Many have opined in recent years that the art of letter writing is dead. Don’t tell that to the Hoquiam School District superintendent.

Dr. Mike Villareal recently received two game-changing letters from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Those letters equate to roughly $11.4 million in grant funding for the next phase in the development of two new schools, a 7-12 and a K-6.

The School Seismic Phase 2 Conceptual Planning Grant awards will allow the Hoquiam School district to work with architects to design and plan for the construction of these two new facilities, which will be built adjacent to the existing structures on West Emerson Avenue. Once that is complete, the Hoquiam School District will present the plans to the School Seismic Safety Committee to move on to Phase 3, which will be actual construction.

“This is really exciting. Over the next period of seven, eight, nine months, we’ll go along with some architects, and some other construction service groups, we’ll go through a process,” Villareal said. “We now have formal documents that say ‘Hoquiam, you now enter formally Phase 2,’ and there is money designated for this, and we will now start a process where we’re going to have some teams to do the research about the design phase, there’s going to be opportunities for staff, and at the right times, we’re going to have community members, there will community forums. We have the opportunity to design our own new schools.”

On Friday, Jan. 17, the Hoquiam School District issued a press release that stated, “The designs will reflect our commitment to safety and innovation, while also incorporating the insights and the aspirations of our students, staff and community members.”

In June 2021, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources published its School Seismic Safety 2019–2021 Legislative Report, the purpose of which was to “assess the seismic safety of permanent, public, K-12 school buildings in Washington State.” The report summarized the seismic risk at 561 school buildings statewide.

The assessment took earthquake and tsunami risk into consideration along with the age of and the construction materials used in the school buildings. According to documents presented during a Hoquiam School Board workshop held in December, Hoquiam High School and Emerson Elementary School are at risk from both tsunamis and landslides.

The new high school will be built in front of the existing high school campus.

“It’s going to be elevated, they’ve done the soil testing, they’re going to drill down to make sure it goes deep enough to be solid, then we’re going to build up anywhere between 12 and 20 feet, it’s going to be a high building because it’s going to meet the criteria to withstand a certain level of tsunami water coming in,” Villareal said. “Coming down the side, there’s this hillside, this treeline, where the tennis courts (are), this is where the new K-6 building would be.”

“It’s such an exciting opportunity,” said Keith Ounsted, Hoquiam School District business manager. “Originally we wanted to put (the new school) where the current campus is but they discovered with the geotechnical surveys that the hillside is a risk of a landslide, and the old school is built on landslide remains.”

The Hoquiam School District is excited about the ability to incorporate the latest and greatest in building construction and educational technology into the new facilities.

“The opportunity to have the latest technologies, not only that, the efficiencies about buildings, currently our buildings are old,” Villareal said. “The community has always been supportive in passing our levies. Part of our regular levies is maintenance and operations, we can use that money more efficiently because we’ll have a newer building. Our kids will have an opportunity to create great memories in a new building.”

Hoquiam’s Central Elementary School and Emerson Elementary School’s main buildings, Hoquiam High School’s A-Administration, B-Science, and H-Gymnasium were identified as “Very High Priority School Buildings,” while Hoquiam High School’s D-Business Education, E-Library, F-Humanities, and G-Little Theater, along with Lincoln Elementary School’s East Wing, Multipurpose Building, and West Wing were identified as “High Priority School Buildings.” Lincoln Elementary’s Administrative and Library Building was labeled as “Moderate Priority.”

Thanks to the School Seismic Grant program, the Hoquiam School District will be able to construct two new schools at no cost to the taxpayers of Hoquiam and Grays Harbor County.

“It’s my understanding, when I talk to OSPI, currently, we are the first district in the state that will have schools designated built out of this project,” Villareal said. “This is something we deserve, we should be glad to have it. As of right now, there is no taxpayer cost. This is pretty expensive, rough estimates for the cost of this project are anywhere between $250-$280 million. What a blessing for this community that we could have something like this. It’ll change who we are, we will need to rise up to the quality of this, it should change how we think, how we teach. We already represent well around the world in doing great things. This will give us the tools and a place to be a beacon out here on the Harbor. Other school districts around us are going to have similar opportunities, Aberdeen is right behind us. The Harbor is a great place and we deserve something like this.”

Hoquiam High School in particular has enjoyed a rich history, especially when it comes to athletics. The school counts among its alumni Jack Elway, the father of Pro Football Hall of Fame and two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback John Elway. Jack played football at Hoquiam, graduated in 1949, and participated in what has become a 119-year-old rivalry with Aberdeen High School. He went on to a successful career as a high school, college, and professional football coach.

The Hoquiam School District is anticipating construction on the anticipated 190,000-square-foot 7-12 building to begin in the summer of 2027, and the 110,000-square-foot K-6 building starting in the summer of 2029.