Redmond High needs lots of costly work — so students may one day attend Ridgeview HS instead, if voters say yes

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) – It’s rare when any school district, large or small, raises the very idea of closing a decades-old high school and moving all of the students to another school. But with lots of aging, leaky pipes, lots of asbestos and the millions in repairs facing Redmond High School, one option being discussed is closing it and moving the students to an expanded Ridgeview High School.

It’s far from a done deal, or even a chosen option for an expected November 2024 bond measure. But at a recent meeting of the Redmond School District’s community Bond Task Force (viewable here), staff laid out in detail the reasons such an idea just might make sense and has its advantages, from ending what some consider an “unhealthy” rivalry between the older and newer schools to “bringing the community together.”

The major renovations to remove crumbling water pipes and a lot more would mean Redmond High students have to move out for about a year, anyway, so that opened the door for potential consolidation of both student bodies at much-newer Ridgeview.

While the boilers at Redmond HS (which opened the current building in 1971) are only seven years old, the crumbling pipes that bring hot water to the heat exchanges are a half-century old, meaning the “potential collapse of our heating” system is a very real threat, Superintendent Dr. Charan Cline told NewsChannel 21 on Thursday.

Cline said a community poll next month will be the first step, to see how people respond to ideas such as spending $25 million to build a high-tech career education center beside Ridgeview.

But while he was surprised at the attention the idea’s gotten, after a school board member running for the Legislature put out a brief news release, Cline said he’s not surprised by the reaction – much of it logically emotional, you might say.

“Schools are very deeply emotionally connected to them -- because of their history, their children’s history. A lot of community pride and history is tied up in local schools,” Cline said.

Still, weighing all the factors, the superintendent said, “It would be irresponsible for me as a leader of the organization not to consider it. If we were to build a new tech ed facility at Ridgeview, it would be cheaper than doing a full remodel of Redmond High School.”

Unlike many towns where high schools are geographically divided, that’s not quite the case in Redmond. Instead, students who self-transport, as opposed to by buses, can go to either of the two large high schools and can choose based on the different programs each offer.

Combining to one main high school (along with Redmond Proficiency Academy) also would free up other space for special uses, reduce or end class duplication and cut some operating costs, too. Ridgeview has room for twice its current 800-student capacity, similar to Redmond High.

The future of the Redmond High site, no matter what, will be education-based, as there’s no discussion of selling that land, Cline assured.

But it could one day house the school district offices, allowing them to sell that current property, and also could be a new site for the Step Up program for “high-needs” students, now at the Brown Education Center, and the district could sell that property, as well.

About half of the Redmond High building did get a refresh in 2008, after an earlier bond levy approval, but the heating system did not, Cine said. So no matter what its future, all that piping would need replacing, along with asbestos removal.

But Cline stressed that there are “lots of discussions” about how to proceed, and no firm path will be chosen without community involvement.

“If we were to go this route, though, students would be gaining opportunities – not lose them,” he said. "We would respect all the traditions, all the history -- all of that stuff would go over" to Ridgeview with the students who cherish them.

One idea floated for the newly combined high school was the name Redmond Union High, which actually was the original name of the city’s first high school – but that's only “if we ever got there,” Cline stressed.

“For this to go in place, our board would have to vote, and the community would have to vote for it,” he said. “There’s an awful lot between here and there.”