Lowell superintendent: $104M bond would modernize district
LOWELL, Mich. (WOOD) — In the May 7 election, Lowell voters will decide on a $104 million bond proposal that would update infrastructure and modernize school buildings, and Superintendent Nate Fowler says it would not increase the tax rate.
Kayla Smith’s daughter is preparing to start kindergarten in the fall in Lowell and already attends preschool in the district.
“She has been going since she was three so almost two years,” Smith said.
If the bond is approved, she will see several improvements made to buildings throughout her education.
“With my daughter going into kindergarten next year I think that that would be awesome, and it shows me that they just want to do what’s best for the kids,” Smith said.
Nearly $30 million of the bond would be used to renovate the school, which was built as a middle school in the 1970s but has been used as an elementary school for the past 30 years.
“Our teachers and our kids do a great job of learning in that environment, but we’d like to create just some better-modernized learning spaces for these areas as well as just through the design process, have opportunities for our grade levels to build more community as well,” Fowler said.
One of the changes the bond funding would make would be to improve the layout of the school. The classrooms have temporary walls which can be more disruptive for students and teachers.
The district also plans to look at improving the design for parent pick-up and drop-off at Cherry Creek Elementary.
Playground equipment would be replaced at all elementary schools and some classrooms would be renovated at each building.
Fowler says that in addition to making improvements, the bond is about preserving and maintaining buildings as well.
“This is one area that we’ve identified as a priority not only because of the aging infrastructure but also just to really have an opportunity to have a positive impact on student learning,” Fowler said.
Renovations would be made to Lowell High School and the arts wing would be expanded.
“We have an award-winning orchestra program that does not have a dedicated classroom so we are adding a classroom to Lowell High School for our orchestra program,” Fowler said.
Improvements to plumbing and electrical as well as the heating and cooling systems would be made across the district.
A new gym would be constructed at the middle school to provide greater capacity for sports practices and community events.
“We recently completed the renovation of Lowell Middle School and the initial plans for that project added a second auxiliary gym to the middle school but as we went through the design process the budget just didn’t allow for us to build that gym during our previous bond initiatives so what we’re going to do with this one is we left space to construct a second gym at the middle school,” Fowler said.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
