Spruced up schools greet students

Thanks to the support of Sisters Country voters and some additional financial good fortune, Sisters students are returning to school with considerably improved facilities.

Sisters Middle School is the last of the three schools to undergo renovation funded by $10.7 million in voter-approved bonds, augmented by a $4 million state grant. The school district decided last year that the construction work at SMS would be too disruptive to conduct during the school year, so it was scheduled for this summer. It is now wrapping up.

"I'm feeling more and more confident about opening," said Sisters Schools Superintendent Curt Scholl in an interview last month. "I think we'll have 95 percent of it done when student show up."

Construction project manager Brett Hudson told The Nugget that the SMS work is under budget - even with some additional work being added to the scope, including a paint job. SMS was allocated a $2.9 million budget and the project has come in at $2.8 million.

"We've added a lot of site work, concrete work... I was able to patch additional asphalt," Hudson noted.

Good timing in the bond market and the extra $4 million from the state allowed the district to set aside $1 million as a fund to cover deferred maintenance.

"We've started to budget that out over the next five years," Scholl said.

Hudson noted that the district is already seeing savings from improved heating and cooling systems, and from high-efficiency lighting. He noted that Reed Stadium's lighting is now reduced to four poles, all for less than what one pole used to require in output. The light diffusion from the stadium lighting has also been cut, reducing the impact outside the stadium.

Scholl said he would like to see high-efficiency lighting in the school gyms.

Additional projects may be feasible.

Scholl noted, "we're tracking right now to have $1.9 to $2 million left after the middle school."

That means that the district can pursue construction of a transportation facility in the area of the high school, replacing the cramped and outdated bus barn at Sisters Elementary School. A previous plan for a new bus barn including some vo-tech space located in the high school parking lot proved controversial and was withdrawn. The current idea is to build a transportation facility somewhere in the area of the SPRD headquarters, accessed off of Highway 242. The school board has already allocated $1.5 million for such a project.

The facility would enable the district to consolidate its equipment, provide storage and a larger, more functional facility for maintenance of the fleet. Hudson said he expects to have a site plan ready for approval in early 2019.

The district is looking at another piece of good news going into the 2018-19 school year: Enrollment is looking to be up by about 20 students.

SSD has bumped along with essentially flat numbers for several years. Since state funding is allocated on a per-student basis (and funds from bonds can't be used for operations) additional student enrollment is key to a healthy operating budget.

Scholl says that, while numbers always fluctuate, especially at the beginning of a school year, the district is looking at K-8 enrollment of 650 and high school enrollment of 450. In a small district, adding 20 students is a nice shot in the arm.

"That's my cautiously optimistic line right now," Scholl said.