The Van-Far school district is getting some much needed upgrades finished before school starts in August. 

In April, district voters approved a $4 million bond issue with a no tax-rate increase called Safe School, Strong Community. Proposed upgrades to the schools included the construction of a secure entry for the high school, updated flooring and new HVAC systems. Construction is still underway, and Superintendent Natalie Gibson is hopeful it will be done before students are back in the classrooms. 

The total project cost for renovations came to $4,580,815 with $580,000 coming from local funds. Despite the cost, Gibson said the district didn’t have to dip into reserves. 

“When you bond money, you make some proceeds off of selling the bonds,” Gibson said. “At the end of the operating year, we can flex over money from Fund 1 one into Fund 4 into those capital projects. By the time we sold our bonds and made that revenue, plus we were able to flex it over, it covered that cost.”

Approximately 14,000 square feet of flooring is being replaced, and the walls still aren’t painted, but Gibson said crews are working hard, even on Saturdays, to keep construction on schedule. 

When students return to school on Aug. 25, the secure entry is expected to be fully operational. The new entrance will feature a new conference room and office space for the student resource officer, principal and assistant principal. Of course, students can still come through the doors they always have first thing in the morning. 

“Kids will still arrive as they normally did, and teachers will still greet them where they always did before, but once the tardy bell rings, they’ll have to come check in, and guests will, very obviously, have to check in through the new main office,” Gibson said.

The centrally located former office space will be converted into a workroom for teachers that features a meeting room, staff bathroom and a fully equipped lactation room for nursing mothers. 

“We had received that grant, but we hadn’t ever been able to provide a real place for the moms, and now we have that with the sink, the ventilation, the window — everything they really ask you to have,” Gibson said. “I’m excited about that.”

Gibson added that she was excited to see one of the larger classrooms that has been used by more than one class at a time since she was a student finally get divided into two as part of the renovations. 

There will also be air conditioning in spaces where the school has never had it before such as the high school hallways. 

“There were several people who probably had an opinion that maybe we should just start fresh because the building is aged,” she said. “We’ve learned that this building is very well built, and some of the cosmetic touches have made it modern day — it’s so much brighter and cleaner. It’s kind of unbelievable what some epoxy on brick can do.”

While Gibson waits to see the finished project, she faces the difficult task of choosing a paint color that reflects the signature Van-Far gold for the new entry.