Athena-Weston School District plans a bond measure request
By Terry Murry on Thursday, August 14th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
ATHENA – The Athena-Weston School District will ask voters to approve a $15,236,000 bond measure that would reconfigure the campuses and make schools safer. The district’s Community Bond Advisory Committee has spent months in meetings, open houses, and research before asking the Athena-Weston School Board to approve that specific package. The board unanimously voted to put the bond on the ballot for the November General Election.
Superintendent Ann Vescio said the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Grant that would be guaranteed if the bond passes either in November or May 2026 totals $10.2 million.
Currently the pre-kindergarten classes and fifth through eighth grade students are at the Weston campus. The current elementary school in Athena houses kindergarten through fourth grade.
“The bond proposal supports reconfiguring the district so that all elementary grades can be housed together at the Weston campus and moves sixth through eighth grade to the current elementary building so that staff and elective space can be shared with the high school,” Vescio stated. “This will create more efficiency with staffing and facilities.”
The bond would mean the Athena campus would see the creation of a new CTE/science building for grades 6-12, a new gym and locker room for grades 6-8, a remodel high school classrooms, and the creation of a commons at Weston-McEwen High School Weston campus improvements include remodeling the lower gym for Pre-K classes, flow improvements for dropping off and picking up students, a new gravel parking lot, and ADA improvements.
Further details about the project are described in the PDF below.
