KANSAS CITY, Kan. — District leaders with Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools say Central Middle School is an example of a deteriorating school building in need of support from an upcoming bond proposal.
This $180 million proposal on the November 5 ballot is a zero-tax bond, unlike the $420 million bond proposal voted down in May.
“We recognized that we had to chip away at this, because while the reality is prices were rising, we do know that [because of] the conditions of our schools, we need to upgrade, replace and update,” Dr. Anna Stubblefield, the district superintendent told patrons Monday night at a school bond information meeting.
Voters KSHB 41 spoke with Monday who voted no in May say their reasons varied from opposing a tax increase to proof of an increase in student academic progress before investing in new buildings.
In May, the cost to build an elementary school: $31 million.
Five months later?
The price tag is now $37 million.
The district said the cost of a new middle school 4 months ago was $61 million.
The new price to build a middle school is $5 million dollars more.
District leaders say a constant increase in building costs are why it's become more expensive to make improvements.
“We know we need to improve [academics],” said Brian Dolezal, principal of Central Middle School. “But we can do both.”
Dolezal became Central Middle’s principal in July, and found the building he now ran flooded, had exposed wires and falling ceilings.
The school's condition was worse after KSHB 41's Charlie Keegan visited the school in April.
“I knew this was going to be a tough job, but it’s an opportunity to move the school in the right direction,” Dolezal said.
Central Middle School is 109 years old and looks its age.
Dolezal says there’s only so many temporary fixes, and without an infusion of money, things will get worse.
“If we don’t get that, we’re going to be forced to continue to deal with Band-Aid fixes,” Dolezal said.
The last time voters approved a bond issue came in 2016. Central Middle used money for renovations, which included the construction of the Career & Technical Education space.
“Having an entire school like this would be a dream come true,” said Dolezal during a tour of the CTE room on Monday.
There also are other safety concerns Dolezal and staff members have with the building structure.
“Just last week, on multiple of our campuses that have mobiles, there were things happening in the community where we had to go on security,” Stubblefield said at Monday night's meeting.
Dolezal echoed that sentiment and said students in mobile classrooms had to stay in their mobile classroom units during the social media threats the district received in the past few weeks.
Not only that, but he's also concerned the fences around the units aren't high enough.
Sumner High School is the only high school in the district that has mobile units and that's something the district says was supposed to be a temporary solution.
In addition to concerns about students outside in mobile classrooms enduring weather elements, there are also concerns about conditions for students inside the school buildings.
“During that heat wave, we had at least two or three classrooms a day where there was no air conditioning, and the rooms were well over 100 degrees where we had to move kids around,” Dolezal said.
Those weather changes have lasting impacts.
“With the condensation on the walls, it makes it extremely hard to put anything on the walls,” said Jennifer Buckbee, a teacher at Central Middle.
“Duct tape doesn’t even hold it.”
But it does hold the wrestling mats in the basement together.
“Storing all our stuff on rocks and makeshift shelving, it's an equity issue, and our kids notice those things,” Dolezal said.
In the meantime, staff members like Ashley Kuch, Central Middle’s librarian, have to get creative.
“We have terrible humidity in here,” Kuch said. “So I have two large dehumidifiers that I have to dump once to twice a day.”
Kuch said she has been at the school for nine years, and she hopes the outcome of November’s vote is different than the one in April.
“I hope that it’s not just, ‘Oh, they want a new school just to have shiny new things,’” Kuch said. “It’s hard to work and also learn in a building that is literally falling apart.”
It’s the same old story, but the district’s hoping for a different ending.
“I think it would mean the world to our kids to have updated facilities, updated sports equipment, updated sports facilities, cause they deserve that just as much as any other student does,” Dolezal said.
To learn more about what the money from the bonds will fund, go to the district’s website.
