New Peninsula magnet school will be called Pioneer Elementary
Gig Harbor’s newest school will be called “Pioneer Elementary,” the Peninsula School Board has decided, and its emphasis will be on science, math and the arts.
The school, known up to now only as “School Number 10” will be opened in 2020 in the former Boys & Girls Club at 8502 Skansie Avenue.
The new name represents both the area’s history and its future, said board president Deborah Krishnadasan.
“Pioneer stands out to me strongly,” she said. “It represents the history in terms of how we have gotten to who we are here in Peninsula School District, but also the future.”
Pioneer will be a magnet school, open to all elementary students. The district hopes this will help ease overcrowding in the nine other elementary schools.
The five board members and the new school’s principal, Stephanie Strader, debated the merits of several possible names during the June 26 meeting, but quickly narrowed it down to three: Explorer, Mariner and Pioneer.
Krishnadasan said Pioneer fits, because the staff and students will all be pioneers in the Fall of 2020.
Board members David Olson and Lorrie Glover agreed, saying the word “pioneer” both flows with the word “elementary” and is a strong representation of what the new school is attempting to accomplish.
Board member Leslie Harbaugh cast the lone vote against the name, saying she understands the inclination towards “Pioneer,” but it feels old-fashioned to her.
The board also chose a catchy acronym, “STEAM,” to capsulize the new school’s primary emphasis on science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
Strader, the new principal, said although this theme seems broad, the possibilities of focusing on STEAM opens up many hands-on opportunities for the children to learn and grow in these core areas.
“I have a great vision for the STEM part — that’s how my brain works — but the arts intrigue me,” Strader said.
Krishnadasan said the science-heavy theme will be the best way to pull the expected 550 or more children to the new school.
“It is now on the shoulders of the district and you,” she told Strader, “to take this out to our community so they can completely understand what STEAM means and why they would disrupt their family from their home school to bring them over to the magnet school,” Krishnadasan said. “We hope to truly fulfill what we set out to do and bring kids from all across the district to alleviate overcrowding.”
While the official opening will be in 2020, the district will use eight classrooms at the Boys and Girls Club in the fall of this year to help ease overcrowding at elementary schools. Four classrooms will hold Discovery students, two classrooms will hold Purdy preschoolers and two classrooms will hold Harbor Heights preschoolers.
The school district purchased the Boys and Girls Club for $12.8 million after passing a $198 million bond to pay for two new elementary schools and remodel two existing ones.
There are three other Pioneer Elementary Schools in the South Sound area — one each in Shelton, Auburn and Olympia — and the similarly named Pioneer Valley Elementary School in Puyallup.
During the June 26 meeting, the Peninsula board also extended the contract of Dr. Art Jarvis, the acting superintendent, for another year. He has been interim superintendent since July of 2018.
This story was originally published July 1, 2019 at 11:59 AM.