Older Kennewick middle schools may have to wait for tracks

The Kennewick School District will build running tracks at its two newest middle school buildings, but three other middle schools may have to wait several years before they have tracks of their own.

The district’s facilities committee recently recommended waiting to install tracks at Park, Horse Heaven Hills and Highlands middle schools until voters approve a new bond measure.

That bond, still in the planning stages, isn’t expected to go on a ballot until 2019. The school board is to review the recommendation at a future meeting.

School board members approved building track facilities at Chinook Middle School and the relocated Desert Hills Middle School. Having their own facilities will make it easier for students to participate in track and field programs and ease up demand for time at Neil F. Lampson Stadium, which is also used by athletic programs at the district’s three high schools.

The facilities committee also looked at whether to build the tracks when each of the middle schools is due for a remodel during the next decade or to start building one each year beginning in 2017.

The committee overwhelmingly rejected moving forward in 2017 with the projects, noting there is no money set aside.

District administrators recently told the school board that estimates for building a track and associated storage facility came in at $1 million to $1.25 million. That doesn’t include bathrooms, which could tack another $516,000 to $560,000 onto a project.

However, board members voiced interest in a less-expensive bathroom alternative. It would involve building a facility with storage space, but also a shelter for portable toilets that could be installed during track season and removed during the winter.

“I prefer (that) option,” said board President Dawn Adams. “Bathrooms you have to maintain.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2016 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Older Kennewick middle schools may have to wait for tracks."