In June of that year, a vote of no confidence by Mariner teachers contributed to the reassignment of then-Principal Suzanne Simonson, who had held the position since 1981, to an administrative post an unidentified teacher stated that Simonson, who had previously went through a referendum in 1985, had only 6 percent of support compared to 72 percent against, with 22 percent abstaining. Under the program, 10 Soviet students were to visit Mariner in January of that year for a monthlong stay, and vice versa for 10 Mariner students in the springtime. Mariner was one of 25 American schools selected for an exchange program with the Soviet Union in 1989 as agreed upon with the Moscow Summit the previous year. It opened on September 8, 1970, and was formally dedicated on Januit had no senior class in its opening year. The high school campus, designed by Everett-based William Arild Johnson & Associates, was constructed as a prefabricated structure consisting of prestressed and precast concrete units at a cost of $3.3 million purchasing the land for it brought the overall cost close to $5 million. Fearing the possibility of receiving a lower bid with a rebid if they elected to pass on the existing one 60 days after the initial opening, the district placed all three measures again on the ballot for Januthe measures passed this time, with construction starting the same month. However, all three measures failed to attain 60 percent approval, and when bids opened on December 10 for construction of Mariner, it was revealed that going with the initial bid for the project meant that the district would have insufficient funds to furnish Mariner.
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Having yet to receive additional revenue from the presence of the facility, the district placed three funding measures on the November 1968 ballot the measures were intended to fund the completion of Mariner and other schools in the district. With the then-newly-built local Boeing plant looming, voters within the boundaries of the school district approved bonds to fund construction of Mariner High School in 1967. At the time, the school district was considered too small to operate a high school, having only operated two incarnations of Rosehill School on the Mukilteo waterfront from the first one's opening in 1893 until the opening of Olympic View Junior High School in 1956, but it was reconsidered as south Everett began to expand in the 1960s. As a result, students within the district from tenth grade onward had to attend Everett High School in the nearby Everett School District Cascade High School provided a closer option when it opened in 1961. Prior to the construction of Mariner High School, the Mukilteo School District only offered education from kindergarten through ninth grade.