Sterling schools complete summer projects, Skyward update and E-Learning plan

STERLING — After a summer of construction, Sterling Public School students will notice updates to buildings throughout the district when they return to school Thursday, Aug. 15.

Lincoln Elementary School

The final phase of the school’s interior renovation finished over this summer and included new lockers, new ceiling, new flooring, bathrooms, lighting, painting and new offices. New safety vestibules, entryways and a portable building at the school’s Warning Center were also installed.

The project began last summer alongside the completion of Washington Elementary’s interior renovation.

Sterling High School

This summer saw the successful on-time completion of the second of three phases in remodeling the schools’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. The original 1948 steam boiler, which SPS Superintendent Tad Everett called “extremely inefficient and very costly,” was replaced with a more efficient electrical system.

Everett said there are three sections of the school built decades apart from each other – one in 1948, one in 1964, and the last in 1998. Many parts of the school need updating and Everett said SPS decided to take advantage of the construction to address some of these issues.

“We were able to add air conditioning to the project while also updating lighting, ceiling tiles, piping and flooring in some places,” Everett said. “We hadn’t painted our library since the 1970s and this was the perfect opportunity.”

Everett said Sterling Public Schools used a large portion of money received from the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund to pay for the $5.8 million project. ESSER was given to schools across the country by the federal government to improve ventilation in their buildings to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Challand Middle School

The school is getting a new track facility that started with the first of multiple phases scheduled to be completed over the next several summers. This summer was the first phase, which created the track and track and field areas.

“We have everything done but the striping,” Everett said. “That will be done in September and it’s just curing at this point. I’m excited to say it’s on schedule to be utilized for our spring track season.”

Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools

New pre-kindergarten centers were being constructed at each school, but shipping delays pushed the project behind.

“Both of our Pre-K centers at Franklin and Jefferson Elementary came to us as pre-fabricated structures from out of state,” Everett said. “The company we worked with for those ran into some product and material delays that ultimately delayed shipping to us.”

Everett said the start of the pre-kindergarten programs will be delayed by approximately 10 days, but will have no impact on the start of classes for kindergarten through 12th grade students. He said notifications have already been sent to parents affected by the delay.

According to Everett, construction of the centers was not part of the original facilities plan, but a sharp increase in families needing pre-kindergarten services in the district changed that.

“We had almost 80 children on our Pre-K waiting lists that were not getting those services,” Everett said. “It got to a point where we looked at some rental options but soon realized the best option was to build these two centers.”

When finished, both centers will house four classroom units, office spaces and activity areas, for a total cost of $4 million.

Everett said all projects were financed through a combination of tax revenue, donations and federal grants, with the majority of the funding coming from the 1% sales tax, along with annual contributions from Health Life Safety funds, the corporate personal property replacement tax, and significant donations from the Dillon Foundation and the Sterling Schools Foundation.

“There were a lot of sleepless nights this summer,” Everett said. “But I couldn’t be happier with how our projects turned out, the timelines and how great our staff was through it all.”

Future projects

After SPS finishes the final phase of the SHS HVAC system next summer, they will be looking to focus and save for one of three top projects.

Everett said Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools both need to be remodeled and will include the installation of safety vestibules – a two-way door system designed to prevent unwanted entry to the school. He said the projects will take multiple summers to complete and based on the costs from remodeling Washington and Lincoln, is estimated to cost millions.

“We’re talking between 2 to 4 million dollars each,” Everett said. “And those buildings haven’t been touched since their original construction in the 1950s.”

The final project is the next phases of the Challand Middle School track, which will address spectator seating, lights, concessions, bathrooms and additional parking.

Everett said by the end of summer 2025, SPS should have just over $600,000 in reserves with which to do the new projects.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do any of those projects for that much money,” Everett said. “So, we will see what we can do and that might mean having to wait and save.”

Big changes ahead

SPS has two big changes coming for student and parents.

First, new changes are coming to the district’s student management system, contracted through Skyward. The system went through a massive upgrade the school is calling Skyward Q.

“There’s going to be some formatting changes that parents will see,” Everett said. “We have some information regarding those changes for parents that we are sending out.”

The second change is the official incorporation of E-Learning days. These days will work just like snow days except now, SPS staff have developed an E-Learning plan that coincides with the school calendar. Now when students have to learn from home, they will have a pre-determined learning plan to follow for that specific day.

“I’ll be the first to admit this won’t be 100% perfect,” Everett said. “There are some families without internet and we realize that but it’s important to note the pros far outweigh the cons.”