Best High School list. In 2014, the International Community School was ranked 13th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. From 2008 to 2014, Newsweek selected ICS as one of the Public Elites, one of the best high schools in the U.S. In the 2012 OECD PISA evaluation, ICS was ranked as the number 1 school in Math, number 4 in reading, and number 7 in Science of all U.S. high schools participating in the evaluation. In 2005, it was selected as a No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked ICS as 76th among all high schools in the United States. Location The school is located in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, Washington, and serves students from the Lake Washington School District. History Founding The school was proposed to the Lake Washington School District by parents in 1997 and its program and policies were developed by Dr. Bruce Saari who modeled it after the Bellevue International School, where he had been program developer the previous six years. Up until July 2011, Cindy Duenas was the principal of ICS. After the 2010-2011 school year, Duenas left to help start the new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) school for the Lake Washington School District. She was replaced by Dr. Matthew Livingston in 2011. He was replaced in 2014 by Dr. Gregory Moncada. Moncada was replaced in 2017 by Margaret Kinney. In 2014, Andrya Packer, one of the school's humanities teachers, was selected to complete a Fulbright Scholarship in Scotland. Expansion to modern facilities Beginning in 2011, plans for the construction of a new 63,925 square foot building to replace the former building were created by the school's faculty and the school district. Construction of the adjacent new building began in June 2012 and finished in August 2013, prior to the start of the 2013-2014 school year. The old building was destroyed and replaced by the current soccer field and parking lot. The new facility sits on 11.2 acres of land and cost $18 million to build. In September 2013, students entered the school with modern classrooms and laboratories. The new school includes a centralized commons nicknamed "The Lyceum" for school assemblies, theatrical performances and for use as a cafeteria. Later in the new building's first school year, bleachers were installed in the commons for better seating for the upperclassmen.