Bond Program Updates

Armin Jahr Elementary and  View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy school construction

We’re pleased to share continued progress on the bond program as we move from planning and validation into more tangible steps toward design.

Our team recently wrapped up the "validation" phase for the Armin Jahr Elementary School (AJ) and View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy (VR) replacements, confirming that our plans, budgets, and timelines are on solid footing. With the validation phase complete, we’re now kicking off the schematic design, where the design team starts translating our collective ideas and feedback into initial concepts for the new school buildings. At our most recent meeting with the Advisory Committee, the team worked through exercises to explore possible layouts and connections between learning spaces, and we’ve been engaging families and staff directly at events hosted by the schools to gather even more valuable input.

Keeping our families and community informed is a priority!

We have had our first staff and family bond program update meetings at both AJ and VR where we provided an overview on the projects, listened to concerns, and answered questions. These conversations with staff and families have given us a deeper understanding of what’s most important to those directly impacted by these projects. We’re taking this feedback to heart as we prepare for the next steps in the design process.

Armin Jahr Transition Advisory Working Group

We are establishing an Armin Jahr Transition Advisory Working Group to help guide us through the process of establishing an interim school community while Armin Jahr gets replaced. We’re encouraging AJ staff and families to participate. If you are interested, please fill out an Application Form.

Save the date:  Our first bond program community open house is January 27

Next month, we’ll extend these opportunities to the entire community: on January 27, we’re hosting a community open house for all of Bremerton to learn more about the bond program’s progress and share their thoughts as we shape the future of our schools. Stay tuned for more details!

Other bond projects

Beyond these elementary school replacements, other bond projects are also moving forward. Our HVAC project team is finalizing their recommended approach for adding cooling to our schools, and we’ll be sharing those plans with the Board in January. We’re also wrapping up the study and survey update, a key step in securing state funds to support our construction efforts. In addition, we’ve begun the selection process for a design-build team to lead the consolidated facilities replacement project, which will give us the flexibility to work with the best professionals to maximize the value of our bond investment.

As always, we appreciate your continued interest, feedback, and support. Stay tuned, and we look forward to seeing you at the open house next month!

View the presentation.

The Bond Program is moving forward quickly, and we’re excited to share updates on our major projects:

For the Armin Jahr and View Ridge replacement projects, we’re wrapping up the validation phase, where our design-build team has been working hard to confirm the target program, budget, and schedule for each school. This ensures we’re moving forward with feasible goals and maximizing the value of every dollar allocated. We plan to present these findings to the School Board at the December 12th meeting.

Alongside this, the education specifications are nearly complete. These will define the needs of each building, from how spaces function to their design, to guide the next stages of development. While we are working through some unique site challenges, our team will be collaborating closely with the city and project partners to plan ahead and address these effectively.

On the HVAC upgrades, we’re pleased to announce McKinstry as our contractor team. They’ll be working alongside our design team to develop strategies for upgrading existing systems and adding cooling capacity to our schools. With a fast-paced schedule, we’re balancing careful system selection and budget management while exploring energy incentives to make the most of our resources.

For the Consolidated Facilities building, we’ll be presenting our application to the state's Project Review Committee on December 5th to pursue the design-build contracting model. If approved, we’ll begin the selection process and aim to have a team onboard by the end of February. The project timeline will be refined as we collaborate with the selected team to support the overall Bond Program.

We’re also looking ahead to Renaissance High School. Starting early next year, we’ll begin defining the future vision for this school, with plans to leverage anticipated state reimbursement funds from the elementary projects to bring this vision to life.

Upcoming Opportunities for Families and the Community

We’ll be attending upcoming events for families at Armin Jahr Elementary and View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy before the winter break to share updates and answer questions about these exciting projects. Broader community meetings are being planned for January, so stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved and learn more about the progress we’re making!

Exciting progress is happening in the Bond Program as we work toward the replacement of Armin Jahr Elementary and View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy. Our project team is developing the education specifications, which detail how each space in the new schools should function and look. This information will guide the design and support the upcoming schematic design phase. We’re also working with the City of Bemerton to coordinate our permitting plans and reviewing site reports to ensure the new buildings are designed with environmental and site conditions in mind.

Our Replacement Elementary Advisory Committee (photo, below), which includes community representatives, is actively involved and providing valuable feedback to the project team. We look forward to providing more engagement opportunities soon, so please stay tuned for ways to learn more and lend your voice to the project!

Meanwhile, we’re also moving forward with the district-wide HVAC upgrades. Our design team has been reviewing each school, and we’ll soon recommend a contractor to help address aging systems and bring cooling to our classrooms. We’re also taking steps for the replacement of the Consolidated Facilities building, and with state approval in December, we’ll begin assembling the next project team.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support as we work towards building better facilities for our community!

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve completed the selection process for our design-build team to lead the replacements of Armin Jahr Elementary School and View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy. It was a close call with many outstanding teams in the running, but we’re excited to present our recommendation to the Board at their regularly scheduled meeting this Thursday. We can’t wait to get started with our chosen team and move forward with these important projects!

In the meantime, early site evaluations are already underway. Our Geotechnical Engineers have been testing the soil, and land surveys are helping us fully understand the site conditions. These steps are crucial as we prepare to design the new schools.

Our Replacement Elementary Advisory Committee, made up of teachers, parents, and community members, kicks off on October 7th. This group will play a key role in advising the progress of both elementary school projects, ensuring the community stays involved every step of the way. Stay tuned for more engagement opportunities and ways you can help support these projects!

We’re also finalizing the selection of the design team for our District-Wide HVAC upgrades and working to bring on a contractor team to ensure our schools get the cooling they need. And soon, we’ll begin assembling the team for the replacement of the Consolidated Facilities building. Thanks for your continued support, Bremerton!

Photo: Survey work is beginning at Armin Jahr Elementary.

We are making progress on our elementary school replacement projects!

We were thrilled by the incredible turnout at our recent pre-proposal walkthrough to select the design-build team for our two elementary school replacements! With 54 people attending this non-mandatory meeting, it's clear how important these projects are to our community and region.

Behind the scenes, our team is hard at work fine-tuning the needs for these new schools. This input will help shape the vision and guide the selected design-build team. We're halfway through the selection process and looking forward to meeting with the top four teams in the coming weeks.

Please check back for more updates as we move closer to creating these new learning spaces! Thank you again, Bremerton voters, for your support of our February 2024 Bond!

We're forming a Replacement Elementary Advisory Committee to help shape the future of our new schools. We’re looking for members of the community to join us to provide input on the design and construction of Armin Jahr and View Ridge and ensure they reflect our community's values. No special expertise needed - just your passion and commitment! Apply by August 30th. 

• Download the flyer

Applications are now closed. 

We’re excited to share that the 2024 Bond Program is off to a strong start! The major focus has been on the replacement of Armin Jahr and View Ridge Elementary Schools, which will be built together by the same Design-Build project team. This approach allows for more collaboration and innovative solutions. We’ve put a lot of effort into preparing for the selection of this team and organizing the early stages of the project. The selection process for this team is underway and is expected to take about two months, with design kicking off in October.

In the meantime, we’re continuing to prepare for important pre-design activities, such as land surveys, environmental reviews, and traffic studies, to ensure everything is ready to go. We’re also working closely with our Facilities and Teaching for Learning teams to establish design standards and assess the needs of both schools. Additionally, we’ve started planning for District-wide HVAC upgrades and are finalizing details for the other projects in the program.

After a competitive selection process, the School Board approved the appointment of our new project management team (OAC) at their June 6 board meeting.

The school district intends to hold an informational session at the end of June for architects, engineers, and contractors, to share more about the bond program.