North Kitsap School Board to vote on $285,300 study of every district building

POULSBO — The North Kitsap School Board is set to vote Thursday, Nov. 12, on a $285,300 contract for a top-to-bottom inspection of every school and support building in the district, work that will feed the district’s 20-year facilities plan and keep it eligible for state construction money.

District staff recommend that the board authorize Superintendent Rachel Davenport to sign the contract with Säzän Group, a consulting firm chosen from six that responded to a request for proposals advertised in February. The cost would be paid from the district’s capital projects levy fund.

What the study covers

Säzän would assess all 12 of the district’s school sites, which total about 1.06 million square feet, along with 26 portable classrooms. It would also inspect five support sites: the administration building, facilities and transportation buildings, the North Kitsap Community Center and North Kitsap Stadium.

North Kitsap High is the largest school in the study at 281,084 square feet, followed by Kingston High at 167,482. Hilder Pearson Elementary has the most portables, seven, followed by Wolfle Elementary with six.

The work has three parts, according to the district:

• An updated facility condition assessment, $153,569, which rates building systems such as roofs, walls, plumbing, heating and electrical, estimates repair costs and projects replacement costs over 20 years. An optional review of heating and ventilation control systems adds $18,250.
• A Study and Survey, $86,913, a planning document the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction requires before a district can receive School Construction Assistance Program money.
• Seismic hazard assessments of all district buildings, $26,568, also required for that state funding.

OSPI grants will offset the cost of the Study and Survey and the seismic assessments, according to the agenda item.

Feeding the 20-year plan

The findings will go to the district’s Facility Advisory Committee, which is helping shape the long-range plan. At the board’s Oct. 15 meeting, members reviewed examples of modular buildings and agreed to keep gathering information and costs for modulars at two sites. The minutes say new, flexible attendance boundaries would be needed, and that the district would use non-voted debt with a repayment plan.

The assessments will be visual and non-destructive, and playground equipment will not be surveyed, according to Säzän’s proposal. The firm will rely on a 2024 educational adequacy study by Bassetti Architects for parts of the Study and Survey.

If the board approves, the district expects to give Säzän notice to proceed Nov. 13. The district says the work should be finished by the end of March 2027. Säzän’s proposal schedules on-site fieldwork from January through March and analysis and reporting from March through May.

The board meets at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in the boardroom at the Student Support Center, 18360 Caldart Ave. NE, Poulsbo, and online via Zoom; the link is on the agenda at nkschools.org. People who want to speak must sign up on a form that opens at 4 p.m. and closes at 5:25 p.m. the day of the meeting. Written comments can be emailed to khenry@nkschools.org within 24 hours of the meeting.