New high school could be a ‘crown jewel’ for Rainier Beach

No matter how Rainier Beach High School will be redesigned, reconstructed and re-imagined, the school community has one deal-breaking request: “Build the Beach for us, by us.”

Neighborhood families and community members, as well as the high school’s students, staff and alumni, have demanded and occupied seats at the table — as advisers for the project design team and Student and Community Workforce Agreement participants — since voters approved capital levy funding for a new Rainier Beach High School building in 2019 and 2022. The “for us, by us” tagline is now used for a campaign to actively recruit and train construction workers on the high school project site.

“This community is more involved than other projects we’ve worked on and has definitely shifted the way we think about things,” said Patrick McGlothlin, Lydig Construction project manager. 

With a $206.5 million construction budget, and an estimated total cost of $276.3 million, according to Seattle Public Schools, the high school project is bringing new jobs, new activity and a new look to the neighborhood with the potential to have positive impacts on thousands of lives for decades to come.

The Seattle School Board approved Lydig as the project’s general contractor, in part, for the company’s commitment to training and hiring local workers to promote racial and gender diversity. Since construction began in summer 2022, McGlothlin said he meets at least weekly with the high school’s leadership team to discuss the project’s progress and who from the community might be a good fit for apprenticeships at the site. 

McGlothlin said that while the best practices for a workforce agreement have been outlined for years, “this project is pushing the needle at the right time.”.

A ‘crown jewel’ for Rainier Beach

The two-story brick building known as Rainier Beach Junior-Senior High School, located by the intersection of South Henderson Street and Seward Park Avenue South, opened on Sept. 7, 1960, to more than 1,200 seventh to 12th grade students and staff. Before the end of that decade, the school became overcrowded with more than 2,000 kids, forcing the district to send the middle grade students to a separate building. 

Rainier Beach High School enrolled 819 students in grades nine to 12 for the current school year, according to district data. Most students will stay on site as workers demolish the existing 188,000-square-foot building and erect the new high school in phases. The school community was adamant that students could stay in place over the construction period, which is expected to be completed by fall 2026. Seattle Public Schools also doesn’t have a site big enough to relocate the array of different programs offered at Rainier Beach, said Richard Best, the district’s director of capital projects and planning. 

The new building and modernized grounds will reshape and redefine the way the campus looks now. The project will double the high school in height and span some 233,700 square feet. The dark, heavy brick facade will be replaced with masonry of a lighter shade and a structural shading feature known as “brise soleil.” This uses exterior architectural slats that help ease glare and overheating from direct sunlight.

The inside of the school will offer more open classroom and meeting spaces, incorporate large windows and natural light, and have a commons for gathering and eating. The centrally situated academic areas will be bookended by a gymnasium and a performing arts center. 

Best and Mike Skutack, a senior district project manager, said the design team intentionally configured the building to be more accessible for students with disabilities and special needs. This includes more ramps, elevators and spaces for counseling and social services.

Outside, the current athletic fields will be oriented to the west of the campus and refinished with artificial turf and track materials. A new grandstand will extend from the building itself. 

But for now, the home of the new high school building looks like an archaeological dig site, crawling with excavators, geothermal drilling rigs and a massive white tent. 

Standing at 60 feet high, 75 feet wide and 260 feet long, the hard-to-miss structure is sheltering a massive waterproof membrane that can help protect the building’s concrete foundation, plumbing and electrical infrastructure. With its proximity to Lake Washington, the site is prone to moisture. Project managers hope the new Rainier Beach High School will qualify for LEED Platinum status, the nation’s top level of certification for environmental sound and energy-efficient design.

Seattle School Board President Brandon Hersey, a Rainier Beach resident, said he couldn’t be prouder of the collaboration and conscious decisions going into the project. 

“Our kids deserve a high school that matches their brilliance and beauty, not only in the cultural sense, but also in the physical sense,” he said.

Hersey noted how, in 2008, the district proposed closing Rainier Beach High School to the budget, despite the school making significant gains in enrollment and academic achievement. Students, parents and some teachers petitioned and protested to preserve its integrity and protect its legacy. To see this project in motion, he said, offers the community a beacon of hope. 

“Here we are today with ground broken on a project that is honestly going to make [Rainier Beach] one of the crown jewels of Seattle Public Schools,” Hersey said. 

Of sweat and equity

While brick and mortar provides a solid foundation for the school, the construction work itself provides new opportunities for the Rainier Beach community. 

The Student and Community Workforce Agreement has been implemented with other construction projects in the district, but McGlothlin says that Rainier Beach advocates have kept on the heels of its contractors to uphold it. The agreement prioritizes hiring qualified individuals who are underrepresented in the construction field, including women, people of color, apprentices and people from “economically distressed” ZIP codes. McGlothlin said Lydig is not only hiring people through the SCWA but providing additional training, mentorship and workforce support. 

Hersey said that the visibility of construction jobs in action on campus shows students and their families the viable workforce opportunities available in their own backyard. 

“For a lot of folks, college is not a reality that makes sense. The military is not a reality that makes sense. A lot of high-paying union jobs might fit better for our high school students who are looking at the rising cost of living and the rising cost of college,” he said. 

As the project continues and the need for plumbers, carpenters and electricians grows there, Lydig and district leaders hope to increase the percentage of underrepresented workers on site. Recruitment will be focused on Rainier Beach area residents, Seattle Public Schools families and alumni to help uphold that “for us, by us” promise.

“We’re not only making students aware of the construction trades as a viable career pathway but also making mom and dad aware, and then trying to make connections for them, too,” said Best.