Elementary school seems likely to stay put

No member of the school board wants to close the Sisters Elementary School building and sell the site to a developer. A strong consensus opposing that option emerged from a 90-minute board workshop on the elementary school Tuesday, June 6.

Although no votes were taken as it was not a formal meeting, the board also appeared to agree that it was worth doing some expensive work on the elementary building recommended by energy consultant Bill Clumpner of Portland.

The board was expected to approve an initial phase of of the work to be done this summer at a cost of $223,000 at its regular meeting Monday, June 12.

The jobs will include repairing and upgrading the boiler, cleaning the duct system, re-roofing the flat roof over the school’s commons area and making several improvements to the HVAC system (heating, ventilating and air conditioning).

Clumpner’s overall list of energy-related recommendations exceeds $1 million. The size of that figure caused the board to schedule the special workshop to consider the future of the elementary school and implicitly to weigh alternatives such as building a larger replacement, probably near the high school and middle school, where the district already owns more than enough land to accommodate a new elementary school.

Board Member Mike Gould reviewed some of the reasons for considering a move: All the schools would be centralized on a single campus, all the facilities would be modern and there would be less danger from traffic than at the present elementary school.

Nonetheless, he concluded, “I think the best idea is to continue to use (the current building) as a school building.”

Board Member Glen Lasken said his thinking has evolved also, leading him to feel that it’s valuable to have elementary schools near neighborhoods. He said there appear to be some good reasons for Sisters to have two mid-size elementary schools rather than a single, large school.

Board Chairman Jeff Smith said, “My guess is we will use it (the present school) for 30 years.”

Superintendent Ted Thonstad said the board might want to consider boosting the elementary school’s stated capacity from the present 400 students to 600 students.

He said space for an expansion could be created by moving the bus barn, which now occupies the elementary school site. He noted that Bend and Redmond both have 600-student elementary schools, some being organized into several “houses.”