A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear students, families, staff and community,

We regularly send updates on school construction and remodels of district facilities and fields. These projects are funded by our voter-approved bonds and capital maintenance levy and benefit our students and schools, as well as our community at large. Neighbors use and outside organizations rent these spaces, especially playgrounds, fields, courts and gyms. We appreciate our community’s support in these investments!

I am excited to share news about our new Community Transitions building; improvements to Squalicum High School, including its gym, track and roof; new playgrounds planned at Northern Heights and Geneva; and other projects across our district.

Community Transitions 
We are making great progress on the new Community Transitions (CT) building which resides on the Whatcom Community College (WCC) campus. CT serves students who receive Special Education services aged 18-22.



You can watch our progress on our work camera (tip: hit the play button to see the timelapse video).

Some recent milestones include placement of the first floor concrete slab and installation of the cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure. This project is funded by the 2022 bond and includes a number of accessibility features. We expect this project to be completed by 2027. 

We are so grateful for WCC’s partnership and support! 

Squalicum High School
Crews will be busy this summer making improvements at Squalicum High School, which will be 30 years old in 2028. SQHS is getting a new roof and the gym will be getting a facelift, including a new sound system, scoreboard, flooring resurfacing and striping, and bleachers. We'll be resurfacing the track starting in July through mid-August. The track will not be available for use during resurfacing.

These projects are thanks to our recent voter-approved facilities maintenance levy, which was passed in November 2025. Maintaining our current facilities and schools today is an important way to save money in the future.

Playgrounds at Geneva and Northern Heights 
This school year, work groups at both Geneva and Northern Heights elementary schools have provided feedback and thoughtful recommendations on new inclusive playgrounds for their respective schools. Work will begin in June, after school gets out.


Northern Heights Elementary playground render


Geneva Elementary playground render

Once complete, these playgrounds will be open to the public outside of school hours. Read more about BPS playgrounds. In addition, Northern Heights and Geneva’s gyms will be refloored and get new displays and sound systems. Wade King will be receiving new gym flooring as well.

Other projects happening this summer 

• We are moving forward to complete design work and submit for a permit for Roosevelt Elementary School, even though the construction timeline for the new school is in flux. Permit costs are expected to increase significantly with the upcoming code revision, so our goal is to finalize design and work to obtain a permit for the time if/when we will be ready to construct the new school. As you may know, the facilities planning task force may make recommendations that could impact elementary school buildings, including Roosevelt. No decision has been made on a construction start date for Roosevelt.
• We are installing LED lights at Silver Beach for energy and cost savings. 
• We continue the sale of the former district office on Dupont Street and anticipate this process will be finalized over the summer.
• We are underway with the design work to replace the fixed seating in the auditorium of Whatcom Middle School. 

Please note: we have received some questions about the District Office, which opened in 2024. I encourage you to review this article, which includes links and information about our long history (starting in 2006) regarding building a new District Office.

I understand folks may have questions, especially if you are new to our district or to Bellingham. We value being open and honest, and I think you will see we communicated about this project many times in many different ways over many years.

One more note: bonds and maintenance levies are restricted funds, which means we can only use these voter-approved dollars for construction improvements on our schools and facilities, not teaching jobs or other uses. It’s worth clarifying when we are in the midst of budget reductions and challenges.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about any of our projects.

Thank you and have a wonderful extended weekend!

Greg Baker
Reply to: greg.baker@bellinghamschools.org