In four years, the Bend High School campus will be completely transformed, with a new classroom wing, gymnasium front entrance and main office.

For now, though, the campus is still a jumble of construction vehicles, workers and materials, piles of dirt, a torn-down auditorium — and about 1,300 students traversing the halls every day.

How will Bend High manage a full school year in a construction zone?

Campus is a maze

Students started school last week amid the ongoing construction, paid for by a large chunk of the $249.7 million November 2022 bond. Construction machinery whirred outside. Students traversed walkways covered in temporary construction shelter.

The work will significantly improve Bend High’s safety and security through new door locks and new buildings.

The Bend High community hasn’t changed and has gotten stronger because of the construction, said 11th grader Grady Perkins on Monday.

“This week is actually gonna be our first full week,” he said. “It was definitely different because they cut off one of the main halls, so there’s just a wall there now, so that’s kinda weird. And it’s weird to not have our auditorium.”

“I’m kind of excited. I’m going to graduate before it’s finished, but I definitely want to come back and see what happens and see what it eventually looks like,” Perkins said.

Tenth-grader Abby Smith said the school is like a maze now.

“It is really hard to get through the RDM (Robert D. Maxwell) building and the tech building,” she said. “I’m excited for the final product. I think it’s going to look a lot better than it used to be, and it was a surprise when the auditorium got torn down. It’s a lot of walking, but I’m getting my steps in every day.”

At a presentation Wednesday night for the parents of ninth graders, Principal Chris Reese said student life will find its footing as the school year gets going, once every grade is in class. Ninth graders were the only students in class Wednesday, the first day of school. This year, Bend High has one of the larger first-year classes at around 350 students, he said.

“We can kind of guess where those pinch points are gonna be in regards to flow around the building, but until we get that entire student body here we really won’t know, and then once we see those pinch points, then we’ll start problem-solving,” he said Wednesday.

Upperclass leaders showed ninth-grade students around the school last week, after receiving tours themselves.

“The campus is still not where it needs to be in regards to cleaning because we didn’t have access to the commons for a good month, month and a half, so we’re still right down to the wire to get everything clean,” said Reese.

Unexpected auditorium loss

It’s been a busy summer, said Reese, especially due to the unexpected need to demolish the auditorium. During construction, Reese’s priority is ensuring that no classes or programs are cut.

Reese said he’s been meeting with various teams to ensure the renovations are designed and planned out well.

“How are we going to mark everything so kids don’t injure, so staff don’t injure? We want this not only safe for staff, but we want this place safe for students,” said Reese at Wednesday’s event.

When a fire sprinkler first broke in the auditorium over Memorial Day weekend, it soaked everything, said Reese. Wooden seats were delaminating. A crew came in to do asbestos abatement and fix the sprinkler system. A second sprinkler then broke in June.

Structural engineers came in and discovered that four of the six wooden trusses were damaged. When demolition began, done by a team from Washington, only one truss was holding up the roof and all the roof material came down at once, Reese said.

“I’m just thankful that no injuries, no one was hurt, and it was caught in time. We had several people that stepped up to make sure that that auditorium came down by the start of school. It was an all-hands on deck effort,” said Reese.

With no auditorium to call its own, Bend High will partner with the nearby Presbyterian church for theater performances; its sanctuary seats 800. The school is still able to use practice rooms for choir, band, orchestra and drama. The drama program will partner with Summit High for any necessary props.

The space where the auditorium stood might become a gravel parking lot for a few years, said Reese. The timeline for rebuilding an auditorium is unclear, though the insurance company is working with Bend-La Pine Schools. Teams are still investigating the cause of the auditorium’s structural damage.

The first phase of construction is on schedule, Reese said, and includes a new three-story classroom building, an administration building and a new commons. It should be complete in two years, ready for students and staff to move in. The second phase will be construction of the new gymnasium.

Bend High boys soccer shows improvement in draw against South Medford