HERMISTON — Hermiston School District had a lot to celebrate on Tuesday, April 13.

The district welcomed all students back to the classroom full time for the first time in over a year, and celebrated the groundbreaking for two new schools.

“This day could not get any better,” Rocky Heights Elementary Principal Stefani Wyant said.

She said she was thrilled to see all of her school full again, and to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for a new, larger Rocky Heights that will be constructed in the current athletic fields next to the school.

The softball fields there are in the process of being moved to a new softball complex next to Hermiston High School, on the former fairgrounds. Students will continue to attend at the current building for the 2021-22 school year while construction is underway, before transferring to the new school in the fall of 2022.

For some, knowing the next school year will be the last for the original Rocky Heights building is bittersweet. Wyant said the school has served multiple generations of families, and some current staff were Rocky Heights students themselves.

“A lot of families have gone through here,” she said, calling it “home” for her after she began her teaching career there and eventually became principal.

The building was built in 1962, however, and has maintenance and security issues. The new $23 million building, built to serve 600 students, will have a one-story, 73,500-square-foot layout with 24 classrooms plus a library, gym and other common areas.

At the April 13 groundbreaking, Superintendent Tricia Mooney called it a “huge step forward” in a project that has already taken years of planning and effort.

“Great communities have great schools, and this is one step to getting there,” she said.

After the Rocky Heights groundbreaking, school board members and other dignitaries traveled to the large, sagebrush-covered lot at the corner of East Theater Lane and Northeast 10th Street to break ground on the new school, which will be known as Loma Vista Elementary School.

Loma Vista will also serve 600 students, using the same general layout as the new Rocky Heights, and open for the 2022-23 school year.

At the second groundbreaking, Mooney recognized the work of a long list of people, including those who helped get an $87.2 million bond passed in 2019 to fund the new schools. The bond is also paying for the new softball complex, a new annex adding classrooms at Hermiston High School, purchase of additional property for future schools, and improvements to the parking and drop-off areas of several schools.

Wenaha Group has served as project managers for the bond, and BBT Architects did the design for the schools. Construction of both elementary schools will be handled by Kirby Nagelhout Construction.

“I’m looking forward to having students here instead of sand and sagebrush,” Mooney said.

The school district recently named Josh Browning as principal of Loma Vista. While the school is being built, he will work on staffing the school and making other preparations needed before its opening.

Browning, who is currently an instructional coach for the district, said he is excited to see work start on the building.