Work continues to progress on new school

Workers continue make progress on the construction of a new Monticello Elementary School. The existing school will be torn down as soon as the school year closes in May. The $10.5 million project will be finished this summer, with students returning to a new building in August.
The new building is immediately behind the existing school. The footprint of the existing school will be the parking lot and entry into the new school.
The Spring Art Festival at Monticello Elementary School will take place on Thursday, April 3, beginning at 6 p.m. The annual program, which features the talents of students in music and art, takes on additional meaning this year as students prepare to leave the aging building that has housed the school since the late 1950s.
Community members may purchase the class art pieces that will be displayed at the festival. A silent auction of the artwork will close at 6:40 p.m., with the new owners taking home their pieces of art at the end of the festival at 7 p.m.
There are five levels of giving for the artwork, ranging from the $10 Michelangelo level to the $100 Van Gogh level.
All proceeds from the silent auction will go toward the purchase of the “Flights of Learning” statue that will be displayed in front of the new school. The life-sized bronze statue is by local sculptor Bryce Pettit.
Pettit has generously donated his sculpture fee to the project.
A community fundraising effort has succeeded in raising several thousand dollars for the project, with approximately $10,000 remaining to be raised.
In just two months, students at the school have saved more than $1,000 in “Monticello nickels”. What began as a competition between classes at the school grew when students at Monticello High School joined in the effort to save nickels. More recently, donation jars have appeared at local businesses.
In addition to the nickel project, the Monticello Lions Club raised a large amount of money for the project at the annual Deer Hunters Dinner. An additional contribution was made by Janell and Scott Brown, who sold their famous cupcakes at the event.
The school PTA also donated nearly $2,000 in proceeds from the annual Halloween Harvest.
The Monticello Elementary School Community Council has announced an additional fundraising effort that they hope will help complete the project.
There are four levels of giving in the “Leave Your Mark” fundraising effort.
For a $100 donation, donors can have a 4” x 8” brick engraved and placed in the courtyard in front of the statue.
A $200 donation will secure an 8” x 8” engraved brick in the courtyard.
For a $500 donation, donors will receive a limited edition print of “Bringing Them Down from the Blues”, a wonderful piece of art painted by artist Floyd Breinholt.
The painting has been displayed in the San Juan County Library in Monticello for several decades. It shows a cowboy rounding up cattle in the fall on the Blue Mountains.
Photographer Kay Shumway created a digital photograph of the painting, which will be used to create a spectacular full-color image, on canvas, and suitable for framing.
The contribution of the artwork to the fundraising effort is possible through the gracious cooperation of the library, Kay Shumway, Clayson Lyman, and Claudia Young Breinholt Steed, a Monticello native and widow of the artist.
The final level of donation, $1,500, will help sponsor a bench in the courtyard of the statue.
The bricks can be ordered online at http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1711881-UdIoEPSeIV. Donations for the painting or benches should be made directly to the school.
For more information, call Jenny Black at 435-419-0718 or bring order forms and checks to the school office. Make checks payable to the San Juan School District Education Foundation.
Organizers hope to reach a wide range of potential donors for the project.
“There are many options,” said Heidi Pehrson, who helped organize the fundraising effort. “Donors can leave their mark by engraving a short message to the future generations on their brick. You can also donate a brick in honor of a beloved teacher, in memory of a family member, to honor your graduating class or in the name of your business.”
In addition to the bronze sculpture, the new school will feature six pieces of artwork painted by local artist Richard Russell. They will hang in the entrance of the new school.