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STERLING — Sterling Public Schools is working to finalize several projects on the district’s 3-year facility plan.
Among the work is the third phase of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at Sterling High School using federal COVID relief funds, additions to the Challand Middle School track facility, and Health Life Safety work at both schools.
The district also is looking a few years down the road at Jefferson and Franklin schools’ needs and the creation of safety vestibules that will enhance security.
Sterling High School
SHS is preparing for the third and final phase in remodeling the district’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. This phase has already been finalized and approved by the Sterling School Board, with work expected to begin this summer at an estimated cost of $2.5 million.
The original 1948 steam boiler, which Sterling Schools' Superintendent Tad Everett called “extremely inefficient and very costly,” was replaced with a more efficient electrical system.
Everett said SPS used a large portion of money received from the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund to pay for the overall $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.
SHS also needs to spend approximately $294,300 to replace all of its interior doors, which need to be brought up to date with new state fire codes after the school was flagged during a health and life safety survey because of several doors that would not stay latched.
“If there’s no one in a classroom, the door, by code, is supposed to be shut,” Everett said. “The purpose of that is, if a fire starts in here, it doesn’t spread out there.”
Bidding for the project will go up on Wednesday, Jan. 29, with voting for approval going before the school board during its February meeting. Once approved, the project will be completed in two phases. All but six doors will be replaced this summer, with the final doors scheduled for replacement in the summer of 2026.
SPS also plans to spend $34,600 on several Health Life Safety Survey Priority A items already approved by the board, including smoke detectors and emergency lights.
Challand Middle School
Over the summer, SPS replaced nine wooden classroom doors at CMS that were in poor condition. This summer, it needs to spend $13,837 to replace an additional 10 doors. SPS also plans to spend $24,500 on several Health Life Safety Survey Priority A items already approved by the board, including smoke detectors and emergency lights.
The school is also getting a new track facility that will be completed over the next several summers. The first phase, which began last summer, created an all-weather track and track and field areas, including long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault areas.
SPS’s Director of Finance Matt Birdsley said the new track will be in use for the school’s upcoming track season and the second phase is projected to add portable bleachers for spectators and a building that will be used for concessions, restrooms and storage. He said there is currently no definitive timeline for this phase as the board is still working to finalize a 3-year facilities plan.
Future projects
Everett said Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools both need to be remodeled, a project that will include the installation of safety vestibules – a two-way door system designed to enhance security. He said the projects will take multiple summers to complete and, based on the costs from remodeling Washington and Lincoln elementary schools, is estimated to cost millions.
Plans and timelines for those two projects have yet to be finalized. However, Everett said if everything goes well, he is hopeful the first phase of those projects will begin in summer 2026 and will wrap up in summer 2028.