Nespelem School to upgrade building with $2.86 million grant

The Nespelem School District has been awarded $2.86 million under a Washington state grant to help small, rural school districts modernize.

The award was announced at the district's Monday night school board meeting.

Apollo Solutions helped the Nespelem School District apply for the grant.

Transportation & Maintenance Supervisor Dave Cirk wrote the grant with help from Jack Horne, Principal Marcy Horne's husband.

Cirk said the money will be used to update the electrical system in the school, to replace every window with energy-efficient windows; upgrade all the lights to LED; update the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system; update the security at the school to include cameras in and outside the school; and to add doors that can be opened or closed remotely and with keycards.

Cirk said the upgrades are needed because electrical breakers are regularly tripping, and because the lights aren't bright enough for the students in many classrooms to meet standards.

"In the winter it's too cold, and in the summer it's too hot," Cirk said. "I definitely look forward to getting the new HVAC. It's also really noisy in the classrooms with our old system. With the fan blowing you can hardly hear, and the new system will completely eliminate that, so we're excited about it."