Ceremony for new school construction set

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new K-12 school facility will be at 9 a.m., Tuesday, April 23, school district Superintendent Dennis Carlson announced.

All contracts and processes have been concluded and the general contractor, Walker Construction, is about ready to start.

Carlson said the north parking lot at Lake Roosevelt High School will have to be vacated so contractors can place their equipment on site.

Carlson said school board members, the contractor and architect will be there that day, along with others, to participate in the ceremony.

Those participating will put on hard hats and take a shovel and turn over a little dirt to signify that the project is underway.

The general contract, with some alternates, came in at $22.765 million.

Walker was one of only two general contractors to bid on the project.

Carlson said the initial steps in construction will be to develop the site level, lifting it about five feet and to construct a large retaining wall. Some of the fill material is on site and was salvaged from the demolition of the old Wright Elementary School building.

The hammer-and-nails part of construction will start later this spring or early summer.

The ceremony will be held on the old Wright Elementary site.

“Over 40 years ago, the board of directors of the newly consolidated Grand Coulee Dam School District recognized the need to replace the then aging school buildings that were constructed in the 1940s and early 1950s,” Carlson said in a press release. “While many efforts have been made over the ensuing years, the district’s ability to raise the needed funds to match available state money has been hindered by the large amount of untaxed, federal property within the district. It wasn’t until last year when the state legislature appropriated $17 million to the district to use as its state match could the district move forward with the project.”

The public is invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.