Monday, Jan. 12 the Westside School Board was presented with a bond issue request to improve and enhance district buildings. The bond issue addresses safety concerns around district buildings and improving educational spaces. The requested amount is $94.8 million. The bond issue would mainly focus on Westside’s elementary school buildings and middle school. The money from the bond, if presented to voters and passed, would provide for improvements and enhancements.

Rosie Zweiback, a District 66 school board member, cited safety needs and issues around the buildings, involving leaking, paint peeling and building structure, as reasons for the bond issue request. For many of Westside’s schools, there have not been renovations of this size since a $15.8 million (not corrected for inflation) bond-funded renovation in 1961.

“The bond is designed to improve and enhance elementary school buildings, [while providing] major [renovations] to the middle school,” Zweiback said.

Part of the problem elementary schools have been experiencing is space, according to Zweiback. For many of the elementary schools, the gym area is also used as a cafeteria or other instructional space. For example, at Swanson, the music room is located on the stage within the gym. This can cause problems when there are gym and music classes going on simultaneously. Most of the elementary school gyms are not regulation-sized, as well.

The board has yet to decide if the bonds would be paid back over 20, 25 or 30 years. It will depend on interest rates and the size of the levy needed to cover the bond. The decision will be made this spring when the projects to fund are decided and the size of the bond is confirmed.

The facilities task force is a group of school district staff, three board of education members, and community volunteers with expertise in facilities, construction, finance and communication. They have put together a fifteen-year plan, with projects ranked on importance, from buildings with the most critical needs to buildings with the least. Phase one would be completed over a 7- to 8-year period. Phase two and phase three of the plan would focus on newer buildings like Westgate, which was rebuilt after a tornado in 1975 destroyed it.

The district’s efforts are not focused on the high school at this time. As the high school was renovated in 1997, it is in better shape than other buildings. Still, the high school would be experiencing a few changes, including security updates and improvements in meeting Americans with Disabilities Act standards, if the bond issue were proposed and passed. The focus for these improvements will be to better accommodate students with disabilities who need easier access to the building.

The school board’s vote to approve the bond issue is scheduled for March. If the board approves the request, there will be a mail-in vote sent to district property owners in May.