La Grande School District Delves into Many Projects
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (From La Grande School District’s Newsletter, by Trish Yerges) La Grande School District is experiencing a lot of construction, maintenance and upgrades to existing facilities all under the supervision of Joseph Waite, Facilities and Maintenance Director.
Wildcat Center Project
Mike Becker General Contracting (MBGC) is working to refine the design and budget for the project, in anticipation of putting the project out to bid to the various subcontractors and starting construction once school is completed for the summer. The modular classrooms are to be sold to Grants Pass SD, and they will be hauling them away. MBGC will be demolishing the brick maintenance shop to make room for temporary parking for Middle School staff members to park during the construction of the new building. The Annex building will remain operational for one more school year. The new building will be a pre-engineered steel building with insulated metal siding. There will be three gyms and six conventional classrooms with some rooms with operable partition walls that will allow the conversion of two classrooms into one large meeting space as needed. “It has been the focus of the school district to make this new building useful for a wide variety of functions and spaces to allow all types of programs, events and activities to be housed in the Wildcat Center for the district’s scholastic purposes,” Waite said. “It will also be used by our community partners to enrich the offerings of extracurricular activities in our community.”
Plant and Operations Center
Remodeling the Plant and Operations Center at 1805 Adams Avenue is nearing completion. Over spring break, the walk-in freezer was moved from the warehouse in the Annex building to the new location. Then when the weather turns warmer, the district will be putting a new roof on the building. “The maintenance crews are working out of the new facility and are pleased with the space,” Waite said.
HVAC
The La Grande School District continues partnering with Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) to improve the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at our schools. In 2018, the district partnered with JCI to complete many energy- efficient upgrades throughout all district schools to provide not only a better learning environment for students but a more energy-efficient system. These upgrades included LED lights throughout all schools, new fan coil units, variable frequency drives, unit ventilators and ultra-high energy efficient heat pumps to replace old equipment that had been in operation as early as the 1950’s. “The energy savings has reduced the costs of operation, and lessened the impact of recent rate increases from all utility providers,” Waite said. This summer JCI is working to install a large chiller unit that will provide AC to all the classrooms in the 1950’s section of the high school including the gym and auditorium. They are also reviewing the operations of the existing cooling units that service the second stories of the middle school and high school to ensure they are operating as intended and will make any upgrades and adjustments to maximize their cooling capabilities. “Separately, the district will be soliciting bids from local contractors to provide cooling to the CTE (Career and Technical Education) building at La Grande High School,” he added.
LHS Seismic
The La Grande School District is partnering with WRK Seismic Engineers and CB Construction to seismically reinforce the high school auditorium this summer as well. Most of the work will take place in the attic space above the auditorium. These upgrades will also include installing plywood sheathing to the roof structure and replacing the roof. “We are also looking to revamp the front doors to the gym and auditorium with a new entryway system and configuration of the ticket booth,” Waite said. The funding for this project was provided by a State of Oregon Seismic Rehabilitation Grant. The district was awarded $2.49 million to complete these up-grades to the auditorium. This will be the 3rd seismic rehabilitation project in the last 5 years. In 2018, the district received funding for Greenwood Elementary and the high school gym and locker rooms. These projects total nearly $3 million combined.
Additional Projects
The district is also planning on several other small projects, including asphalt paving at Central Elementary School’s back parking lot and Greenwood Elementary School’s inner courtyard. They are also planning to lay new carpet for the high school library, pour a new ADA concrete ramp and stairs on the north side of the Greenwood gym, finish playgrounds for Greenwood Elementary and Island City Elementary, and add security cameras for Greenwood and Island City schools. During the summer, there will be maintenance on the fire suppression systems district wide, door replacements at the high school, as well as the customary cleaning of floors, waxing, refinishing gyms and deep cleaning.
Surplus Sale
In May the district is anticipating holding a surplus sale at the Annex and the Maintenance building, selling older furniture items and excess equipment. “We also intend to open the maintenance shop prior to demolition for community members to come and dismantle items from the building. This will be limited to non-structural items like doors, trim cabinets, flooring, and fixtures,” Waite said. The power will be disconnected, and community members will be required to sign a waiver as there are hazardous materials such as asbestos, and lead paint in the building. The district will hold a similar event next year for the Annex building. More information will be forthcoming on this as the time draws closer.
