Highline Public Schools will be holding a special grand opening celebration for the recently-rebuilt Marvista Elementary School on Thursday, Sept. 24th, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

There will be a short program beginning at 5:45pm, with tours and dinner following; all are invited.

Marvista welcomed its 550 students to their new building on the first day of school on Wednesday, Sept. 9th. The main components of the building – classrooms, lunchroom, and common areas – were completed on time and on budget. Finishing touches, such as landscaping and playfields, will be completed in the next few weeks.

“Our students and staff are so excited about the new building,” said Principal Rebekah Kim. “It provides space for great learning opportunities and for our community to gather – with the school as the centerpiece.”

Marvista, located in Normandy Park, is the twelfth new school to be completed in Highline since 2004. The construction projects have been financed by bonds approved by voters in 2002 and 2006. Prior to 2002, no school construction bond had been approved since 1986. During that 16-year period, the district was unable to replace aging buildings.

“We had a long list of old and outdated schools that needed to be replaced,” said Superintendent John Welch. “We are grateful that the community saw that need and approved the funding to allow us to build schools that are safer and provide the current technology our students need to compete in today’s world.”

Marvista is located at 19800 Marine View Drive SW in Normandy Park.

According to a press release, the Normandy Park Police Department will be taking over Marvista Elementary School for some serious police training between Wed., July 1st and Fri., July 3rd, from 9am to 9pm.

The school grounds will be off limits to all non-police personnel, and the training will be scenario-based for SWAT and Patrol. For the safety of its citizens, Normandy Park Police along with Kassel Construction are temporarily closing the school grounds.

This training is critical for the maintenance of basic and advanced skills. The Coalition of Small Police Agencies (CSPA) has a Special Operations Team (SOT). The team is staffed by members of the coalition.

The City of Normandy Park provides three officers to the SOT. The SOT has approximately 20 team members. The SOT assists CSPA agencies and other outside agencies needing assistance with search warrant service or special event enforcement. During the SOT training on July 1st, the team will be training in Simunitions, Explosive Breaching, Noise Flash Diversionary Devices, CS Gas, Pepperball and smoke familiarization. Team members will also be breaking windows and forcibly opening exterior and interior doors. Residents can expect to hear loud noises similar to that of large fireworks. Residents may also see a number of outside agency police vehicles, to include an armored transport vehicle and possibly a mobile command center. The training will begin at 11:00 A.M. and conclude at 7:00 P.M.

On July 2nd and July 3rd, members of the Normandy Park Police Department and several CSPA agencies will be conducting Active Shooter training inside the soon to be demolished Marvista Elementary. This training will begin at 9:00 A.M. and conclude at 6:00 P.M. This training will utilize Simunitions only.
Simunition rounds are similar to paintballs, but they are fired from realistic type weapons. Safety officers, not participating in the training will be ensuring only simunition rounds are used in the training.

As a result of cooperation from Highline School District and Kassel Construction, the Normandy Park Police, CSPA and the SOT have been given the outstanding opportunity to train in a very realistic environment.

Marvista Elementary is located at 19800 Marine View Drive SW in Normandy Park.

If you have concerns that what you are seeing is not associated with the SOT training, please feel free to call the Normandy Park Police Department at (206) 248-7600.