School construction lends itself to local muckraking

They say the best way to teach history is using the hands-on approach.

But you can’t blame La Conner students if they were to beg off some of the latest finds unearthed at the new middle school construction site.

Topping the list are three not-so-gently used septic tanks, dislodged when pilings were driven where the demolished former elementary school, dating to the 1930s, once stood.

La Conner School Board member Rick Thompson, the panel’s senior member and de facto historian, indicated the uncharted relics are most likely from the Fishtown Era or earlier.

“The sewer plant was built in 1974,” he reminded an audience gathered for the Board’s November public session, “so you know those tanks had been in the ground for quite awhile.”

Initially, some thought work crews had stumbled onto something bigger, perhaps remnants of the Cold War.

“We had someone come into the office,” La Conner Superintendent of Schools Dr. Tim Bruce noted, “and say they didn’t know that we’d ever had bomb shelters on campus.”

While such wasn’t the case, the unexpected discovery had potential to blow up the new school’s construction schedule.

It didn’t, though, according to project spokesman Bryan Young.

“They got off to a bit of a rough start,” Young acknowledged, “but the (construction) superintendent isn’t one to stop everything. He just shifts his energies elsewhere.”

As was the case when the piling work was briefly delayed.

“He said watching those pilings go in was like watching paint dry,” Young said, “but now they’re really mobilizing. They’re making good progress. All in all, they’re coming along quite well. There has been significant progress made.”

And, even with time spent extracting the old tanks, Young said much of that progress has involved installation of new underground infrastructure.

Despite the holidays and anticipated wet weather, Young forecast a busy 10 days to two weeks ahead at the site.

Much of Young’s report was highly technical, though he took pains to describe in laymen’s terms the overall construction game plan, explaining that parts of the new structure are being built “inside-out” to allow easier access by heavy equipment.