Earlier this year, the School District of Washburn hired an outside firm to assess the condition of our Middle / High School building. The conditions report concluded that the Washburn Middle and High School building was built in 1942 and subsequently added to four times; with the newest construction being more than 50 years old. Maintenance staff do all they can to keep our buildings in the best condition possible, but the costs of updating our schools are too large to be covered in our annual maintenance budget.

Click here to view the Facility Condition + Education Adequacy Assessment Proposal.

A long-range planning committee (made up of community members, local business owners, school staff and parents) studied potential options to address these challenges. Major issues highlighted in that study include:

·         Improved building safety and security for students and staff.

·         Increased accessibility and address ADA (Americans with Disability) issues.

·         Site drainage issues cause infiltration and drainage into our school building.

·         With annual heavy snow accumulation, the roof must be reinforced to adequately handle the recent snow loads.

·         Many of the plumbing, air circulation, and electrical systems are original to the building, are inefficient, and need to be updated.

·         The windows and doors are inefficient and need to be replaced.

·         Exterior building tuckpointing is needed.

·         Classrooms are outdated and improperly sized for today’s teaching.

Before we move any further with these plans, we need to understand the priorities of our taxpayers. Please take the survey that will be arriving via postcard in mailboxes soon. Thank you!