Tacoma Public Schools officials are completing preparations for the opening of the Science and Math Institute, a new high school debuting this fall on the grounds of Point Defiance Park.

The initial class of freshmen has been selected, and school administrators hope to have teachers hired by early July, said Jon Ketler, who will be co-director of SAMI.

Students who attend SAMI will spend much of their time doing on-site research and exploring parts of the park.

They’ll attend formal classes in about 10 portable units located near the park entrance.

District administrators expect to have the portables, which are being reused from McIlvaigh Middle School, in place by mid-August.

Tacoma’s Metropolitan Park District gave the school district the go-ahead to complete a lease agreement for the high school site last week.

A total of 300 students applied for admission to SAMI, which will open with a ninth-grade class of 130 students.

Staff from the School of the Arts, the arts-based high school the district launched in downtown Tacoma eight years ago, helped interview prospective students in April and May.

Ultimately, school officials decided to select SAMI’s students by lottery, choosing 10 applicants at random from each middle school in the district and then filling the remaining 20 slots randomly from the remaining applicants, Ketler said.

“The intent is to reflect the makeup of the school district as much as possible,” Ketler said.

SAMI’s other co-director will be Michael Knuckles, a former assistant principal at McIlvaigh Middle School.

The school will hire the equivalent of 7.5 full-time teachers to lead classes during its first year. Interviews for those positions are happening now, and school administrators hope to fill the positions in the next two weeks or so, Ketler said. SAMI will hire some new teachers as it adds students during the next three years.

The school is budgeted to cost $1 million, though not all of that is going toward immediate start-up expenses, said Tacoma schools Superintendent Art Jarvis.

“The million-dollar figure is one that includes all the contingencies and future costs,” Jarvis said Tuesday. “It’s far beyond what we’re spending to just move the portables and open the school.”

Jarvis said the money comes from small capital projects funds, which couldn’t be used to offset the $21.5 million budget shortfall the district faces as it develops its 2009-10 operating budget.

Even in a year when the district is struggling financially, Jarvis said it’s important to move forward with SAMI.

“We can’t remain having huge numbers of kids failing in science and math,” Jarvis said last week. “Whatever we need to do, we’ll do. This provides a very sharp statement that science and math has to go to a better place.”

In selecting SAMI’s instructors, the district is looking for teachers who can teach more than one subject, which will give the small school a wider range of course offerings, Jarvis said.

Jarvis said he doesn’t think SAMI will lure strong science and math teachers away from other Tacoma high schools or hurt their ability to retain their brightest students, he said.

“It’s not something where you have this elite program or facility,” Jarvis said. “They’ll be slogging out in the turf of the park. It’s intended for a full spectrum of kids.”

Ketler, who also is co-director of SOTA, said the arts-based school has served as a model for SAMI, though the new high school’s focus is on science and math.

He said he’s excited that a new set of students will get the chance to explore and learn from their surroundings.

“It will open up opportunities for students to interface with the community and the resources it has,” Ketler said. “They’ll have a whole different perspective of the place they live.”

Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058

melissa.santos@thenewstribune.com