Inspiring Excellence
School Planning & Construction
You can find 2025 bond campaign materials here.
Welcome to the School Planning and Construction (SP&C) Department. SP&C supports Lake Stevens students, staff and the community by planning for future school and support facilities, managing capital and public work construction projects, and ensuring that these projects are planned, designed, bid and built responsibly.
The department supports the district’s Foundation for Excellence (strategic plan) by designing and building facilities that promote a "Safe, Equitable and Inclusive Climate and Culture" (Foundational Principle 2) through "Responsible Resource Stewardship that Promotes Trust" (Foundational Principle 4). Our focus is on the fifth goal of the plan—Needs-Based Facilities Improvement.
Check back for updates on our progress as we plan and build future schools in the district to meet the needs of our growing community.
Your Schools, Your Bond
Originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of Lake Schools
What's Next?
Thanks to our incredible community, our school construction bond was approved in the February election! With 61.71% voter support, this investment in our schools will bring much-needed improvements, new learning spaces, and enhanced safety across the district.
Over the coming months and years, you’ll see exciting progress on these projects. Here’s what’s happening now and what’s next:
Building for the future
To ensure projects are completed efficiently and cost-effectively, the district is selecting General Contractor/Construction Managers (GC/CM) for our new and modernized school facility projects. This approach—successfully used in the 2016 bond for Lake Stevens High School—allows the contractor to work closely with architects from the start, helping to shape designs, plan construction phases, and control costs.
Elementary #8 & Glenwood Elementary Modernization and Expansion
- Early design and permitting underway
- Gathering input from staff, students and facility users
- GC/CM selection this spring
- Construction starts: Spring 2026
Skyline Elementary & Lake Stevens Middle School Modernizations and Expansions
- Early design and permitting underway
- Gathering input from staff, students and facility users
- GC/CM selection this spring
- Construction starts: Spring 2026
Mt. Pilchuck Site: Secondary Innovative Learning Center, Central Kitchen & New Gym
- Programming in development, then early design & permitting begins
- GC/CM selection this summer
- Construction starts: Fall 2026
Safety & Program Improvements: Secure entries, Special Education spaces, Hillcrest Gym
- Early design & permitting underway
- Gathering input from staff, students and facility users
- GC/CM selection this spring
- Construction starts: Fall 2025
Secure Portables
- Bidding begins this spring
- Construction starts: Summer 2025
Athletic Field Lighting at North Lake Middle School & Cavelero Mid High School
- Design and permitting underway
- Bidding begins late spring
- Construction starts: Fall 2025
Secure Perimeters
- Early design is in progress
- Bidding and construction timeline are still being determined
Stay involved!
We’ll keep our community updated as these projects move forward. You can follow progress on our district website and social media, where we’ll share updates, construction photos, and opportunities for community input.
This bond is more than just buildings—it’s an investment in the success, safety, and future of our students. Thank you for your support!
Update for March 31, 2025
Last week our focus was on advancing two projects through the General Contractor/Construction Manager (GC/CM) alternative delivery method. Here are the details.
Skyline and Lake Stevens Middle School Modernizations and Expansions
Last week the district reviewed five submitted proposals for General Contractor/Construction Managers for the Skyline/LSMS modernization project and selected three firms to interview. Cornerstone General Contractors, Skanska and Spee West were chosen for conversations that will take place this Wednesday.
The district appreciates all five experienced companies for providing proposals. The committee evaluated the firms’ experience in school construction, particularly with projects and districts of a similar nature, and selected the three that would be most advantageous to the district for this project. Following interviews, candidates will provide final proposals on April 16.
Secondary Innovative Learning Center/Central Kitchen/Mt. Pilchuck Gymnasium project
Last week the district received approval from the state’s Project Review Committee (PRC) to use the GC/CM alternative delivery method for the work to build a new secondary innovative learning center and central kitchen on the grounds of Mt. Pilchuck Elementary School. This work also includes a new gymnasium for Mt. Pilchuck and improvements to bus and parent drop off and parking.
The PRC is a committee of the state Department of Enterprise Service’s Capital Projects Advisory Review Board. This board is responsible for ensuring that public agencies are experienced and qualified to use construction delivery methods that are alternatives to the typical low bid procurement method that the district has used for many years.
The benefit to these alternative delivery methods is that the district can partner with a contractor much earlier in the design-construction process. This partnership results in more creativity to solving the challenges of building a school, more efficiencies in how the project is managed, increased safety for students and staff who are often on the same site as the contractor, and better results. The district used the GC/CM method for the modernization and expansion of Lake Stevens High School in 2017-2022 and were able to accomplish much more with the funds entrusted to us by our community that thought possible.
Requests for Proposals for interested GC/CM firms will be issued this week with the anticipation of selecting a contractor in June.
This was the fourth and final project submitted to the PRC, and the district received approval from the committee for all four. The district is indebted to the staff, community members, designers, engineers, and consultants that defined these qualified projects, prepared comprehensive applications, and delivered successful presentations to the committee. These projects will benefit from early partnerships with well-qualified contractors, and the resources committed to these projects by our community will be used efficiently and effectively.
Bond Project Update
March 25, 2025
Thanks to the community’s support of the 2025 bond, several important construction and improvement projects are already underway! Here’s a quick update on what’s happening:
Secure Portables Safety Improvements
Our first capital project funded by the bond is officially moving forward! Plans and specifications for the Secure Portables Safety Improvements Project are now available for contractors to review and bid on. Bids will be opened on April 15.
This project will add card readers and electronic locks to more than 80 portable classrooms and support spaces—giving them the same level of security as our permanent buildings. These upgrades will also connect the portables to each school’s lockdown system, allowing the entire campus to be secured quickly and easily.
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and continue into early fall. A big thank you to our team for getting this ready so quickly—we’ve actually been preparing since last year to ensure we could get started right away once the bond passed!
Skyline and Lake Stevens Middle School Modernizations
We’re excited to share that we’ve received proposals from five highly qualified contractors interested in partnering with us on the modernization and expansion projects at Skyline Middle School and Lake Stevens Middle School.
The firms include:
- Cornerstone (contractor for the LSHS modernization)
- Lydig (contractor for Cavelero Mid High School)
- Skanska
- Spee West
- BNBuilders
All five have significant experience with General Contractor/Construction Manager (GC/CM) projects. Next week, we’ll review proposals and narrow the list for interviews, scheduled for April 2. Final proposals are due April 16, after which we’ll begin contract negotiations with the most qualified contractor.
Thank you to our project management and design teams for preparing a strong Request for Proposals that attracted such an experienced group of contractors!
Energy Efficiency & Facilities Improvements at Lake Stevens High School
We’ve also made progress on energy efficiency projects at Lake Stevens High School. Last week, we opened bids for two key projects:
- Lighting LED Replacement: Replacing old fluorescent bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs in six buildings.
- North Hall Boiler Plant Upgrade: Replacing outdated boilers and equipment (originally installed in the 1990s) with modern, energy-efficient systems.
The good news? Both bids came in under budget! We’ve recommended awarding contracts for these projects at the next school board meeting.
These improvements are largely funded by a $1 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce through the Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS) program. They will not only reduce utility costs and improve classroom environments but also help us meet state energy efficiency goals. Huge thanks to Bobby Vaughn, our Business Services team, and Hargis Engineers for assembling a successful grant application and project package.
Contact Info
Robert (Robb) Stanton
Exec. Director of School Planning & Construction
Work:
(425) 335-1500 ext. 1506
