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La Grande Pride
August 2022 • www.lagrandesd.org
BOND TIMELINE
Upgrading school facilities
By Trish Yerges
The La Grande School District
has some exciting facilities projects
in the works, all funded through
the passage of Bond Measure
#31-105 and a matching grant
from the Oregon School Capital
Improvement Matching (OSCIM)
program, totaling $8.845 million.
As a result, the district has
moved forward with two major
projects: the replacement of the
Annex Building located at the La
Grande Middle School, and the
relocation of the maintenance,
grounds and facilities operation
into a newly purchased building
better suited for the needs of the
department.
“I am very pleased that we are
able to keep improving our facilities
in support of student, staff, family
and community success,” stated
Superintendent George Mendoza.
“A thriving community has strong
schools, health care systems, public
safety and businesses. When
we can make things better for
our community, it is good for our
students and our best future as a
community. “
Supervising the many details
of this two-fold project is Joseph
Waite, maintenance and facilities
director for the La Grande School
District.
Regarding the Annex Building
project at the La Grande Middle
School, Waite said, “Currently, we
have our request for proposals sent
out and advertised to the public,”
he said, “and we’re looking to hire
a design-build contractor, whether
that’s a contractor that has both
architectural and construction
management capabilities or a
partnership between two entities.”
Those proposals are due on
August 30, after which the district
will evaluate them. Depending on
what comes in, Waite said they will
interview the top candidates. Then
a recommendation will be made
to the La Grande School District
Board to move forward with the
contract. Likely, this will happen
at the September board meeting or
the September work session later
in the month.
“Once we get the entity under
contract, there is a 420-day design
and construction timeline to get us
a new building,” he said. “Our hope
is that, starting this fall, we’ll work
through the design phase up until
the January-February timeframe.
Then at that time, we’ll go out to
bid for the construction. We’re
looking to get started as early as
possible, pending weather. As soon
as the Middle School can hold their
physical education class outside on
a regular basis, then we can start
construction.
The construction site will be
located at 1108 Fourth Street
at the La Grande Middle School
campus.
The conceptual design
drawing shows a single story,
pre-engineered structure,
multi-use facility. It will be
utilized for academic classes,
including STEM classes, physical
education and health classes.
It will also be used for
athletics, equipped with two
full-sized basketball courts
that can be converted into four
sport courts. Two drop-down
dividers will make the space
friendly for softball and baseball
pitching and hitting practices.
In addition to serving as an
athletics area, the space can be
used for community events.
The
district is
very pleased
to announce
that they
have
purchased
the former
La Grande
Light Truck
building at
1805 Adams Street for $795,000.
Waite said the new site is more
of a warehouse facility than the
Annex has been because the Annex
is an old educational building with
classrooms, whereas the new site is
more efficient and set up for vehicle
maintenance with large bays and
many other spaces for development.
The newly purchased building
will require some renovations to
fully meet the district’s needs, and
that work should be completed
by December so at that time
the maintenance department
can gradually start moving its
equipment and operation into it.
“Our goal is, by spring break,
to have everything moved over to
the new site and start operating
from there after that point in time,”
Waite said.
After the Annex building and
the maintenance building at the
La Grande Middle School campus
are emptied, those structures will
be razed to make room for the new
multi-purpose, pre-engineered
building. The Annex, which had
a gym on the second story, will be
replaced with the new building.