In Waitsburg, Washington, the community was actively involved in a rural school facilities improvement project. The district serves approximately 410 students in three buildings on a single campus. Spurred by growing enrollment and aging facilities, the project included the complete renovation and restoration of a historic school building to serve as a junior high school, as well as remodeling and new construction for the elementary school building. A new superintendent, hired after efforts to build a new elementary school failed, established a facilities steering committee of key community members, launched a monthly district newsletter, held a series of community meetings to gather feedback, and conducted surveys to determine priorities of need for facilities improvement and to offer the community a range of project options. After the scope of the project was established, a bond issue was narrowly passed and state matching funds were obtained. Separate committees worked on the design of each building, with the local historical society involved in decisions about the historic junior high building. To offset the limited funding available, crews of community volunteers did the initial interior demolition work, moved furniture to temporary classrooms in churches and community buildings and then back to the schools when the renovation was complete, and did landscaping. (Contains 26 references and a brief literature review on rural school-community involvement.) (SV)