"It’s For Our Children": Ground Broken On Pair of JBLM Elementary Schools

It was more than a groundbreaking.

Monday morning’s ceremony to kick off construction of the new Carter Lake and Hillside Elementary Schools on Joint Base Lewis-McChord  was the realization of a promise to the men and women serving our country – that their children would be taken care of back home.

It’s something that U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks was steadfast about in helping to secure $250 million in federal funds for Fiscal Year 2011 to rehabilitate or replace schools on military installations across the United States.

“These are the children of the people we are sending to Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Dicks, who along with U.S. Rep. Adam Smith and Undersecretary of the Army Joseph Westphal, was present for the groundbreaking at Hillside. “That’s why there was no objection.”

Dicks, who is retiring at the end of his current term, said that he will leave proud to have been able to take care of the problem. He is the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee.

“This was really an urgent issue,” he said. “One of the biggest concerns for deploying troops is their families (which) means we’re going to provide schools that are clean, safe and efficient.”

Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, added that Congress is “100 percent pledged to supporting the men and women of our military (and) making sure your children have access to a quality education.”

“We will step up and continue to support this community,” he vowed.

Hillside, which will receive $22.5 million from the government, will house 650 full-time equivalent students on Lewis Main. Carter Lake, which is slated for $24 million in federal funds, will be built for a maximum of 500 FTE students on McChord Field. The schools will be built in their current locations and are scheduled for completion in Fall 2013. The government will continue to own the schools while the Clover Park School District operates them.

Westphal credited Dicks for getting the ball rolling on the project back in 2010. After the congressman expressed his concern for the situation on JBLM, Westphal asked for time to assess the situation on other bases, too.

But, he added with a laugh, “If you’ve gotten a call from Congressman Dicks, he doesn’t give you a hell of a lot of time to get it figured out.”

Westphal lauded Dicks and Smith for being “dedicated and committed” to fixing JBLM’s schools.

“They are not only great leaders for the state of Washington that you benefit from on this installation …  but we also benefit as a country,” he said.

Before breaking ground on the project, the speakers joined a group of educators, civilians, military leaders and elected officials for the signing of an Education of Military Children Covenant. Students from Hillside and Carter Lake lent a hand with the signing, as well as during the official groundbreaking.

“There’s a reason why we’re doing this,” said JBLM Joint Base Commander Col. Thomas Brittain. “It’s for our children.”

Brittain thanked Superintendent Debbie LeBeau and CPSD for their commitment to students.

“For three years, I’ve watched them work every problem to the benefit of our service members’ children who go to the six elementary schools on this base, the two middle schools off-base and two high schools off-base,” he said, adding that he is a CPSD parent himself. “I’m very indebted to Clover Park.”

LeBeau, in turn, expressed gratitude toward those on JBLM who have helped with the project.

“Today, we not only are officially breaking ground on these two new schools, but we are celebrating the determination, hard work, dedication and perseverance of our partners,” she said.

That partnership between CPSD and JBLM began in 2006 to evaluate the conditions and capacity of the seven elementary schools on the military installation. The study resulted in the Military Child Education Initiative, which raised awareness of failing school infrastructures on military installations across the country.

Carter Lake and Hillside ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the top 25 schools needing immediate attention based on an independent scoring of enrollment capacity and building conditions.

An additional $250 million was appropriated for Fiscal Year 2012 and CPSD has been invited to apply for federal funding for three additional elementary schools on JBLM: Beachwood, Clarkmoor and Greenwood. The latter pair will be consolidated as one school.

With the exception of Evergreen Elementary, which was built in the early 1990s, all of the schools on JBLM were constructed in the 1950s and '60s. Other than some cosmetic upgrades, the schools have never been improved or remodeled. Even the newer Evergreen needs a new roof, which would cost millions of dollars.

Due to significant military growth in the area over the past decade, nearly all of the schools are operating at or above capacity, and some schools have brought in portables to hold all of their students.