Sisters dedicates new high school

Gator Beat entertained at the school dedication. photo by Jim Cornelius

More than 200 people, from babies to grandparents, helped Sisters school officials dedicate the community's new high school on a mild Thursday afternoon, September 11.

After the half-hour ceremony on the school's front plaza, many accepted Superintendent Lynn Baker's invitation to tour the building.

What they saw was a handsome structure with state-of-the-art equipment. It is half again as large as the building it replaces, containing 152,000 square feet compared with 96,300 in the "old" high school, which has been remodeled to serve as the district's new middle school.

The overall project was financed with a $21-million bond issue.

The new building looks bigger not just because it has more floor space but because it is all on one level. The former high school has two stories.

At the dedication, Baker offered brief remarks recognizing a number of people who played a role in the project, including the Bend-based general contractor (Kirby Nagelhout Construction) and architects (Steele Associates). Newly-elected School Board Chairman Glen Lasken recounted the participation of both current and past board members; all five current members attended.

The crowd gave its warmest welcome to former Superintendent Steve Swisher, who retired from his Sisters post at the end of the last school year. He is now serving a one-year appointment as acting school superintendent in Brookings on the Oregon coast.

Swisher briefly reviewed the history of school construction in Sisters, going back to the first building, a log cabin, in 1885. He credited the community with always being willing to invest in its children, and concluded by noting expansively that with projects such as the new high school "we're not investing only in our children, we're investing in the future of our democracy. We're investing in the future of our nation. And in fact, we're investing in the future of the world. So let's cut this ribbon and have a celebration."

Bob Martin, the district's facilities manager who rode herd on the work from the beginning, told The Nugget that the new building has several features not present in the old one.

In addition to more (but not necessarily larger) classrooms, it has two gymnasiums (vs. one in the old school), a 742-seat auditorium (none in the old school), and a woodworking shop (woodworking classes in the old building were held in a maintenance building separate from the main structure).

The new high school's front doors open into a spacious interior "commons" with a two-story ceiling. The space will serve, among other things, as the cafeteria. Light and airy, it brings to mind a big-city railroad station, but here the passengers will board trains to Diplomaville.

To the visitor's left (west) is the classroom wing, with a number of standard classrooms plus four science labs and two computer labs with their sprightly rows of flat-screen monitors.

Straight ahead from the central commons (north) are the main gymnasium and the practice gym -- both containing full-sized basketball courts -- flanked by boys and girls locker rooms, a weight room, a multipurpose room that will be used primarily for wrestling, a home economics room and the school kitchen.

To the right (east) is a wing containing the auditorium, the choir and band rooms, an art room, the wood shop and the library.

The building's exterior features brown, split-faced concrete block veneer. The same textured surface covers many interior walls. A heavy-duty composition shingle roof is designed to provide maximum resistance to wind.

Martin is particularly proud of the storm drainage system. All the rain and snow runoff from the parking lots (nearly 800 parking spaces vs. about 200 at the former high school) and from the four acres of roof will be directed to a "bioswale" at the rear of the site, a large excavation from which the water "will get filtered down into the earth," Martin explained.

"We're giving it back to Mother Earth."

When asked if he was pleased with the school, Acting Principal Bob Macauley was typically irrepressible: "Pleased? We're ecstatic. Pleased is not even a word. It's awesome, it generates excitement...There's been a lot of electricity in the building in the last four weeks...The building is phenomenal."

Running through a list of features, he made special mention of the woodworking shop.

"Vo-tech was a big one with me. We really need to do a better job with Vo-tech. What we were able to do this summer was...to get $45,000 worth of equipment free (from Central Oregon Community College), which is an entire cabinetry shop."

Building trades instructor Tony Cosby confirmed the gift from COCC, which is being forced to close some of its vocational programs because of budget cuts.

"It's a beautiful building," Macauley said. "Kids love it and appreciate it, too, and when kids immediately appreciate it, when they come in and say 'Wow!' you know there's something special going on."