News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
School Board chairman Bill Reed and Principal Dennis Dempsey met with the board of directors of the Sisters Baptist Church Tuesday, April 9, to request the use of four church classrooms during the 1996-97 school year.
According to Reed, the church will consider the request and give an answer sometime around the first of May.
The space crunch that is exerting growing pressure on school facilities is expected to become critical next year.
"If we don't get some help," Reed said, "every single classroom will be used every single hour of the day. The problem with that is that rooms that are designed for students to come in and work independently, like the tech lab, will have classes in them."
Sisters voters will decide May 21 on a $5.5 million bond issue, part of which would remodel the old intermediate school campus so that seventh- and eighth-graders can move there from the high school.
But even if the bond passes, the space crunch probably won't be relieved for the 1996-97 school year.
"We don't expect that (the remodeled classrooms) will be available for next year," Reed said. "We're looking for a one-year solution."
Reed said the district hopes to avoid the use of modular classrooms. He said he believes them to be "a waste of money" but "the worst thing is they tend to become permanent."
School district Business Manager Earl Armbruster told The Nugget that double modular units housing two classrooms could cost anywhere from $50-$80,000. The district could also lease the units temporarily.
Armbruster said he didn't know where the units could be placed if the district is forced to use modular classrooms.
"That's yet another question," Armbruster said.
So, the school district hopes the church classrooms can ease the pressure for a year.
"We're asking for the classrooms from the Baptist church because they're within walking distance, they're conveniently located and they have available classrooms," Reed said.
The details of the proposal, such as what grades would use the classrooms and what classes would be taught, have yet to be worked out. The church board will take the proposal to the congregation before a decision is made.
Reed said that students using the church classrooms would be subject to all school rules and he said that classes taught there would be selected so as not to conflict with the views and doctrine of the church.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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