Building History

Dessie F. Evans Elementary
7911 144th St. E.
Puyallup, WA 98375

Dessie Evans, the school’s namesake, taught in the district for 33 years. Evans was 21 years old in 1975 when she moved to the Pacific Northwest from Frierson, Louisiana. She grew up in a very small town where all students in her school were African American. It wasn’t until she started high school that integration began, and she had a few Caucasian teachers. Evans spent her entire career at Kalles teaching social studies and language arts to seventh and eighth graders. She retired in 2008.

The 16.84-acre property where the school is located was purchased in January of 2007 for a total sum of $5,810,000 (approximately $345,000 per acre) excluding district consultant costs.

The Dessie F. Evans Elementary project was constructed with funding from the 2015 Bond Issue. The project architect was NAC Architecture from Seattle, Washington, and the general contractor was Garco Construction from Tacoma, Washington. The school opened for the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.

Dessie F. Evans Elementary is over 117,000 sq. ft. school consisting of forty-four (44) classrooms and twenty-one (21) project rooms as well as two (2) special education classrooms, two (2) music rooms, library, gymnasium/commons/lunchroom area, administration spaces, improved play areas, parent drop-off and parking. At time of construction, Dessie F. Evans Elementary was the largest elementary school in the State of Washington.

The school will become eligible for state matching funds for modernization or new construction in lieu of modernization in the year 2049.