MARYSVILLE – The following is a brief glimpse of just some of the issues concerning the Marysville School District and some of the reasons it is asking the public to approve a $230 million construction bond in April.

The district offered a Community Tour Feb. 11 of three of the schools that would be replaced.

Marysville-Pilchuck High School: We saw small rooms that used to hold student lockers that have been turned into classrooms. We heard that the fire marshal is contacted constantly because of the need of different electrical cords to get computers and projectors to talk the same language. We saw siding that had fallen all over the school and not been replaced, creating openings for rain to do structural damage. Other siding is warped and coming loose. We saw that students eat lunch in small areas all around school because the cafeteria where the shooting took place last year is no longer used. Work on the new cafe is expected to start in April, east of the fieldhouse. The entrance to the new school would be off Tomahawk Turnpike. The pool, auditorium and gym would be modernized and classrooms replaced. “I hope and pray we can rebuild the school,” Superintendent Becky Berg said. As for the city joining with the school district on a community pool project, something that has been shot down by the city in the past, City Councilman Michael Stevens, who was on the tour, said, “I’m all for partnerships.”

Liberty Elementary School: We saw makeshift offices for paraeducators in some hallways because there was no other space for them. We saw items in a hallway because there is not enough storage space. We saw a small staff room for 58 workers where they have to be careful where they plug appliances in so they don’t have a short. We saw a classroom with a different-style rug because a teacher in a chair had fallen through the floor. We saw a crowded library and a playfield that on rainy days in named Liberty Lake. We saw a portable with a bucket on the floor to catch rain from a leaky roof. And we saw a steam boiler with old pipes that are inefficient.

Marysville Middle School: It was a quick visit as we were running late, but we saw some crowded classrooms, an old electric system that there are no longer parts for, and a heating system that does not work correctly, leading to hot and cold pockets throughout the school. We also saw accordian-like sliding walls separating some classrooms. A few didn’t even close all the way.