The bleachers in the Sterling High School gym were mostly full for last Thursday’s program about the proposed bond to renovate and add onto the Sterling School. The proposed bond, not to exceed $17,500,000, was placed on the ballot for a November 4th election by a unanimous vote of the Sterling Board of Education on September 3. Ballots will be mailed out to registered voters in the district between October 14 and 25. The 25-year bond would increase property tax about 22.5¢ per $100 of valuation.
“This has been in the works for the last couple years,” said Principal Jake Davenport. “There have been issues in the building. The problems in the kitchen, we have been told are irreparable. The elementary is a fairly old building. It has infrastructure issues, the roof is problematic. . . It was last renovated in 1980.”
Besides the elementary classrooms being very small, nearly every classroom is 300 - 400 sq. ft. undersize, the rooms on the north side do not have windows, which means there is only one way in or out of those rooms. Class size in the elementary is 18 - 20 students. Of concern in the high school is the fact that there are not enough locker rooms for visiting teams when both girls and boys sports are played at the same time, as in basketball. Currently, there is only one girls locker room with junior high and high school girls sharing the space. There are two boys locker rooms, so during basketball season, the junior high boys locker room becomes the guest girls locker room and the weight room becomes the guest boys locker room and the two cameras monitoring that room have to be covered to provide privacy.
