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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2020)
La Grande Pride www.lagrandesd.org • March 2020 7 PROJECTS continued from page 5 “When there are changes in personnel, all doors can be updated in a matter of seconds, whereas in the past, we had to wait for a maintenance staff to visit all doors and manually up- load the information.” This door-networking up- grade will allow the district to lock all doors in the event of an emergency and keep staff and students safe from a threat outside the building. Waite will also be using funds from the district’s 5-year maintenance ac- count to add card access to the Willow Street build- ing which currently has no security system. This is important because our early intervention program through Intermountain ESD and the La Grande Learning Academy, as well as District Administrative offices are located here and these security measures are needed to protect both students and staff. “With the upgrades, the district office on Wil- low Street will resemble the other buildings in our district with a doorbell and camera so the front offices can see the people prior to “buzzing” them into our building,” said Waite. Another major project on the summer schedule is that of repairing the Annex roof and other building maintenance repairs. “During the recent snow and rain event, several leaks were discovered in the Annex,” said Waite. “The district is spending about $47,000 to coat the roof with a silicone base coating which will extend the roof life while the district looks for several avenues for ad- ditional funding for a major remodel to the building.” Possible funding sources include seismic funding through the Seismic Reha- bilitation Grant Program through the State that could yield up to $2,500,000 to upgrade the structure to withstand seismic forces, Waite explained. He cited other possi- ble funding through a mini-bond utilizing the Oregon School Capital Improvement Match Grant, where the State match- es dollar-to-dollar up to $4,000,000 dollars for capi- tal improvements. “If both grants were successful,” he said, “the district would have $10.5 million to upgrade the buildings that were not significantly affected by the 2014 bond projects, namely Willow and the Annex.” An additional $20,000 will be spent on fixing the dam- aged areas due the leaks. Roof repairs will take place as soon as weather allows. A third project on the calendar involves the mod- ular classrooms and office space remodels. This work will start in June and wind up by mid-August. At the campus where old Central once stood, there are five modular classrooms that were part of the school. The district retained these units with the intent to sell them, but then decided to use them for storage with a plan to renovate them to allow space for pre-school programs. “Consequently, this summer we will be adding restroom facilities in these classrooms as well as door access controls, intercoms and clocks, fire alarm as well as a general renovation to the floor coverings and roof,” said Waite. “The proj- ect will require site-work upgrades such as paving and landscaping.” In addition to these projects, Waite said the dis- trict has plans to remodel the upstairs library at the Middle School, converting a small computer lab and library space into two new classrooms. “This remodel is neces- sary because the population of the Middle School’s fifth, sixth and seventh-grade classes are all nearly 200 students each,” said Waite. “Normal class sizes are 180 each, so when these large classes pass through the Middle School, the extra rooms will allow flexibili- ty for additional space for services like behavioral and counseling services.” Lastly, the summer will include smaller projects such as the replacement of the water main at the high school, concrete replacement at the high school entrance, fence replacement, adding more security cameras and addressing radon mitigation. It will be a busy summer for Waite, the maintenance department and other nec- essary contracted workers, but it will ultimately in- crease student safety, secu- rity and building longevity.
