FIFE, Wash. — In two weeks, Fife voters will be asked to front the bill for a $200 million high school.
District leaders said the current school is sorely outdated. Proposition No. 1 is asking voters to approve a capital bond to rebuild Fife High School.
"The facility itself is at the end of its life," Fife Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Alfano said.
Alfano said parts of the school were built in the 1940s. There have been several remodels, but the latest was in the 1990s.
"A lot of it for me as a parent is security," parent Jessica Connaway said.
The high school has 48 exterior doors and seven exit gates which district leaders said makes it inefficient to secure.
"It will create an interior model of school," Alfano said. “That is more aligned with modern safety standards."
To rebuild the high school, the district would collect $204 million from property owners in Fife, Milton and part of Edgewood.
For example, a valued $300,000 home would cost a taxpayer almost $17 a month.
"It's not a huge ask on a monthly budget, but every ones got a monthly budget they're looking at,” Alfano said. “They have to balance that with the things that they do in their everyday life."
The super-majority vote has proved challenging in some nearby areas like Steilacoom that have had failed bond attempts to rebuild schools. However, neighboring Tacoma and Federal Way have passed construction bonds. Tacoma Public Schools is in the process of rebuilding and remodeling eight different schools.
Fife High School’s newly constructed STEAM center is a glimpse into a possible future. It has modern classrooms for arts, science, engineering and video labs. It was part of a 2018 capital bond that also brought security upgrades in the district, a new elementary school and a rebuilt middle school.
"Seeing my youngest go through the middle school it's amazing,” Connaway said. “He feels safe there. We can do community events a lot of people rent out the gyms, the spaces and the fields."
Connaway has a 10th grader and a son in middle school, who would be entering Fife High School when the full rebuild would be completed.
If passed, construction on the project would begin immediately.