by Murrel Bland
The Kansas City, Kan., School Board will ask voters to approve a $235 million bond issue Nov. 8 as part of the general election ballot.
Tammy Dodderidge, a spokeswoman for the school district, explained the details of the bond issue Friday, Sept. 9, at a monthly meeting of the Legislative Committee of the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce. She said the bonds would pay for safety and security improvements in each building depending on needs.
Two new elementary and two middle schools would be built. Two aging middle schools, Coronado and Northwest, would be razed. A new middle school would be built at the Coronado location. Students from White Church and Bethel elementary schools would attend a new building at the White Church location. The Bethel location would become an early childhood center.
West Middle School would be upgraded and become an elementary school taking students that presently attend William Allen White and Parker elementary schools.
Areas in all high schools would be used for college and career learning spaces. Other upgrades would include modern science laboratories.
The bond money would also provide for kitchen remodeling and upgrades at six elementary schools—New Stanley, Noble Prentis, Grant, John Fiske, Eugene Ware and Douglass–and Rosedale Middle Schools. There would be new playgrounds at nine elementary schools—Eugene Ware, Grant, John Fiske, Lindbergh, Stony Point South, Claude Huyck, Pearson, Whittier and Caruthers.
Each building in the district would receive an extensive review to determine long-range maintenance needs of such things as plumbing, roofing, heating. lighting and air conditioning.
Dodderidge said the bond issue would not cause a tax increase, as existing bonds that funded air conditioning for school buildings will be paid off. According to existing law, the state would pay for 43 percent of bond issues for capital projects, Dodderidge said.
The chamber’s Legislative Committee unanimously recommended that the chamber’s Board of Directors support the passage of the bond issue.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.
