New, larger Baker welcomes 600

Tacoma’s new Baker Middle School gives everyone on campus room to breathe. School officials are hoping it also inspires students and teachers to soar academically.

The 119,000-square-foot building – about 20 percent larger than the old structure built in 1955 – welcomed more than 600 students last week. They spent the last 11/2 years watching it rise from the ground.

Steve Carlsen, a former commercial fisherman who’s making teaching his second career, said he’s had time to think about what the new building means.

“I thought what a wonderful gift this is for our community – and what a wonderful place it is to teach professionally,” he said.

And while the most noticeable new beginning at the Fern Hill-area school is its roomy, state-of-the-art physical space, there’s also a teacher initiative aimed at building a foundation of higher test scores.

Baker has twice made a list of the state’s lowest-achieving schools. Unlike three other underperforming Tacoma middle schools where the district is spending millions in federal grant money on school reform, Baker was left to its own efforts.

This year, the entire Baker faculty is working toward full or partial National Board Certification, a mark of excellence recognized by educators around the country. Teachers will observe each other’s lessons and have them video-recorded so they can observe themselves teaching.

All but a handful of the school’s 42 teachers agreed that pursuing national certification could be a path to improvement, said Principal Steve Holmes. One dissenting teacher left the school, and the rest have joined the effort.

“We’re in a position where we can’t argue with doing something big or different,” he said.

Holmes said he understands that a high poverty rate can be linked to his school’s struggles. But he doesn’t want that to become Baker’s excuse for doing poorly.

Holmes said he believes Baker is the only school in Washington state striving for a 100 percent national-board-certified faculty.

“It’s intense,” said science teacher Melanie Wyckoff, who has been at Baker for 10 years and who earned national board certification in 2009. “You’re looking at what you’re doing and asking, ‘Am I effective? How do I know? If not, what can I do to change?’”

MOVE IN PROGRESS

Meanwhile, teachers are still unpacking from the big move.

Carlsen, a science and math teacher, transported his classroom’s snakes and giant cockroaches himself. Other artifacts, including his set of elk horns, were still waiting to be relocated last week.

The hallmark of the new structure, designed by Tacoma architects BLRB and built by lead construction firm Berschauer-Phillips of Tumwater, is its open design. Natural light pours into hallways and classrooms, thanks to a liberal use of skylights and windows. Bridges and balconies connect learning spaces.

Typical comments:

 • “It’s gorgeous – so open,” said school sign language interpreter Lura Burk. “I love all the windows. That’s the best part of it all.”

 • “Before, when we walked the hallways, it was so cramped we couldn’t even move,” said eighth-grader Karla Martinez, the school’s student body president.

 • “In our old school, the ceiling was super low. This is more open,” said Kyle Baker, student body vice president. (Kyle is no relation to school namesake John S. Baker, the prominent Tacoma businessman.)

The cost of the entire project – including designing, building and equipping the new school – is about $49 million. The price tag is a few million dollars less than anticipated because the project benefited from favorable bids and fewer-than-budgeted changes during construction, said Pete Wall, school district director of planning and construction.

The cost also assumes no unforeseen expenses when athletic fields are completed during the second phase of the project that begins this spring.

LARGER CAMPUS

Wall said about $3 million comes from a bond approved by Tacoma voters in 2001, $9.5 million is from state funding, and the balance is from a $140 million capital levy approved by voters in 2010.

The original Baker was built on 5 acres, while the new school sits on 13. The increase was made possible by a land swap between Tacoma Public Schools and Metro Parks. The school district was able to expand onto what had previously been Harmon Park – over the objections of neighbors.

In exchange, Metro Parks acquired land from the school district for a new community center in South Tacoma.

The old Baker building will soon be history when it’s torn down to make way for new school athletic fields.

But tradition carries on in the form of the Baker mascot. A student-painted Bulldog logo decorates a wall outside the new gym. And in the school’s main office, a freshly painted Bulldog statue brought over from the old building stands sentinel at the front desk.

Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635
debbie.cafazzo@thenewstribune.com

SOME FEATURES AT BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL

Blue strobe lights throughout the building help deaf and hard-of-hearing students know when an important announcement has been made; they can then communicate with their instructors to get the news.

Forty-four teaching spaces, with 280 square feet of shared space between pairs of classrooms, allow for expanded classroom space, tutoring or small-group activities.

Classrooms are equipped with digital projectors, interactive Smart Boards, DVD players and audio systems that teachers can use to amplify their voices. Wireless access points are located throughout the building.

A video broadcast room comes with a green screen and mobile broadcast cart so students can broadcast from anywhere in the building.

Trees felled to build the school were milled into countertops in the building.

SEE THE NEW BAKER

What: Open house.
When: 6 p.m. Jan. 27.
Where: Baker Middle School, 8001 S. J St., Tacoma.
More: Program includes tours, a historical time capsule presentation, performance by the Tacoma Youth Symphony, Mount Tahoma High School JROTC and appetizers provided by Bates Technical College culinary program.