Lake Monterey facilities director details summer repairs, $340,000 federal-state ventilation grant

Facilities Director Matthew told the Lake Monterey School District board on Aug. 12 that his team completed a range of summer maintenance and safety upgrades across the district—s 14 sites, and that the district secured a significant ventilation grant. The district has 14 sites, 32 buildings and about 137 acres, Matthew said, and his maintenance crew of six tradespeople plus 28 custodial staff maintain roughly 500,000 square feet of building space. He described in-house work on steam-pipe repairs, parking-lot maintenance, fence replacement at the middle-school track and resurfacing and irrigation at Cole Field. The district also contracted out several projects: single-ply roof replacements at Washington Elementary and Northside, asphalt repairs and a hydro-excavation job to repair a bubbling water/utility issue. Matthew said maintenance staff excavated and repaired the pipe, then contractors installed asphalt. He credited in-house staff for much of the troubleshooting and follow-through. The district completed security and energy-efficiency upgrades, including remote-capable thermostats and building access controls at Sandpoint High School that allow badge entry from the outside. Matthew said the transportation yard received improved lighting through a combination of district funds and a rebate and support from Avista; he said bus-block heaters were reprogrammed to run later overnight so they are on only when needed. A donor-funded remodel of a high-school art studio is nearly finished, Matthew said. The remodeling converted a life-skills-style kitchen space into a studio with track lighting, standing-height work surfaces and a canvas wall dedicated to donor Christopher Schultz. Matthew and board members said the project is fully funded by the donor and will expand art-class capacity. Matthew said the district received a competitive $340,000 grant to upgrade ventilation at Northside and Washington elementaries. He said the award came through the U.S. Department of Energy and the Idaho Office of Emergency Management; Matthew and a parent volunteer helped with the application. At the meeting he said the state allotment for the program totaled $2 million and the district received roughly 15% of the local share. Board members thanked Matthew and his crew at the meeting; no formal action was taken on the presentation. What happens next: Matthew said ongoing preventative maintenance will continue through the year and that the CTTE center and the middle-school modernization projects were on preliminary construction schedules, with bid activity planned for March and work aimed for late spring and summer 2026.