By Amanda Egland
Co-Editor in Chief

Planning and construction of the new Lewiston High School building is underway as of April 2017. The March 14 bond vote resulted in a 75.64 percent in favor, according to the Yes! LHS Facebook page. The bond needed a supermajority of 66.66 percent in order to pass.
“Seeing some of the precincts come in at 85 percent […] was just amazing,” said Dr. Robert Donaldson, Lewiston superintendent.
“I was not surprised by the outcome of the vote, but I was pleasantly surprised with how high the percentage of people in favor was,” said LHS principal Kevin Driskill.
“The outcome speaks volumes about the support of the community,” said Donaldson. “Following the election, interactions with people in the community in a range of locations has been really upbeat and positive.”  
Many people contributed to the campaign, some who were current high school students. Senior, Geonna Travis, held signs advocating for the campaign in the days before the election.
“I’m so excited for all the kids in our community that get to go to a new school! It was amazing to see so many people come together for one cause,” said Travis.
Driskill echoed that excitement.
“There’s a lot of things to be excited for, overall just having an updated 21st-century high school for the students, and for the valley,” Driskill said.
Current fifth graders will be the first freshman class at the new high school building, according to Donaldson. The current eighth grade class will be the first seniors to graduate from the new high school.
Until then designers and contractors have plenty of work to do.
“There’s still a lot of decisions to be made,” Driskill said. “My biggest concern has to be with traffic, but we are currently in the process of doing a traffic study to see how we can efficiently flow traffic in that area.”
For Donaldson, the work continues in keeping the community informed.
“I just want to reinforce the gratitude [that] the administration, the board and the staff of the district have for the community support,” Donaldson said. “We are in the process of making sure we get information out in a similar manner we did leading up to the election about what’s happening now.”