Join students, staff and community leaders May 28 at 10am to celebrate the start of construction.
The community is invited to celebrate the start of construction of Bend’s newest elementary school with a groundbreaking ceremony and student performances on May 28 at 10am. The school site is located between Reed Market Road and Brentwood Road, west of American Loop in Bend. Attendees are advised to wear footwear appropriate for a construction site.
Superintendent Ron Wilkinson thanks the community for their continued support of local students and schools.
“We are fortunate to live in a community that values great education and understands the importance of maintaining existing buildings as well as building new schools to address years of enrollment growth in our area,” he said. “Our friends and neighbors supported this work with the highest yes vote in history, we are so thankful.”
Wilkinson says the new 600-seat elementary school will help balance enrollment at Bend’s 14 elementary schools, ten of which are near, or over, capacity today.
“We have been growing by 200-300 new students each year for the last 15 years,” he said. “Opening this new school in the Fall of 2015 will allow us to better balance current and future enrollment at neighboring schools, some of which are forecasted to be more than 100 students over design capacity as soon as this fall.”
ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION BOND
On May 21, 2013 citizens of Bend, La Pine and Sunriver approved a ballot measure to build new schools and fund projects that protect our community’s investment in its schools and facilities. These projects will support economic growth and prosperity and go far to protect our quality of life now and for future generations.
The approved bond measure authorized Bend-La Pine Schools to sell $96 million in bonds to fund the construction of two new schools to address continued enrollment growth and to deliver more than 130 other safety, maintenance, and classroom addition projects on the community’s behalf. Contractor for the project is Kirby Nagelhout Construction Company and the architect is Steele Associates Architects LLC, both of Bend, Oregon.
