Groundbreaking For Carter Lake, Hillside Elementary Schools Set For Today At JBLM

(From Joint Base Lewis-McChord)

Clover Park School District (CPSD) and Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) will host a ground breaking ceremony for the new Carter Lake and Hillside Elementary Schools Monday, July 30 at 10 a.m. The ground breaking, which will celebrate the official start of construction for both schools, will take place at the Hillside Youth Center, 6396 Garcia Blvd (near Hillside Elementary School), on JBLM Lewis Main.

The event will include a traditional shovel-and-dirt ground breaking, plus the signing of an “Education of Military Children Covenant.” Signers of the covenant will include educators, senior civilian and military leaders and elected officials. The event should last about 75 minutes.

Special guests include Undersecretary of the Army Joseph W. Westphal, U.S. Representatives Norm Dicks and Adam Smith and JBLM Joint Base Commander Col. Thomas Brittain. People who attend the ceremony will have the opportunity to view the renderings of the new schools and enjoy light refreshments.

In 2006, CPSD began a partnership with JBLM to evaluate and quantify the conditions and capacity of the seven elementary schools on the base. The outcome of that study kicked off the Military Child Education Initiative, which raised awareness of failing school infrastructures on military bases across the United States. After dozens of tours and outreach to officials with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Congress and the White House, $250 million was included in the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) defense appropriations bill to fix educational facilities on military installations nationwide.

Carter Lake and Hillside Elementary Schools ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the top 25 schools needing immediate attention based on an independent scoring of enrollment capacity and building conditions. Funding for the two new schools comes from the Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) and Washington state school construction funds.

“Undersecretary of the Army Dr. Joseph Westphal, U.S. Representatives Norm Dicks and Adam Smith, along with our U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, were instrumental supporters of these projects on behalf of military families,” said Debbie LeBeau, superintendent of Clover Park School District.

“The ground breaking of the new Carter Lake and Hillside Elementary Schools represents a federal, state and local partnership designed to ensure our military students have access to the safe and updated facilities they deserve.”

Both schools will be rebuilt at their current locations—Carter Lake will have a capacity of 500 students and Hillside will accommodate 650 students. BCRA Design is the architect for the new schools and Skanska is the general construction contract manager. Completion of the new schools is scheduled for the fall of 2013.

Community members are invited to attend the ground breaking ceremony.  The location is 6396 Garcia Boulevard on JBLM Lewis Main. Parking is limited; carpooling is encouraged. Visitor passes may be obtained at the JBLM Lewis-Main visitor center, I-5 exit 120.  The visitor pass process may take 45-60 minutes on busy days, so plan accordingly.