Board member: School facilities need work

In his presentation to the school board Wednesday night, board member Andrew Gorayeb detailed a facilities maintenance plan totaling $583,000 in facilities improvements around the district. This was a 'needs-only' plan - wants and wishes were noted, but not included in the cost numbers.

Included in the detailed comprehensive plan were two volunteer proposals including a "Celebrate Sisters Schools" volunteer event that would involve over 350 volunteers taking a single day to spruce up the local school sites, and culminating in a tented barbecue celebration with live music. The tentative date for this celebration is Saturday, May 19.

Gorayeb said, "I think this is a great opportunity to get people rallied around the school district, and also to give them an opportunity to feel some ownership of it."

"I think this a fabulous idea. I really applaud that thinking," said board member Cheryl Stewart.

Working from a heavily illustrated 40-page PowerPoint presentation that summarized the facilities sub-committee's work, Gorayeb identified $316,400 that needed to be spent right now. The balance of the work could be done later. (The report is available at http://www.sisters.k12.or.us.)

A replacement boiler for Sisters Middle School (SMS) makes up 85 percent of the $316,000 figure. SMS is operating on a single 21-year-old oil-fired boiler. The backup boiler has a hole in it and can't be used. The combination of a single boiler and an errant control system leaves one end of the SMS building cold, while making the other end of the building so hot that windows are frequently opened.

Board member Don Hedrick said, "I think the boilers at the middle school are the highest priority. We are continually asking our teachers to do more with less. Having them try to accomplish that in an environment that is stifling hot or freezing cold is adding insult to injury."

An additional $75,000 is required to repair the heat recovery system at Sisters High School. The control system has a similar, persistent, but not quite as drastic imbalance problem.

It is estimated that energy cost savings alone would generate a payback of less than 10 years.

The second volunteer concept presented was to engage interested co-curricular groups in the effort to dispose of the district's accumulated surplus equipment. The co-curricular groups would sell the materials, either directly on eBay or Craigslist, with one half of the proceeds committed to support the selling group's activities and the other half going to the district coffers.

Board chair Chris Jones said, "Leland (Bliss), Don (Hedrick) and Andrew have done an enormous amount of work with the facilities task force. This is one of those areas that the board is really instrumental in, which is maintaining our facilities. Perhaps it is not as much fun as hearing about math improvements, but it is really essential to the stewardship of the district."