Ponderosa Building Tour

Note: For a full gallery of the Ponderosa building tour, find photos on the KFCS Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Klamath.Falls.City.Schools

By Joaquin Aguilar-Flores, KFCS

KFCS has been planning for the future of Ponderosa Middle School for several years now. It might be brand new information to some but in about three to five years, Ponderosa will need to be replaced with its location being on an active fault line.

The city school district is now doing what it can to let the public and community know about the planning and outlook regarding the future of Ponderosa.

KFCS held a facility tour at the middle school Thursday, Nov. 8, to show the current state the building is in and answer any questions anyone may have.

KFCS Superintendent, Keith A. Brown, Director of Operations, Daymond Monteith and Maintenance Director, Jared Thompson, were at hand in the effort to raise community awareness regarding Ponderosa.

"I have a rule of communication on things like this that if you guys will tell 10 people what we talked about then we are going to get the word out pretty well; if they tell 10 people then it works," Brown said. "When I arrived (as KFCS Superintendent ) in July of 2021, one of the notes on my desk was there is monitoring of the condition of Ponderosa and it being on a fault line; it has been moving for sometime."

Brown shared the district's efforts in planning for a new middle school.

In 2021, an architect was already under contract  
Created a physical feasibility study
School board work session, October 3, 2022, to begin talking more about the future of Ponderosa
KFCS has met several times with PIVOT Architecture since 2021
Held another school board work session, July 24th, 2023 and completed hardwood training, teaching people how to gain civic trust
KFCS submitted a long range facility plan to the Oregon Department of Education, December 1, 2023.

In attendance were several KFCS parents and several Ponderosa teachers, Ponderosa Principal, Brett Lemieux and Assistant Principal, Liza Butler, as well as staff from MyBasin.com and Herald and News.

Thompson led the tour, which showed cracks in the interior walls and floors at Ponderosa due to the fault line shifting.

"Here in the girls bathroom upstairs, through the cracks on the walls and the floor, I can see a little bit of daylight and the sun come through during certain times of the day," Thompson said.

Thompson and his maintenance staff also highlighted how several doors of classrooms are misaligned, having to temporarily fix the doors on multiple occasions and do so in the summer time.

Continue reading below for a note from Superintendent Brown regarding community awareness information about Ponderosa.

Community Awareness Information From Superintendent Brown concerning Ponderosa Middle School

As we look towards the future of our community, I want to bring to your attention a critical need that we must address to ensure the success and readiness of our students: the replacement of Ponderosa Middle School.

Klamath Falls is on the cusp of growth, and we need to be prepared to meet the educational demands of our expanding population. Last year, during our community conversations, we received a clear message: our community wants our youth to be life and career-ready. Specifically, there is a strong desire for more hands-on, applied learning opportunities, such as Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Effective career-ready programs must begin with robust middle school initiatives. During the Board’s visit to California last year, we saw firsthand the exceptional programs at Mad Tech Middle, which serve as an inspiring model for what we can achieve here. These programs are essential for setting our students on a successful path through high school and beyond.

Our district is diligently working to build these programs at the high school level and forge strong connections to postgraduate destinations like the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) and Klamath Community College (KCC). However, to truly accelerate our students along this track, we need a middle school that supports and enhances these efforts. Unfortunately, the current Ponderosa Middle School is outdated and does not meet the needs of our evolving educational goals.

The urgency of this need cannot be overstated. While the current middle school building is safe, our engineers have indicated that it could become unusable at any time because it is located on an active fault line. Our trusted advisors and the Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee have unanimously agreed that the time to act is now.

We estimate the budget for replacing Ponderosa Middle School to be around $120 million. This number may fluctuate slightly up or down as we consider incorporating other essential items, such as security upgrades and early learning facility support, into the overall bond. We may also determine that we can build at a lower cost depending on what year we decide to call a bond election to support the possible project in the future.

Replacing Ponderosa Middle School is not just about updating a building; it is about investing in the future of our community and ensuring that our youth have the tools and opportunities they need to succeed in life and their careers.

We appreciate your continued support and engagement as we take these crucial steps forward. Together, we can create an educational environment that prepares our students for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.

Over the next year, we will engage more with our stakeholders about Ponderosa. We will also schedule tours of the building for the community to see the current facility.

We do want to be very clear that we have not set any date for a potential Bond election. We just want to make sure our community is aware that we are working on a solution to replace Ponderosa on a different site that does not have an active fault line on it.

For anyone who has any questions about his message please e-mail Keith A. Brown at brownk@kfalls.k12.or.us.

KU Intro to Health Occupations

What a wonderful week for KU’s Intro to Health Occupations class!

On Tuesday, students got to visit the Sky Lakes Wellness Center downtown and learned about how to practice mindfulness, learned to cook some healthy treats and learned about the importance of keeping hemselves healthy.

Yesterday students had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Stewart Decker and talk about his career, how he got into the field and to connect with students.

And today students got to visit Klamath Community College (KCC) and check out their medical and science programs to get a hands on look at what a potential career can be like. Way to go Pels!

KU Athletics: Boys Soccer Reaches Quarterfinals, XC in State Championship Saturday

PELS WIN!! PELS WIN!! Congrats to the Klamath Union boys soccer team for a big win at Tillamook this past Tuesday.

Klamath Union found itself in panic during the first half of its OSAA Class 4A first-round state championship matchup against Tillamook. The Pelicans fell behind, 1-0, going into halftime.

Klamath Union senior forward, Jose Garcia, brought his team back when he evened the game with a goal after receiving a pass from junior teammate, Calen Morton.

Junior Luca Manzano Rodriguez sent the Pelicans into a frenzy after his game-winning goal, with an assist coming from Omar Garcia.

The defeat of Tillamook is the first playoff victory for KU's boys soccer program since 2011 when the Pelicans beat Madras in the first round, 2-0, on Conger Field.

Klamath Union will now travel to face No. 1 seed Stayton, which is 14-0-0 this season. KU will play the Eagles starting at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9 in Stayton.

The upcoming quarterfinal matchup will feature the top defenses from 4A play as KU has allowed nine goals this season and the Eagles only five.

Klamath Union girls soccer

Klamath Union girls soccer had its last game of the year, the last as Pelicans for seniors Marley Ogao, Jazmin Wilson, Myleah Vargas and Andi Harmon.

The Pelicans were eliminated from the state playoffs after a neck-and-neck first-round game against Philomath this past Wednesday and fell, 1-0.

A Philomath first-half goal was all the Warriors needed to get past the Pelicans.

Klamath Union girls soccer earned its most wins since 2014 with its 9-4-1 record this year.

The KU girls soccer team has made some noise in the Skyline Conference while Ogao, Wilson, Vargas and Harmon have been with the program.

The group also made the state tournament back in 2022 when the Pelicans fell to Gladstone in the first round.

Klamath Union volleyball

Klamath Union volleyball found itself with a difficult OSAA Class 4A first-round matchup with the No. 2 ranked team in the state, Marist Catholic.

The Pelicans were outmatched and swept in the matchup with Marist Catholic, which won, 25-3, 25-15, 25-14.

Klamath Union will be saying farewell to its three seniors, Eden Johnston, Angela Lowry and Jacie Madden.

Madden is a week removed after earning the honor of being named the top volleyball player in the state.

KU ended its season with a second-place finish in the Skyline Conference, ending with a 6-2 record in the conference and were 9-9 overall.

Article: Four-peat: KU girls and boys cross country take home conference crowns

Ponderosa Cross Country

Aiden McPherson and Mark Madsen competed at the state cross country meet Nov. 3 and had outstanding results. Both McPherson and Madsen earned a personal record and medal.

They competed in the 3,000 meter super champs race and placed in the top 50 runners of the state meet.

McPherson was the No. 1 runner for 6th grade.

Native American Heritage Month

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