Foothills Middle School is one of the newest schools in the Wenatchee School District system. It opened its doors on August 30, 1993. The Wenatchee School District put a lot of time and effort into planning the new school and program beginning in late 1990. Some highlights of the history of the planning for the new school include the following important dates:

•The School Board (members included Bart Clennon, President; Jim Danielson, Vice-President, Barbara Brinton, Karen Norlin, and Jeff Smith) appointed Northwest Architectural Associates of Spokane, WA as the designer of the building in September of 1990. Lead architects involved in the planning of FMS were Fred King and Michael O'Malley. They worked closely with the new planning team throughout the process. Architectural planning went on from September 1990 through February of 1992.

•The land where Foothills Middle School was developed is land that the School Board had purchased many years before. Much of the site had been an agricultural "lab" site for Wenatchee High School for many years. The land is cooperatively owned by the City of Wenatchee (10 acres designed as a "park") and the Wenatchee School District (15 acres where the school sits and some of the athletic fields. One major occurrence in the building of the Foothills facility was the discovery of contaminated soil where orchards had been for many years. This discovery caused a delay in construction and the "shaving off" and replacement of 6 inches of topsoil over the entire 25 acres of the site. This was a major cost factor that added to the construction costs and the time to develop the site.

•Planning Principal Gary Callison was appointed on October of 1990 to facilitate the development of the Educational Specifications for the new school, to select the Planning Team and to begin planning the program and facility. Many Wenatchee citizens and teachers were involved in the initial development of the Educational Specifications. This process began in October of 1990 and was concluded with the Educational Specifications document in March of 1991. Members of the Educational Specifications Committee included the following staff and community people: Sharon Paine, Jane Lloyd, Jon DeJong, John Busch, Mark Goveia, Shirley Schreiber, Lou Largent, Nancy Aparico, Bob Butcher, Gene Huber, Sharon Doop, Jon Wright, Mike Franza, Joann Rolen, Virgil Todd, Judy Walrath, Cathie Wengreen, Elm Jensen, Bill Brewer, John Beard, Diane Senn, Norm Armstrong, Rob Sauer, Kris Krilly, Sue Vertrees, Lynn Love, Betty Hartgrave, Hattie Vickery, and Sheila Clennon. The Education Specifications Process is one where the task force is given the state requirements for the new building and then works to implement this standard. The task force was given the 75,000 square foot standard and worked to put each program and space into this "footprint". The give-and-take process, discussions, and negotiating, used to meet the needs of all groups was a challenge that took many months. The end product was a "teacher-designed" facility which the staff and community are proud of. The facility ended up being approximately 84,000 square feet since the district decided to make the Foothills kitchen a "production kitchen" for many of the other Wenatchee School District schools. This portion of the design phase occurred between October 1990 though March of 1991.

Many school visits took place by various members of the Educational Specifications Committee and all members of the planning team. Visit's included Heatherwood Middle School in Everett; Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary in Lake Washington; Horizon Middle School in West Valley, Spokane; Vale Elementary in Cashmere; Chelan Middle School/High School in Chelan; and Ephrata High School in Ephrata. Most of these visits occurred during 1990 - 1992.

Planning Team Notice Of Opening, November 13, 1990

•The new middle school Planning Team was named in November of 1990. Members included the facilitator and planning principal Gary Callison and members with specific areas of concentration:

*Elm Jensen whose specialty areas were the library and library services, technology and computer lab, orientation, art , book and A-V equipment ordering, caring climate and foreign language. Elm came to the planning team from Mission View Elementary as librarian there, and after teaching at Wenatchee High School.

* Mark Goveia, whose specialty was the science lab and equipment, leadership training, ASB, health, and technology. Mark came from teaching science at Orchard Middle School most recently, after teaching at Wenatchee High School.

*Jane Lloyd, whose specialty area was sixth grade and eighth core areas, advisory type programs, staff inservice, and music and drama. Jane came to the planning team from Orchard Middle School where she taught sixth grade. She had been a counselor and teacher at Pioneer Middle School before that.

*John Beard, whose specialty areas were athletics and equipment, the gym facility, seventh grade core and math, school colors and mascot, and PE. He came to Foothills from Pioneer Middle School where he taught seventh grade core and math.

* Nancy Aparico with specialty areas in core subjects, writing, technology, computer labs, the KCDA order, yearbook, and home economics. Nancy came to the planning team from Pioneer Middle School where she had taught sixth and seventh grade core.

*Nick Holstrom, whose specialty area was counseling, school climate, special education,Title programs, and grade level orientation. Nick came to the planning team from Pioneer Middle School, where he was counselor, after teaching experiences in various elementary schools.

The Foothills Middle School Planning Team worked tirelessly for almost three years bringing the new school on line. They worked closely with the architects on "fine tuning" every detail of the building plan, right down to the design of each room's cabinets. They selected colors; they tested furniture; they ordered materials; they planned program. Much of the success of the first years of FMS can be attributed to the hard work, dedication, organization, and planning of this important team. They visited schools throughout our state gleaning ideas for construction and program, and they ordered every piece of equipment and supply for the opening of the school. The planning team also worked closely with the other two middle schools in Wenatchee and with the students who were destined to become Foothills Middle School Falcons.
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The Technology Lab grew out of a visit to Arizona by Planning Principal Gary Callison. He saw a rudimentary, nonfunctioning lab in a magnet middle school in Tucson, when he was attending a conference. He liked the "concept" of the lab and did lots of research on its potential. It came from an organization called Creative Learning Systems from San Diego, California. After research the idea was presented to then Superintendent Bob Lehman, who liked the idea and gave a "go" signal. Callison worked closely with the company in designing the room (now 112) to go with the new island based technology curriculum. This concept developed into semester long classes full of technology curriculum for seventh and eighth grade students. The technology lab has had three instructors since it began, and now operates under the direction of Rick Williams.

The Planning Team interviewed community members and future students on what they wanted in their new middle school. There was a vote of incoming students to select the new school colors (blue and green),the mascot (the Falcon), and the name for the new school. The Planning Team facilitated the development of the "image" of the new school by developing criteria for staff selection, and advertising for teachers who wanted to join this exciting concept of technology and curriculum integration in an atmosphere of caring. The Planning Team also designed and implemented a school orientation for new staff and students.

Every new school construction project in the State of Washington is allocated a percentage of the cost for special artwork. Planning team members Elm Jensen, Nancy Aparico and Gary Callison helped select these works that are now hanging in various spots in the school. The artwork selected includes three pieces by the same artist, Ellen Steinfeld. They include a painting entitled, Pinatubo, which hangs in the center stairwell, a drawing entitled Earth Series VI, which hangs in the Commons Area, and a drawing entitled Sunrise Ocean. In the library near the entrance hangs a mixed media weaving by Dana Boussard entitled High Jump in Autumn. The final piece of artwork hangs in the office and is a metal sculpture by Mel Katz entitled Aegean Blue. Since the school began, Foothills has also hung various art works by our talented students in various groupings around the school.

Foothills Middle School was finally opened to students on August 30, 1993. The teaching staff had hoped to get into the building early in 1993, but delays in construction based on contaminated soil and a hard winter that year delayed construction so that the planning and teaching staff weren't able to use the building until mid-August. The first staff endured working around many construction obstacles as the finishing touches continued until almost Christmas of that year. The fire alarm rang at odd moments (never tripped, only malfunctions) during planning sessions and even into the first months of school. Gyms and the Commons Area were the final areas to be completed. The first staff was to be complemented on their positive approach to these interruptions and inconveniences. We were all pleased with the dedication ceremony in September???? of 1993, when large groups of community members turned out to "celebrate" the opening of the new school.

•The furniture bill for the entire school was $169, 828.40 plus $19,000 in shipping charges.

•The original FMS logo was designed by WestSide student Becky Woolston with the assistance of WestSide teacher Steve Wellman. The design was done during the 1991-1992 school year before FMS was completed.

•School colors and mascots were determined by a student survey completed in February of 1992.

•Bids to open the new school happened in March of 1992, allowing construction to start on April 15, 1992.

•A committee was created by the Wenatchee School Board in April of 1992 to bring recommendations for a name for the new school. "Foothills Middle School", a name developed by future student Mary Jensen, was sent to the school board and accepted. The name grew out of the setting of the school with views of the surrounding foothills. Other suggested names suggested were Burch Vista Middle School, BurchView Middle School , Maple Middle School, North Valley Middle School, Sleepy Hollow Middle School, Horselake Middle School, and many others.

•The first all school mailing went out on April 15, 1992.....over a year before the school opened.

•Approximately $84,000 was spent on athletic equipment, supplies and uniforms to open the school.

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Planning Principal and first FMS principal Gary Callison leads the planning team in a discussion. Planning team members for Foothills included Mark Goveia and Jane Lloyd (pictured) as well as Nancy Aparico, Elm Jensen, John Beard and Nick Holstrom.

The Foothills Planning Team turning over the first dirt before construction began.   April 14, 1992

The groundbreaking ceremony included community and city dignitaries, representatives from the new senior center next door, the Wenatchee School Board, Apple Blossom Royalty and music by the Pioneer Middle School band.

Board Members and Superintendent at Ground Breaking. Left to right: Jeff Smith, Barbara Brinton, Jim Danielson, Dr. Robert Lehman (Superintendent) and Don Richards (Assistant Superintendent).

School Board members: Bart Clennon, President, Jim Danielson, Vice President, Barbara Brinton, Karen Norlin and Jeff Smith.

Foothills Falcon Logo designed by Becky Woolston of Westside High School. (Teacher--Steve Wellman)