Pilot Butte Middle School was built in 1968 and has never had a major renovation in its 50-year lifespan — until now. On the first day of school in September, Pilot Butte’s students will enter through a brand-new secure lobby and see a sleek, modern front building and gym that maintains a few aspects of the middle school’s ’60s charm.

“Obviously, it’s been a great facility … but it’s just dated,” said Mike Condon, a project manager for Bend-La Pine School District. “So (we’re) coming in and freshening it up a little bit and making some improvements that will help teaching. It’s going to be a really cool project.”

The $3.8 million first phase of the Pilot Butte redesign is arguably the most noticeable part of the initial wave of district-wide capital improvements funded by a $268.3 million bond measure passed by voters in May 2017. The overall bond plan is on-budget, according to Executive Director of Facilities Mike Tiller.

Pilot Butte, located beneath its namesake landmark, is currently buzzing with a swarm of construction workers.

When finished, the site will contain a remodeled cafeteria, new music rooms that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act with the removal of tiered seating, high-tech science classrooms and a secure lobby with a glass wall. According to Condon, those walking through the front entrance would originally be greeted with a science classroom before they reached the front office. Those two rooms have been swapped, so visitors must check in before passing the glass wall.

A few historic pieces of the middle school will remain, such as the large globe lights in the cafeteria. They were retrofitted with LED lights, along with the rest of the lighting in the remodeled buildings.

Pilot Butte’s gym is getting a cosmetic upgrade, in which the light-green walls are shifting to a crisp white with forest green trim. The gym will also get a secure entryway for visitors and a heated staircase to melt ice during winter..

According to Tiller, the majority of the construction at the middle school will be completed before school starts, but some “finishing work” will be done on weekends and after school hours.

In an email, Pilot Butte principal Steve Stancliff wrote he was excited for his school’s modernization.

“All of the bond-funded updates, from renovated science and music classrooms to updated accessibility and technology infrastructure, will allow us to more fully focus our efforts and resources on student learning and achievement,” he wrote.

Not all of Pilot Butte is being remodeled this summer — classroom buildings B and D will be gutted starting in December and finished by September 2019. Building C will follow in fall 2020.

Just a few blocks west of Pilot Butte, Marshall High School has dusty construction sites of its own. According to Project Manager Hal Beumel, two new classrooms — one for tech, another for engineering — and a gym will be completed by January. The alternative school will receive a secure entryway by the end of August, along with new, energy-efficient windows, he said.

The new classrooms and gym at Marshall are part of the district’s plan to expand the school by 200 students. The project is expected to cost a total of $6.9 million, and is on-budget according to Beumel.

The district has worked on other projects throughout the district this summer, including installing new roofs at Mountain View High School and Cascade Middle School and Buckingham and R.E. Jewell elementary schools; paving and accessibility updates at various schools; and adding a secure lobby to Lava Ridge Elementary.

Lava Ridge, built in 1994, is also getting new energy-efficient LED lighting, which will save the school $10,000 per year, according to Project Manager Gina Franzosa. New ceiling fans, cabinets and overhead projectors will be added to the school’s classrooms as well. The total cost of Lava Ridge’s upgrades is $1.9 million.

“I think when students and parents return to school this year, and teachers, as well, they’ll notice a lot brighter and more comfortable classrooms and just a lot of nice upgrades that make it a much more pleasant learning environment,” Franzosa said.

And in far-north Bend, there’s one last major district construction site: the still-unnamed new elementary school.

So far, the site is just framework of one of the school’s classroom wings. The building will be designed similarly to Silver Rail Elementary, which was built in 2015. There will be 24 classrooms over two stories, a gym and an outdoor courtyard.

According to site superintendent Mark Leavitt from Kirby Nagelhout Construction, progress on the building “could not be better.” The crew is ahead of schedule and under budget, he added.

“Everyone’s playing their part well,” he said. “We’re jazzed.”

Leavitt said the construction should be finished by May, when staff can begin setting up the school so it can host students in September 2019. The new elementary, located at the intersection of Cooley and O.B. Riley roads, is expected to cost the district $33.2 million.

The bond’s most expensive project by far — the $129 million high school to be built in Southeast Bend — will start construction in the spring, with students expected to arrive in fall 2021.

— Reporter: 541-617-7854;jhogan@bendbulletin.com