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Valhalla Elementary School

Originally built:		1967
Construction Status:		Opened in September, 2009
Address:		27847 42nd Avenue South Auburn, WA 98001
Budget:		$18.5 million

Valhalla Elementary is one of the district’s largest elementary schools with an enrollment that hovers right around 500 students. Staff at Valhalla provide a warm and supportive environment where students learn to be safe, kind and productive members of the school’s learning community. Students and staff grow and learn from the richly diverse student population that attends Valhalla.

Valhalla was built literally next door to the existing old school building. In order to fit the new Valhalla school building on the property available, the school was designed with two levels. The lower level of the school houses younger students, Kindergarten through grade 2. Upstairs, grades 3-5 occupy the classrooms.

Like all of the district’s new schools, Valhalla has numerous features built in to allow natural light. It is a ‘green building’ in many other ways, as well, from the paint used throughout the building, to the floors, which are concrete with radiant heat built in.

Children and staff in the school enjoy many aspects of the building’s features:

• The new library is child-sized, welcoming and inviting to the young reader. Small comfortable furniture makes the library perfect for little ones.
• Staff and students love the small instructional areas available throughout the school. Because they are nestled in private areas, they are perfect for intervention and personal, safe and healthy contact for staff and teachers.
• Wireless carts serve as mobile technology centers and allow easy transport of computers and equipment from room to room.
• The grounds are absolutely beautiful. The community is already visiting the "rain garden" and the children really enjoy the family of ducks on the ponds.
• The display boards in the hallways are a hit with staff and students who enjoy rotating displayed work. 
• There is additional storage in the new school.
• The commons area has a drinking fountain for students.
• An electronic reader board will be placed in front of the school in spring of 2010.
• A mural will decorate the commons wall by May 4, 2010.
• From the outside, the colorful exterior of the school brightens the neighborhood.
• As required by the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol, the school does not have wall-to-wall carpeting, which can contribute to asthma and upper respiratory infections among school children because of reduced air quality caused by dust accumulation and harsh chemicals used to clean the carpets. Instead, each classroom has concrete floors with radiant heat. Each room also has four six-by-six foot carpet squares to use as the teacher chooses. The carpet squares can be removed and cleaned off-site as needed.
• Classrooms measuring 900 square feet give teachers a comfortable space to provide multiple learning centers, such as a reading corner, in the room.
• Long hallways were replaced with clusters of classrooms so teachers and students can collaborate and work in teams.
• Bathroom facilities are easier to reach than in the old building.
• Recycled jeans provide insulation and soundproofing in the ceilings and are one of many ways the district practiced environmental stewardship during construction.
• The new Valhalla provides higher capacity fiber optic cabling and conduits to run wires through cleanly. The conduits will allow faster and more efficient future technology upgrades. 
• Students and staff will be safer in the new building in the event of an earthquake because of additional earthquake resistance features. 

Per the promise of the district, this project was on time and under budget.

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