Richland district wrestles with how to use old Jefferson school

What do you do with a school that can’t house students?

The Richland School District will be grappling with that issue in coming months as it moves forward with plans to construct a new building for Jefferson Elementary School next to its current home in central Richland.

Architectural firm CKJT will conduct a new study of possibilities for the space, though it’s unclear what those options could be.

State money is expected to be used to build a new school, but that means state funding rules forbid the district from using the old facility for basic education.

However, legislation approved late in the last session may lift that restriction and give the Richland School Board more options.

“It sounds like there’s a lot of flexibility for what it can be used for,” said Kristen Jaudon, spokeswoman for the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The $98 million bond approved by Richland voters in February 2013 included money to replace a wing of Jefferson built in 1953. But the main school building, built in 1982, wasn’t eligible for state replacement money until 2017.

The Richland board recently voted to build an entirely new home for the school, using money from the bond and the state. That new building likely would not open until the fall 2018.

But what to do with the old Jefferson?

Even if they aren’t in top shape, old school buildings can go on to be useful for districts.

The Kennewick School District’s Fruitland building, built in 1945 and used as an elementary school through 1983, has served as a temporary home for several schools as the district rebuilt their buildings. Westgate Elementary School is currently holding classes there during its construction project.

Richland Superintendent Rick Schulte said during a recent board meeting that one ideal use for the old Jefferson building could be as a site for another alternative education program similar to Three Rivers HomeLink, now in a new building next to Jason Lee Elementary School.

HomeLink has more than 400 students and is still growing, meaning there could be a benefit in opening another program to ease the load. And Jefferson was once considered a possible home for the program.

However, HomeLink, while not a traditional school, is still an instructional K-12 program and not allowed under current state rules.

Under those rules, Jaudon said the building could still serve students as a resource center or a home for after-school programs.

Kids could even be there for an entire school day if the district provided the space to another educational program, such as preschool programs like Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance, or ECEAP. A private school could also be housed there if a group leased it.

And Richland still could end up being allowed to put students in the old Jefferson under of the recently passed K-3 Class Size Reduction Construction Grant Pilot Program.

That law aims to ease the need for space created by a statewide class size reduction initiative passed by voters.

Richland, despite having opened several large new and rebuilt schools, is facing a possible classroom crunch thanks to larger than expected enrollment growth.

The new law doesn’t include language that specifically neutralizes state limits on using buildings replaced by new ones, but any district participating in the grant program would have to conduct an inventory of classrooms in all of its school buildings.

The state would then determine whether the need for classrooms could be met by modernizing an older building, potentially one like Jefferson.

The architectural firm’s report is due to the board in January.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Richland district wrestles with how to use old Jefferson school."