St. Ignatius schools get a 21st-century makeover

ST. IGNATIUS — If you’re searching for a community that believes in investing in its children’s futures, look no further than St. Ignatius. That investment is on display in the extensive renovation underway at the school.

“There are a lot of needs across the state, and not a lot of funding,” Superintendent Jason Sargent said on a recent tour showcasing new infrastructure and maintenance projects intended to embrace the 21st century. “So we knew we kind of had to do this on our own.”

Thanks to the support of a $5.8 million bond passed by voters, a $537,000 grant and a $1.2 million loan to be paid back with annual deferred maintenance funds, St. Ignatius School District 28 is putting the finishing touches on many new facilities and fixing old, nagging maintenance projects that have been deferred for years while awaiting funding.

Some of the work may not attract a lot of attention. The old gym’s ceiling (the “Dog House”) that dripped and oxidized the beams has been reconditioned and new lighting has been added. Bathrooms have been remodeled, new lockers installed. Electrical and plumbing systems have been upgraded. The elementary school has a new roof.

Far more conspicuous, a new gymnasium with seating for more than 600 graces the Bulldogs’ skyline, with a full-service weight room included. Eventually a second side of bleachers can double the capacity, and the gym was designed to be expanded in the future. The elementary school has new siding to match the middle school and high school upgrades from a few years ago. A new double-classroom building has replaced the old administrative office across the street.

Perhaps most welcome of all are the new Career and Technology Center and new art room, which allowed these programs to move out of the cramped quonset hut they shared and into spacious, state-of-the-art facilities.

The school district works hard to prepare students for college or technical school. With the new technical wing, students can access a sparkling clean Family and Consumer Sciences facility with five workspaces and cooking ranges as well as classroom space, a new wood shop, a metal and automotive shop, and a computer room where ideas and designs can be researched and prepared.

“We are trying to get as many career-type classes as possible, cover as much as we possibly can, with each of the tech rooms,” Sargent said.

Family and Consumer Science offers health, education, early childhood development and culinary arts. The wood shop offers precision woodworking of all types, and in the metal and automotive shop, everything from multiple welding bays to small engines and a plasma cutter offer any budding metal worker a competitive edge.

An auto lift is expected to be added in the future. A local car dealership has offered to supply the automotive shop engines, transmissions or anything they need for students to dive into mechanical work, to help build a future workforce.

“We want to expose students to as much of the industries as possible,” Sargent said.

Within each field, introductory units help students be prepared to enter a certification program for things such as welding, electrical work, plumbing or mechanics. Sargent said the school wants to expand the program to include construction technology.

The new classroom building, still under construction, will offer elementary students a hands-on technology world. One side will be a lab space for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), a major focus of the entire renovation underway. The other half will be a math and reading lab with technology and hands-on learning, offering students, especially those who may be falling behind, innovative alternative ways to learn.

“This place will be so fun. They might not even know they’re learning math and reading,” Sargent said.