SILVERDALE — The Central Kitsap School District is “on track” when it comes to planning their new combined high school and middle school, according to Doug Newell, executive director of business and operations.

The new school project comes after voters approved a $220 million bond in February. Out of that bond, $117.1 million will go towards replacing Central Kitsap High School with a new 218,524-square-foot facility; and $60.8 million will replace Central Kitsap Middle School with a new 106,694-square-foot facility. Those buildings will be combined and connected on the same property as the current schools, located at 3700 NW Anderson Hill Road, Silverdale.

Because the buildings are more than 30 years old, they’re eligible for $40 million from the State of Washington’s School Construction Assistance Program. Thus, local taxpayers would be responsible for the remaining $220 million.

“A newly built Central Kitsap High School will honor and build on the tradition of the existing high school,” the Central Kitsap School District website states. “The bond approved on Feb. 9, 2016, will fund a three-story building in the center of the campus the high school currently shares with Central Kitsap Middle School.”

The plan for the new school includes modernizing classrooms and labs; adding permanent classroom space to get students out of portable classrooms; add parking; and ease traffic jams into and out of the school. The original high school was built in 1942; since then, several additions were built and a new facade was added. Upgrading it to current standards, the website states, would ultimately cost nearly $20 million more than building a brand new school.

The new school is being designed by Integrus Architecture, from Seattle. According to Newell, the majority of their work is involved in school design for kindergarten through 12th grade, especially in high schools and middle schools.

“We’re pretty excited about how they approach school design,” Newell said.

Currently, Newell said, Integrus and the district “is working through a series of meetings that occurred in the May-June timeline,” to incorporate the needs of the district into the design, since “not every high school does the same thing.”

“It’s a workshop format,” Newell said. “They came over here and sat down with our team, both at the high school and middle school, looking at all kinds of things.”

For example, they discussed where the classrooms need to be in relation to the parking lot, gym, auditorium, etc., and how all of those elements will fit on the property.

“We’re right now in that second phase, which is take all that information gathered from the staff and discussion with some of the community members … and put it on a site plan,” Newell said.

He added that they plan to be finished with site plan by early September, after which they’ll move into looking at the internal organization of the buildings, including classrooms and lockers and so forth.

“The top priorities of the design are to create a school on a campus that allows us to educate our kids both today and for the next 50 years,” Newell said. “It’s to provide that foundation, quality teaching/learning environment, to train, educate, instruct, prepare the students here in Central Kitsap for not only employment in Kitsap County, but in the world.”

Newell added that one priority is figuring out a “flexible” plan that accommodate what they teach now with what they may teach in 50 years, since it “might be different.”

“It’s really about making sure that the structure that we are investing in can support today, tomorrow and well into the future.”

Another challenging aspect is working athletic fields into the design, Newell said.

Currently, most sports Central Kitsap High School students compete in are practiced and competed at Olympic High School, the Kitsap County Fairgrounds or other places, because their fields are “in pretty poor shape,” Newell said.

“Ideally, all of our after-school activities, you shouldn’t have to get on a bus,” Newell said. “Whether it be performing arts or athletics, etc.”

However, Newell said the property the district owns is “heavily sloped,” presenting a challenge in figuring out how to “put all the pieces together.”

“I think at the end of the day, the hardest challenge … is making sure that we create the most value for the investment we’re making for the community,” Newell said.

To learn more about the new school project, visit www.ckschools.org.