The focus of the forums has changed with the seasons for Alan Spicciati.

During the fall, the Auburn School District superintendent met with residents to discuss the proposed $456 million levy to rebuild six schools and construct two new ones.

In the six weeks since that measure passed, Spicciati has continued to meet with administrators and teachers to flesh out the design of the new Olympic Middle School, which is scheduled to open for the 2019-20 school year. He said Jeff Grose, ASD’s executive director of capital projects, has organized those gatherings “to go through every aspect of the school.”

Spicciati said music teachers recently gathered to identify what they wanted in the school’s band room.

“The architect will design the building, but we already have pretty much given them the recipe,” Spicciati said.

On Dec. 12, the school board authorized the sale of the first $94 million in bonds. Spicciati said that will pay for the Olympic project and the design and pre-construction of seven other schools. In addition to Olympic, the bond would replace five elementary schools built between 1945 and 1965 – Terminal Park, Dick Scobee, Pioneer, Chinook and Lea Hill, and build two new ones.

Spicciati said construction will begin on Olympic first because the school’s current building is to be preserved as an interim elementary school while other campuses are rebuilt. One wing at Olympic likely will need to be torn down during construction, but he said enough capacity will remain for it to function as an elementary school.

All the new buildings, Spicciati said, will be designed for 650 students. He said some of the older schools were only built to handle 400-500 students, which has resulted in more portables. He said 102 portables serve 2,500 students district wide this year.

For that reason, Spicciati said district officials remain busy trying to procure land near the old Valley 6 Drive-In Theaters, which shuttered in December 2012, on the north end of the city, and in the Lea Hill and Lakeland Hills neighborhoods. Lakeland Hills Elementary is the school district’s largest, with 725 students

“We continue to work on land acquisition,” Spicciati said. “We have two sites that we are working hard with the owner on and some feasibility issues.”

While ASD will only build two new elementary schools now, Spicciati said he is hopeful that land can be purchased in all three areas to provide the district with the possibility of constructing another facility in the future.