Polk County Education/Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 10, 2018
Falls City secures loan for facility
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The Falls
City School District secured
a loan to begin the first
phase of building a new
gym and classroom facility
at Falls City Elementary
School.
A $700,000 loan from
Government Capital Corpo-
ration (GCC) will finance
the first phase, which will
build “a shell” to provide el-
ementary students an in-
door facility for physical ed-
ucation and recess. Later
phases will provide space
for games, locker rooms
and more classrooms.
“The board has been
talking about this for two
years,” said Superintendent
Art Houghtaling. “We’re ex-
cited. The loan really allows
it to happen.”
Now, the district can hire
an architect to get the proj-
ect underway. Before build-
ing can begin, the district
needs to complete soil tests,
complete design and take
construction bids. The goal
to have a “shell” — an en-
closed and heated building
— complete by fall of this
year. Construction of the
first phase will be planned
with plumbing and other
needs for future expansion
in mind.
GCC is a Texas-based
firm specializing in helping
public entities (cities, coun-
ties and schools) secure fi-
nancing. The firm has as-
sisted several school dis-
tricts get loans for building
improvements, updated
technology, buying land
and buses.
Falls City has about 210
students enrolled, an in-
crease from 155 tallied in
the Oregon Department of
Education’s 2013-14 en-
rollment report. The loan
provides funding to com-
plete other smaller proj-
ects, such as expanding its
cafeteria and adding a
classroom at the elemen-
tary school.
Houghtaling said the dis-
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
The Falls City School district secured a loan for the first phase of a new gym and class-
room facility at the elementary school. Now, students use a covered play shed for PE.
trict has a goal to provide a
teacher for every grade level
K-8, and enrollment in-
creases are pushing the dis-
trict to do it faster than an-
ticipated.
“We are literally busting
at the seams,” Houghtaling
said.
The district twice asked
voters to pass a bond to
build a new gym, but both
votes, one in May 2016 and
the second the following
November, failed by slim
margins.
Without resources to
build a new gym, elemen-
tary students have with the
school playground and cov-
ered play area for recess
and PE, or riding buses
down to the high school
gym for PE classes. During
rainy days, the covered play
area can have up to 60 or 70
students under it at once,
not leaving much room for
play.
“Now we will have an en-
closed area for the kids
when it’s 38 degrees and
raining,” he said.
Houghtaling added the
gym at the high school is
the only place middle
school and high school
teams can hold practices
and games at this point.
Adding basketball hoops
and locker rooms in the fu-
ture will alleviate schedul-
ing conflicts and prevent
late practices.
However, the second and
third phases of the gym
project will require addi-
tional funding through
grants or a bond.
Falls City Business Man-
ager Debbie Pavon said
once the first phase is com-
plete, the board will explore
its next steps.
“The most important as-
pect of any project like this
is funding,” she said. “We’re
hoping the community will
see the need and will recon-
sider, and approve, a bond.
You don’t come across a dis-
trict of this size, growing at
the rate it is, with the re-
markable students we have,
and not do anything about
it.”
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
Girls basketball squad
earns a pair of victories
Itemizer-Observer staff report
JEWELL — Perrydale’s
girls basketball team earned
a pair of league wins, defeat-
ing Crosshill Christian 38-14
on Jan. 2 and Jewell 46-23 on
Thursday.
More importantly, the
games marked the first time
the Pirates played at full
strength since the second
game of the season.
Senior Vanessa Miller, jun-
ior Alyssa Lux and sopho-
more Amity Deters, all
starters, were out with in-
juries.
“They bring a lot of matu-
rity back to the team,” coach
Terry Newton said. “All three
of those girls are post play-
ers. Since we press a lot, we
expend a lot of energy, so
having extra bodies is huge.”
Newton said younger
players, including freshman
Cody Lawrence and sopho-
more Kaylee Rosenbalm,
who have stepped up will
continue to see playing time.
“We’ll have a deeper rota-
tion,” Newton said.
The Pirates played
Crosshill Christian Tuesday
after press time. Perrydale
plays at Falls City Thursday
at 5:30 p.m. and at Oregon
School for the Deaf Tuesday
at 6 p.m.
BOYS SPLIT GAMES: Perry-
dale’s boys basketball team fell
to Crosshill Christian 50-44 on
Jan. 2 before defeating Jewell
52-29 on Thursday.
The Pirates committed 23
turnovers against Crosshill.
“We didn’t play very well,”
coach Brian Domes said. “That’s
two-fold. They are a good team
and they created a lot of prob-
lems for us that I didn’t expect.
We just didn’t react very well to
their pressure, but we still had
a chance.”
Perrydale bounced back for
a win against Jewell. Dustin Sil-
ver had 20 points and 14 re-
bounds during the game.
The Pirates played C.S. Lewis
Tuesday after press time. Perry-
dale plays at Falls City Thursday
at 7 p.m. and at Oregon School
for the Deaf Tuesday at 7:30
p.m.
C.S. Lewis, Perrydale and
Falls City entered the week in
second, third and fourth in the
Casco League standings.
“We’re a little undersized
and Falls City is definitely not
undersized,” Domes said. “That
will pose a challenge for us.
We’re looking forward to that
one. They are our county rival.”