North Wasco County School District 21 seeks bond measure planning committee members

The Dalles High School is 81 years old.

by Cole Goodwin and Stephanie Bowen

North Wasco County School District is seeking interested individuals to sit on a Community Bond Planning Committee. As a community-driven process, we are seeking interested parents from each of the district schools, students, and community and business partners to join school and district staff on this committee.

Collectively, this group will meet to discuss issues and needs such as safety, security, accessibility, capacity, and overall facility needs to help identify and prioritize capital improvement projects.

The group will make recommendations for a potential bond measure to the North Wasco County School Board Board of Directors.   

D21 has been in need of new facilities for at least twenty-four to forty years. 

“According to the National Center for Education Statistics the average age of public school buildings in the United States is between 40 and 44 years,” said Stephanie Bowen, D21 Director of Communications & Community Engagement.

“According to data from the NCES after 40 years a school building can begin rapid deterioration, and after 60 years most schools are obsolete or abandoned.” said Bowen.

“Overall, the average facility age in the district is about 64.5 years. Our youngest building, The Dalles Middle School, turns 18 this year.” said Bowen.

“Our oldest school building in the district is Colonel Wright Elementary which was initially built in 1924,” said Bowen. 

Colonel Wright elementary is 98 years old, making it approximately 34 years past-due for replacement.

The Dalles High School doesn’t fare much better, weighing in at about 21 years past due for replacement. 

“The Dalles High School is 81 years old. The current High School was built in 1941, rising from the ashes of the original 1914-1940 school building that was destroyed due to a gas fire.  In 1974, the district did add on to the building to incorporate the old Whittier School site. Notably, Kurtz Gym is just slightly older than the school building itself, as it was under construction, and spared, during the fire in 1940.” said Bowen.

Despite the need, prior attempts to pass a school bond have failed. Which is part of why D21 wants to increase community and stakeholder engagement as they make another attempt at passing a bond to provide children in D21 schools with a larger, safer, and more engaging learning environment. 

“The last school bond failed, and as a district, we need to look at that as a learning opportunity on how we can improve.” said Carolyn Bernal, D21 Superintendent.

“I believe stakeholder engagement is a huge factor in that, and we really want this process to be community-driven. It’s no secret that our buildings have a long list of needs, from safety and accessibility to basic capacity.  This committee will help us identify and prioritize these issues so that we can propose a well-informed bond that is representative of both the needs of our students and our facilities but the wishes of our community as well.” said Bernal.

The bond committee application can be found here.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, May 17th.