Baker School District plans 1.5-acre lawn, sprinklers, fence at former Central site

Baker School District superintendent Casey Hallgarth told the school board and the public the district intends to install an underground sprinkler system and establish grass - either sod or seed - on the 1.5‑acre site where the historic Central Building once stood. The announcement frames the parcel southwest of Baker Middle School as a potential large lawn for the district property bounded by Washington Avenue (north), Court Avenue (south), and between Fifth and Sixth streets.

The Central Building was a 108‑year‑old former school that “served as Baker High School from 1917-52 and then as part of the Baker Middle School campus until 2009,” and it was destroyed by a fire “started by three juveniles” on May 22, 2024. The district hired a contractor to dismantle the three‑story building in July 2024; the district’s current plan, as presented by Hallgarth, would leave that cleared 1.5‑acre footprint as green space.

Hallgarth framed the Central parcel as one option among several, saying “if the district tried to build something similar to the Wildcat Center, he thinks the best site is next to the cafeteria, just south of Broadway Street. That would leave the Central Building site as a green space.” The cafeteria Hallgarth referenced is the west-side Baker Middle School cafeteria that opened in 2024 using proceeds from the district’s May 2021 levy.

Community members and district planning documents have raised alternative uses for the site, including a “memorial park or monument commemorating the Central Building,” a multi‑purpose gymnasium for school and community events, a performing arts center, selling the property, business hubs, and food truck parks. The variety of ideas followed a May 2021 voter-approved $4 million levy - the first such levy passed since 1948 - which funded projects including heating and ventilation replacements, air conditioning at Brooklyn Primary School, security upgrades, and the middle school cafeteria.

District planning excerpts embedded in the work plan show routine line items and longer-term guidance: paint budgets across multiple campuses, telephone/intercom allocations, CCTV entries listed as zero in the excerpt, and a planning note that “The District plans to use J. Franklin Keller Intermediate School as an adult facility/community center/vocational technical center.” The work plan also references a Castaldi study that concluded many older district buildings will need demolition; the excerpt timestamps are dated 7/8/2024.

Separate construction work for the district continues: Griffin Construction lists a “Baker School District Seismic Upgrades” project for Brooklyn Primary School and the Baker High School gymnasium that will meet Life Safety requirements under ASCE 41‑13; Griffin’s Prineville office phone is 541-447-7237 and the company is CCB #140758. Griffin’s seismic work is listed as a distinct district project and is not identified as the contractor for the Central Building dismantling or the proposed lawn work.

The district has not released a cost estimate, a contractor name for the sprinkler or grass work, or a timeline for installation, and district materials do not state whether a fence will be installed around the site. Hallgarth’s presentation to the board establishes the lawn-and‑sprinkler concept as the district’s near-term preference while funding, detailed design, and any voter approval for new facilities would remain separate decisions for the board and the public.