Possible plan for Pasco’s New Horizons faces public pushback

Pasco school officials are again trying to focus in on a new home for New Horizons High School.

District officials confirm they have been talking with Columbia Basin College on a possible lease of the CH2M Hill Technology Center, or W Building, in the northeast corner of the Pasco campus for the 200-student alternative school.

But some parents argue the school deserves its own new facility, not a different building on the CBC campus.

That and other yet-to-be disclosed options are expected to be discussed during a school board’s study session Jan. 26.

Pasco district administrators have talked for years about finding a new site and even more complaints came to light during last fall’s teachers’ strike, including claims the current building is crumbling and infested with mice.

In 2013 voters approved a $46.8 million bond that included money to go toward finding a new home for New Horizons.

Last week, some parents complained to the Pasco School Board that they were disappointed in the board’s decision to spend what they called a minimal amount on a new location for New Horizons, while putting $8 million toward a pre-kindergarten center.

“You’ve taken money away from your legal obligations and given to something that hasn’t been approved or supported by your constituents,” said Pasco parent Loren Polk.

Polk and another parent Brenda Wilson said the district should be willing to put more of the bond money and the district’s resources toward New Horizons since a pre-kindergarten center falls outside the district’s official role of providing K-12 education.

“If we stop putting all the money toward a pre-K we could have a new facility for (New Horizons) students,” Wilson told the board last week.

Board members and district officials have said the pre-kindergarten center, which the district is also seeking state matching money for, is critical to fully serving students because it better prepares them to succeed in school.

After the recent public comments, board President Scott Lehrman said the district considers all students important and the district isn’t playing favorites.

“We need a multi-faceted, multi-pronged approach (to education),” he said. “It’s not one or the other.”

District officials say they have wanted to move the high school, which is on CBC property but in buildings maintained by the district, for years but had to change plans to leave the facility a few years ago when they had trouble finding a new location.

The condition of the New Horizons’ facilities became an issue during the strike and soon after it ended, a New Horizons’ teacher brought large photos of the deteriorating infrastructure to a school board meeting. He demanded an accounting of the 2013 bond money that was supposed to be spent on New Horizons.

Preliminary details of the possible new deal with CBC indicate New Horizons would actually share the facility with CBC High School Academy, the college’s high school credit retrieval program.

The building, which was donated by Hanford contractor CH2M Hill, would retain its current name, said CBC President Rich Cummins.

The W Building is much closer and accessible to the main campus, opening the possibility of New Horizons students having access to other college programs, said Randy Nunamaker, the school district’s executive director of operations.

Renovating the facility for the alternative high school’s needs is estimated at $4 million.

Other details about any possible lease, including the cost and length of the contract, have yet to be negotiated, district officials said.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Possible plan for Pasco’s New Horizons faces public pushback."