Chehalis Falls Short as Bond Measure Fails

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    Cascade Elementary School will be sticking around for a while longer — more time than Chehalis school officials wanted it to.

    Tuesday’s election saw a $27 million, 20-year bond measure to replace the aging facility and transform R.E. Bennett Elementary School into shared learning and district office space fail under the state’s supermajority requirement, as only 51.9 percent of voters said yes to replacing the school. Although a majority was reached, Washington state law requires 60 percent for long-term bond measures to pass.

    “We really thought this would pass, we really did,” superintendent Ed Rothlin said. “All the work that was needed to replace Cascade and get Bennett up to speed was given to us at a 39 percent discount, and it’s just disappointing we couldn’t reach that 60 percent.”

    The main selling point for Chehalis officials regarding the measure was that Cascade has essentially outgrown its usable lifespan after having been built nine decades ago. The district even posted a video to YouTube highlighting problems surrounding the school, such as lack of play space and safety concerns for students walking down and across nearby streets before, during and after school.



    Those who advocated for Cascade’s replacement now say it’s a race against the clock to figure out what to do at the site. For now, more work will go into maintaining areas that continue to be problems for staff and students, and the district will find a way to deal with space constraints.

    “There were just a host of issues we were hoping would be fixed with the replacement of the old school,” said board member Jim Hill. “Cascade at some point will need to be replaced, and now it’s just a matter of time.”

    Board chair Brian Roberts said the bond won’t be revisited at the next election as a replacement maintenance and operations levy will need to be decided upon by voters. As to where the district goes from here, Roberts and Rothlin said administrators and board members will continue to weigh options for the future.

    “We recognize that a majority of people wanted to support this and we appreciate them for reflecting that with their vote,” Roberts said. “We’ll have some talks, we’ll continue to do our work and we’ll go back to the drawing board very soon.”