For Tony Pupo, who oversees operations for the Redmond School District, this summer will feel like déjà vu all over again as the last four improvement projects funded by the district’s 2020 bond are finished.

The projects that were part of the bond centered on improving safety and security across the district.

“We’ve been doing this since 2020. It feels like forever,” said Pupo. “At the end of the day, what we said we were going to do in 2020, we passed the initial bond for $27.5 million and by the time that we’re done with it, we will have put over $42 million into the district.”

The additional $14.5 million came from organizations that provided financial incentives so the district would install energy efficient equipment.

This summer, work will be done on the HVAC systems at Redmond High School and Hugh Hartman Elementary. Additionally, John Tuck Elementary and Tumalo Community School will undergo seismic work thanks to two grants, said Pupo. The seismic projects were not originally included in the bond.

Bringing more to Redmond schools

The district received incentives from Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit that offers cash to organizations that make changes to improve energy efficiency. On Tuesday, the trust gave the district $391,000 for the HVAC work at Redmond High, Pupo said.

Money left over from any incentives the district receives can go back into the capital fund for similar projects.

“The rest of this summer will be wrapping up the rest of our security vestibules,” said Pupo, referring to the remodeled school entrances. “We’ve done a lot of security upgrades, so we’ll have to do a lot of training with staff on how we want to use those and how those things work.”

Completed projects from the last few years include a six-classroom addition at Tom McCall Elementary, which is shared with Elton Gregory Middle School, and a six-classroom addition at Vern Patrick Elementary.

The front parking lot at Vern Patrick was repaved and updated to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The main offices at Obsidian Middle School were moved and redone, because they were in the middle of the school and created security risks. A new entryway was also created for Obsidian Middle. Tumalo Community School’s roof was replaced. Hugh Hartman Elementary also received a new boiler system.

Safety and security

Chad Franke, the regional director of HMK Co., the project manager for the 2020 bond, said the company began managing the bond in early 2021.

“Safety and security has been a huge investment by the school district, so we went through and put in a new access control system, districtwide at every school, and a new camera system, districtwide at every school,” said Franke.

The security and camera systems are now standardized across the district.

Smaller projects include siding repairs, paint jobs and ceiling tile updates at M.A. Lynch Elementary. A water-bottle station was added to every school as well.

School districts need to spend 85% of the bond funding over three years, but the rest can be parceled out at a slower speed. There will be leftover funding from the 2020 bond, said Franke, and it may be added to the next bond or used for another project.

It’s useful to have additional projects on the list in case there is extra funding at the end, said Franke. The school district’s bond oversight committee helps determine whether additional projects can be completed because they need to be what the bond was intended for.

“It’s been a wild three, four years running this bond,” said Franke. “It’s been very successful; the district’s been great to work with, and really been sticking to what they originally promised as best they could in the environment in which we’ve been.”