Steve Tool/Chieftain Joseph Charter School's new practice facility appears well on its way to its scheduled June 1 completion target.

Joseph Charter School recently undertook several important additions to its campus, including new classrooms and a practice facility.

School superintendent Rhonda Shirley said the school received a $2 million grant specially allocated for charter schools to fund the project.

The school applied for and received charter school status in 2011.

Shirley said the school needed the new additions as the district leased out the old Joseph Elementary School to the U.S. Forest Service in 2010. The lease accelerated the school’s plan to consolidate all grades at the present site. Consequently, grades K-3 relocated to the main campus.

“We were super tight for room. We converted a hallway that was a weight room into our resource room. When we needed a kindergarten room, we put a divider into one large room. We were really cramped for space,” Shirley said.

The district decided to start looking for funding possibilities. JCS found a charter school funding grant specifically designated for facilities through the state of Oregon.

The practice facility is a part of the same grant package. Shirley said the school needs the facility for reasons of space and regulations. “It’s always been a challenge to do all of our PE classes, and now it’s mandated for elementary students to have more PE.” Shirley added that the current lack of a practice facility necessitates middle school teams holding practices before school. The new facility also meets the need for a covered area in which to hold recess during inclement weather.

Shirley said the practice facility is regulation size, 7,400 square feet, and features a synthetic floor as the district cannot afford installation and maintenance of a hardwood floor such as the present gym has. “The facility is large enough to meet volleyball standards, and we plan to use it for volleyball practice as well,” Shirley said. The practice facility has a projected completion date of June 1.

Along with the practice facility, the school added three new classrooms. Shirley said the original 1968 blueprints for the school called for the eventual addition of three classrooms anyway, so the school already had plans and space to work with.

The three new rooms include a resource room that teacher Kristin Albee utilizes, a room that teachers Laurie Altringer and Olan Fulfer use for their fifth- through eighth-grade classes, while the other room will see use as a conference room with possible use by reading groups as well. The classrooms, a priority, were completed in December 2014.

“These additions were much needed because we’ve been cramped in for so long with K through 12 in one building. The practice facility is going to make things so much easier for our different sports,” Shirley said.

The school hired local businesses Miller Plumbing, Mountain View Glass and Joseph Excavating to work on the project.