The Kent School District will spend about $4.8 million on a new building to house The Outreach Program (TOP), which serves 18-to-21-year-old special needs students.
The 13,000-square-foot modular structure will be constructed in Marysville and installed on the north side of the baseball fields at Kent Phoenix Academy, 11000 SE 264th St.“The school doesn’t use the baseball fields,” said Fred Long, the district’s director of facility services.
Long said the district hopes to have the new facility completed by mid-February. It takes about 10-12 weeks for the building to be constructed and about four weeks to get it up on site.Long said the location of the new building is near major bus lines, which is important because the students learn to use public transit as a part of the program, and participate in job training at locations in the community.“They have to have a way to get around,” Long said.
The new building will include five classrooms, one of which will be set up as an occupational and physical therapy room. The facility will also have a multipurpose room, equipped with two residential kitchens — one handicapped accessible — to teach students how to cook, as well as a staff work room.The program is currently housed in a 4,420-square-foot facility next to the district’s bus garage near Kent-Meridian High School. The building, which was built in 1951, was the district’s transportation office before being converted to the TOP building about 10 years ago.
“The building is small and very old,” Long said.
The additional space in the new facility will allow the program to expand. The program currently serves 44 students and has four certified teachers and 13 paraprofessionals.
The school board unanimously approved the budget for the new building at its Sept. 23 meeting.
“I’m so excited we are going to be able to serve more students that need this program,” board member Agda Burchard said.
Superintendent Calvin Watts told the board the district is exploring how the program could be expanded and the board will be given an update once the new building is closer to completion.The new building will be funded by the sale of district properties.
‘There are a number of sites for sale,” Long said.
The old facility will be demolished and paved over to be used as additional parking for buses.
“We are very short on bus parking right now,” Long said.
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