The Highline School District is considering placing a $200 million bond on the February ballot to fund replacement of Highline High School in Burien and Des Moines Elementary School.

The bond would also finance $9 million in technology improvements, $20 million in repairs such as roofs and heating/air conditioning systems and $13 million to fix up the Olympic site to house Highline High students while their school is being replaced.

The district is also considering placing a levy measure on the February ballot. Board members also must decide the amount of the levy and what it would fund.

The school board will hold a work-study session on Oct. 11 to hear results of bond/levy polling by a citizen's group. Board members are expected to act on the bond proposal at their Oct. 13 meeting. Both public meetings begin at 6 p.m. at district headquarters, 15675 Ambaum Blvd. S.W.

Assistant Superintendent Geri Fain said Highline High was partially remodeled in 1989 with the auditorium removed and the Highline Performing Arts Center, next to the school, built.

The district's latest building survey determined that the school is in critical need of millions of dollars in mechanical and roof repairs, according to Fain.

Having been originally built in 1924, the school does not meet current classroom needs, she added.

Highline High has been declared a historical landmark so its brick front façade cannot be replaced.

But Fain recommended that behind the façade a new 215,000 square foot building be constructed, capable of housing 1,500 students. The school would also receive a new baseball field and four new tennis courts.

If the board places the bond measure on the February ballot and voters approve it, the district plans two years of design work followed by two years of construction. During construction, Highline students would attend school at the Olympic site, located at 615 S. 200th St. in Des Moines. Aviation High is currently at the site but there are plans to build a new Aviation building on East Marginal Way, across from Tukwila's Museum of Flight.

According to the district's schedule, Highline High students would move into their new school in Sept. 2015.

Highline High qualifies for sound insulation funds from the Port of Seattle and the Federal Aviation Administration because of its proximity to Sea-Tac International Airport. District officials also expect to receive state matching construction funds.

Des Moines Elementary, built a year after Highline High in 1925, would not be rebuilt at its current site near downtown Des Moines.

Fain said the site at 22001 9th Ave. S. is too small for the 600-student campuses that the district has been constructing for elementaries.

The new elementary would move south to the Zenith site at South 240 Street and 16th Place South, near Highline Community College.

The district would construct a 66,500 square-foot building and new playfields along with traffic and street improvements.

Des Moines Elementary also qualifies for noise insulation funds from Sea-Tac and the FAA.

Design work would start in March and students would occupy their new school in Feb. 2014.

Because the new school will not be built at the current location, students would not have to move to a transition school during construction.

The proposed February bond would also fund a multipurpose field at Evergreen that would combine a baseball and football field. Science portables would also be installed at the Evergreen and Tyee campuses.

With McMicken Heights Elementary construction finishing up, the district has completed the 14 new schools covered under previous bond measures.

District planners have made long-range plans to replace the other schools. A proposed 2015 or 2016 bond would fund rebuilding at the Evergreen and Tyee High sites while a possible 2020 or 2021 bond would finance new buildings at Pacific, Chinook, Sylvester and Cascade middle schools.

Besides hearing Fain's proposal for a February bond measure, board members at their Sept. 29 meeting approved an equity policy.

The policy states the district's primary responsibility is to prepare all students for college, career and citizenship.

The policy also says the board recognizes that there are measurable inequities in the district based on race, language abilities, Special Education status, socioeconomic status, country of origin, and gender.

Superintendent John Welch is directed to prepare a 3 to 5-year action plan to combat inequity.