State sends Lacey school $6.7 million

LACEY – Chinook Middle School’s remodel will get a $6.7 million boost from the state as part of a grant of $150 million this year to local districts for construction projects statewide, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced Wednesday.

The Chinook remodel is the last planned project to receive funding from the district’s $112 million construction bond from 2006. That bond included projects such as the construction of Chambers Prairie Elementary School and the reconstruction of Timberline High School.

The $18 million remodel, which will include the construction of modular buildings for classrooms, seismic improvements, and electrical and heating upgrades, is expected to be done by spring or summer 2010, district director of construction Mike Laverty said.

Some of the construction will continue while Chinook students are at school, Laverty said.

The improvements to Chinook are similar to the ones under way at Nisqually Middle School, a project that is about six months ahead of Chinook, Laverty said. The construction at Nisqually is scheduled to end before 2010.

The state released funds for 29 construction projects that involve building new schools or remodeling existing ones, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. To qualify for state funding, a project must be approved in a voter construction bond and the district must apply to the state superintendent’s office.

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