Parents and students across Redmond School District will see changes in their schools as the Redmond School District’s $27.5 million bond program takes flight.

With nearly every school in the district receiving renovations, including security and safety upgrades, many of the buildings will look a little different as the number of district students and schools continue to grow.

Obsidian Middle School in Redmond will be the first to cross the finish line. Its extensive remodeling and upgrades are set to be complete by the time students return in September.

“Only a couple weeks away,” said Chad Franke, the HMK Company program manager for the Redmond School District bond.

According to Franke, the overall bond timeline was to have everything complete within a three-year window. With most of the school projects starting in 2021, they’re currently about halfway through that plan.

And, despite supply chain issues and a “tremendously difficult” time acquiring supplies, HMK, Griffin Construct and BBT Architects have focused on trying to stay ahead. These tactics have paid off as construction on Obsidian wraps up and Tom McCall Elementary School and Elton Gregory Middle School come under-budget.

“We’re doing really good on that timeline,” Franke said.

The goal, he said, was to check off the really important things first: Obsidian Middle’s renovation, a new building with six classrooms split between Tom McCall and Elton Gregory, and six more classrooms for Vern Patrick Elementary.

“Redmond is growing,” he said. “(The construction) was an understanding that the district needed additional classroom space.”

According to Franke, current class sizes sit around 27 students per classroom. The new building for Tom McCall/Elton Gregory aims to lower that number and the student to teacher drop down to 20-25 students.

And, since Tom McCall and Elton Gregory share the same campus, the new building is designed to be flexibly used between the two schools as needed.

“There was ample need for various classroom space,” Franke said.

Obsidian, which opened in 1980, is getting the most renovations simply because it is older than the others, most of which were built 12-15 years ago. Despite this, all schools in the district will see improvements to safety and security systems.

At Obsidian, crews will be adding 20 additional parking spaces and improve ADA-accessibility, including ADA accessible bathroom stalls and ADA pads for the football field. Crews will also add new fire and security systems, a new intercom, cameras and an access control system. They will also be renovating a computer/maker space.

Big changes will also hit the administration of Obsidian. Instead of sitting in the center of the building, offices will move to the northern side to create a more secure entryway for parents to drop off their children. It will also create a required check-in desk for all visitors.

In the past, parents used the southern parking lot to drop off their children. This will now take place in the north-side parking lot while the south side will be used for buses and staff.

The south-side parking lot will get its own renovations with additional ADA improvements, fixes for the breezeway and an added gate and fence.

Tom McCall/Elton Gregory will also get a renovation on its entryways, with an emphasis on safety and security as well as new access control and intercom systems.

Outside of the three major projects, a variety of upgrades and improvements will be hitting schools across the district from repairing sidewalks at Hugh Hartman Elementary and fixing asbestos piping and tiles at Redmond High School and John Tuck Elementary to replacing the roof of Tumalo Community School.