary schools, as well as replace Desert Hills Middle School and Westgate Elementary School.

The district’s five middle schools held 3,999 students on Sept. 2, Chastain said.

“This is an increase of 136 students from the previous school year at the same time,” she said. “We expect enrollment to steadily rise at the middle schools as the larger elementary classes work their way up to the higher grades.”

Chinook students began the year attending classes at the former Desert Hills building on 10th Place. Their last day of class in the building was Dec. 20.

Most of the Desert Hills buildings, which opened in 1977, are going to be demolished to make space for a new dual language elementary school.

District officials recently agreed to renovate the school’s former gym into a new home for the Mid-Columbia Partnership, replacing the five double portables that previously held the district’s home school program.

As students prepared to leave on break, Pierce asked staff and students to remember the history of the buildings that served thousands of students in the past 39 years.

“As you move through your day, take a few moments to appreciate that we are also closing a building today,” the principal said on the last day of school.

“I started teaching here when I was 22 years old way back in 1992, and I will certainly walk through this campus today with a high level of respect for the good work that has occurred here.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Kennewick’s newest middle school ready to open Jan. 4."