As superintendent of the Lake Washington School District, it seems like everywhere I go I see growth. First and foremost, I am proud of I fact that we are a thriving district, focused on student learning. I love to be in our schools interacting with teachers. I love seeing our students grow and flourish academically. I also see growth each time I drive to a visit a school. Development and tangible growth is occurring across all of the communities served by the district. The cities of Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish are all growing. These are wonderful communities in which to live, work, and raise a family.

The Lake Washington School District is among the fastest growing school districts in the state for the last few years. Current enrollment stands at 26,708. Based on our trends, enrollment is projected to grow by 4,000 students over the next eight years.

This growth presents challenges for our district. Just to accommodate student enrollment in the next three years, we need more than 70 additional classrooms across the district. We have a short-term plan in place that includes adding 30 more portable classrooms across the district, making permanent classroom additions, and using spaces designed for other purposes as classrooms. We had to complete a district-wide boundary process this past fall to move students to where there will be classroom space for them next year. These short-term solutions are not ideal, but they are necessary. Every child in our district needs and deserves a classroom.

In our schools we teach our students to solve complex problems, and we teach them the power of collaboration to find the best solutions. As a school district, we know that we need to collaborate with our communities to address our district’s challenges: lack of classroom space and aging facilities. While we have a short-term fix to for our immediate need for additional classrooms, we need to work hand-in-hand with our communities in order to find a long-term solution.

That is why we have convened a 63-member Task Force to collaborate on a long-term facilities planning strategy for our district. This group of parents, community members, business leaders, and staff members has been studying and analyzing our existing building conditions and our growth projections and capacity. They are developing potential strategies. They are considering policy questions to address our two challenges: lack of classroom space and aging facilities. Through both online and in-person open houses, the Task Force is seeking input from the entire community. They will use that feedback to help inform their final recommendation to our school board, which is slated to be finalized in summer 2015.

Please visit the district website at www.lwsd.org and click on the link under “Spotlight” to follow the work of the Task Force.  A link on the right hand side of that page will allow you to sign up for updates on the task force’s work. These updates will keep you informed of future input opportunities.

The Lake Washington School District is committed to maintaining high academic standards for students and to working with the community to address critical facility needs. As our communities grow, our district grows, and as our district grows, so does our unwavering commitment to serving our students and families.

Dr. Traci Pierce is the superintendent of the Lake Washington School District.