More repair work is needed at the Baker School and Baker Hall, according to Paul Johnson.

White Pine County School Trustee Irene Chachas examines the condition of draperies inside the 78-year-old Baker Hall during the facilities tour. White Pine County School District Finance Director Paul Johnson points out a necessary repair to the exterior of Baker Elementary School to the grades 3-6 school’s only teacher, Heather Yacapraro, during a facilities tour in Baker last week.

Johnson, the White Pine County School District's Finance Director, pointed out the needed repairs when the school board toured the 15-year-old school and 78-year-old Baker Hall before holding its Aug. 19 meeting in the border community.

Needed repairs include siding for the main school building, exterior paint, new windows and ceiling tiles for the nearly eight-decade-old Baker Hall and resurfacing of outdoor tennis and basketball courts.

While the roof was repaired and ceiling tiles and wallboard replaced following damage when wind gusts reported as high as 81 mph stripped the roof off the modular school building on Jan. 5 of this year. Water damage from a reported two inches of rain followed. The 21 students spent more than three months in cramped quarters in the neighboring Baker Hall, a WPCSD owned building that has served as Baker High School, an elementary school and an LDS church since it was built in 1930. It includes office space and a gym with a stage and a basketball court.

The school district reported earlier this year that insurance paid for the majority of the $31,000 cost of repairs to the school building that included roof repairs, structural drying, new carpeting, replacement of insulation, ceiling tiles and drywall. The cost to the district was reported in February as $2,729.

The school reopened April 7 with last year's enrollment of 21 students. Many of those children have gone on to middle school. There are currently 10 students at the Baker school.

Heather Yacapraro is the one-teacher staff.

Children from Baker and Garrison, Utah, attend Garrison Elementary School (three miles from the Baker school) in kindergarten, first and second grades. Children from both communities in grades three through six attend classes at Baker Elementary School.

Middle and high school students from both communities have an option of attending White Pine middle and high schools in Ely or Eskdale High School (a grades 7-12 school) in Utah.