Baker School Board meeting update from Superintendent Mark Witty

By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Monday, April 25th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

BAKER CITY – Baker School District Superintendent Mark Witty spoke with Elkhorn Media Group staff recently to give an update on the recent Baker School Board Meeting and any highlights.

(EMG) Thank you for joining me, Mr. Witty. There was a school board meeting on Thursday, April 21, would you please share some highlights with us?

(MW) Thanks for having me.

We started out the meeting by recognizing another very deserving Promise Students of the Month from South Baker Intermediate School: Anden Nielsen.

We also recognized Baker County Tournaments as an Outstanding Community Partner. The non-profit has run the Old Oregon League District 7 and State 1-A Girls and Boys Basketball Tournaments at Baker High School since 2012, making it possible to continue holding the tournaments in Baker since 1974.

We also received a positive update on the Central Building from our team at Baker Technical Institute, which is getting ready to put out a Request for Proposal to remove the asbestos in the building that will also include removing and replacing the roof. These investments have been made possible by funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program and Business Oregon.

(EMG) That’s really great news. Were there any other highlights from the meeting that you’d like to pass along to our listeners?

(MW) The Board also approved CB Construction’s Construction Manager/General Contractor Gross Maximum Price – or GMP – for the Gym Seismic Rehabilitation project and a small portion of bond HVAC and electrical work that will take place at the Middle School this summer. The GMP came in very close to what was previously expected, which was welcome news given statewide challenges that are surfacing for school district capital projects, including supply chain delays affecting schedules and higher costs in the current market impacting budgets. As always, we’re committed to being flexible and creative in our problem-solving and to being the best stewards possible of the resources that we have. When it comes to bond projects, we are fortunate to also have the expertise and support of our Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee.