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September 2019 • www.lagrandesd.org
La Grande Pride
GREAT IMPROVEMENTS
Facilities projects completed this summer
By Trish Yerges
During the summer
break, Joseph Waite, LGSD
Bond and Facilities Man-
ager, along with the main-
tenance crew and hired
contractors have been very
busy completing exciting
building projects for the
new school year.
“The fi rst project we
started and completed was
a radio upgrade, installing
two new repeaters at the
Willow district offi ce,” Waite
said. “Day Wireless Sys-
tems out of Pasco did the
upgrades for us.”
The district upgraded
from the old analog radio
signal to a digital radio
signal and gave each build-
ing in the district a number
of radios for the purpose of
communicating emergency
situations and day-to-day
operations district wide.
This will be particularly
useful to paraprofession-
als or teachers that are
assigned to students with
medical issues such as
seizures or diabetic condi-
tions where they may need
to have a quick response to
their medical emergencies
but also for student behav-
ior incidences. By pressing
one button on the radio,
a teacher can contact the
building administrator for
assistance.
One of the radios will still
allow communication over
an analog signal to agencies
Elementary classrooms per-
formed by general contrac-
tor Griffi n Construction out
of Prineville. Work started
inside Greenwood Elemen-
tary, and now that it is
nearly completed, workers
are cleaning up the rooms
and working their way out
of the building.
“There will be some
minor exterior work, paint-
ing and touch up on the
roof work to be completed
around the building,” Waite
said.
Other work done at
Greenwood included replac-
ing the gym fl oor, windows
and roof on the gym. They
painted the interior of the
gym as well. A new wheel-
chair lift for the interior will
also be installed by Straight
Up Elevator out of Klamath
Falls.
At the high school, work-
ers are feverishly work-
ing to complete the locker
rooms, painting both of
them and reinstalling light
fi xtures and toilet partition
lockers and all the fi nishes
on the walls of the bath-
City of La Grande’s Safe Route to Schools grant has enabled the
rooms. Some exterior work
district to pour a new sidewalk on H Avenue from Cedar Street to
on the east and south side
Sunset on the north side of H Avenue.
of the building is being con-
like the police, fi re depart-
Central school. So across
creted and painted. Any
ment and emergency ser-
the district we have commu- sidewalks damaged in the
vices personnel which are
nication,” Waite said.
construction process will
still working off an analog
Another very important
be replaced, and the park-
system.
project that started in early ing lots will be available
“With the new radio
spring was the seismic reno- for staff when they return.
system, even our Island
vation at the high school
Most if not all of this work
City school can communi-
gymnasium and locker
is slated for completion by
cate with the high school or rooms and at Greenwood
the time school begins.
Working with Johnson
Quality Construction, the
district will unveil its brand
new culinary kitchen this
year. They are in the fi nal
stages of converting the
home-economics room into
the culinary kitchen. The
workers are doing the fi n-
ishes: painting, re-installing
lights, and putting face
plates back on the outlets.
It also has new ceiling tiles,
new fl ooring and new equip-
ment.
“The custodial and main-
tenance crews are assem-
bling the new equipment
and furniture that will be in
the new room. It will be a
state-of-the-art commercial
style kitchen for culinary
art classes,” Waite said.
At the LG Middle School,
Johnson Quality Construc-
tion built a new wall to cre-
ate a new classroom in the
Commons’ alcove that had
lockers. It is now sectioned
off from the Commons, and
it is slated for Mr. Kevin
Durfee’s choir classes.
Another summer project
undertaken by the mainte-
nance crew involved tearing
out several dump trucks
full of unsightly, overgrown
landscaping around the old-
er buildings in the district.
This included unsightly
bushes and shrubs that
were causing safety and
security issues. The scope
of this project included pri-
marily the high
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