REDMOND, OR -- Redmond students don’t head back to class until next week. But Superintendent Dr. Charan Cline says middle schools are already opening their doors to families Wednesday evening. "Open houses are where you come and see sort of what’s happening in the school. You have a chance to connect with your teachers, have a chance to see any improvements that were made in the school over the year, get connected with your parent-teacher organizations." He tells KBND News, "It’s a good chance just to meet people, form that relationship and just come in and find out what your school’s about." Elton Gregory and Obsidian Middle Schools both host events Wednesday; sixth grade families at 5 p.m., with seventh and eighth grade at 6 p.m.
Dr. Cline says other schools will host open houses later in the fall, and families will get to check out upgrades made over the summer, including seismic work conducted at John Tuck and Tumalo elementaries, "They’re some of our oldest buildings in our group of resources we have there. And those buildings, they need a lot of love and they were built quite a while ago and have lots of additions on to them, and they’re vulnerable in case of an earthquake or a big shake." He adds, "Parts of them have literally been cut in half, where they’ve separated different parts of the building and they’re putting them back together in what's called seismic separation. So, if the ground starts shaking, those two parts of the building shake independent of each other and don’t tear each other apart." Tumalo’s open house is September 12th; John Tuck’s is September 19th.
Seismic upgrades were paid for by a grant. At Hugh Hartman Elementary, the 2020 bond covered the cost of major heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) work. "It was our most inefficient system in the district. We’ve rebuilt it completely; put a whole pile of money into that," says Dr. Cline, "It’s too bad that you’ll never see it. It’s all in the ceiling. We’re going to end up saving over $74,000 a year, we estimate, between electric and gas utilities, through that replacement." Hugh Hartman hosts several open house events: September 5 for kindergarten, September 12 for third through fifth grades and September 19 for first and second grade.
Photo courtesy of HMK Company: John Tuck Elementary undergoes seismic upgrades throughout the gym and cafeteria.
