Baker School Board Meeting highlights
By Garrett Christensen on Monday, September 26th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY – Baker School District Superintendent Erin Lair spoke with Elkhorn Media Group’s Shannon McKone late last week to give an update on some highlights from the recent Baker School Board Meeting. That interview can be found below.
(SM) Thank you for joining me, Superintendent Lair. Let’s talk about some highlights from the school board meeting that took place yesterday evening.
(EL) Hi, Shannon. Our Admin Team attended last night’s board meeting in person to report on how this first month of school is going in all our different buildings. Enrollment is strong, and excitement has been high as staff and students returned to a more normal school year including lots of fun extracurricular opportunities. We heard that there were miraculously no tears on the first day of Kindergarten at BELC, that our middle school has a soccer team this year, that the staff and students at BHS are enjoying the presence of 27 year-long exchange students in addition to 10 students from Hautlieu (“Holier”) School on the Isle of Jersey this month, as well as so much more. I’ve been able to spend some good time in all the buildings, and it’s a goal of mine to be in all of our schools at least once per month. I also plan to attend at least one athletic and one non-athletic activity each month that scheduled activities exist; and right now, there is a lot to choose from. I recommend keeping an eye on the school calendars on our website, baker5j.org, as well as our Baker School District Facebook pages for opportunities to join in the fun.
(SM) It sounds like a great start to the school year. What other topics were covered at the board meeting that might be of interest to the community?
(EL) We also talked about our seismic and bond projects. The gym renovation at Baker Middle School should be complete in mid-October, and there is a lot of excitement around its re-opening.
Also, as we shift to a Construction Manager/General Contractor delivery method for our remaining bond projects, the current request for proposals has a deadline of September 29, and we had 5 firms from Oregon and Idaho attend a mandatory pre-bid meeting earlier this week.
You can listen to a recording of the board meeting on our website: www.baker5j.org
