If School Levies Pass, Construction Could Begin in 2015

Assuming the schools’ levies pass at the ballot box this November, the third and final phase of construction could begin in early 2015.

The elementary schools could finish as soon as early 2016; and the high school in 2017.

That’s according to Superintendent Jeff Patterson, who hosted a community meeting this week to discuss the levies and the proposed construction.

More than 100 residents attended the meeting.

After receiving the news that the school district had been approved for $50 million to finishing rebuilding a few schools, the school board is looking to ask voters for help covering the rest of the $100 million project.

The first is an expected 3.25-mill bond issue; and the other is a .5-mill permanent improvement levy. 

The total combined millage would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $131 per year or $11 per month.

The Lakewood City Schools got the green light to receive $50.4 million in state money to build/renovate three school buildings, but the district must now make up the difference of the state money for the expected $100 million project.

Patterson also discussed where the district would house students during construction, noting that the district would consider using “our mothballed buildings and other church/school sites in the district,” but nothing has been finalized.

Earlier this year, Lakewood voters overwhelmingly approved a 3.9-mill operating levy.

The final phase of the school district’s Master Facility Plan would demolish Grant, Lincoln and Roosevelt elementary schools, as well as the eastern portion of the high school, then rebuild them.

The local share is an expected $28.6 million.

The school board is expected to discuss the measure at tonight’s meeting.

“We need to finish the projects to provide all of our children the same access to technology and better learning spaces,” board vice president Linda Beebe recently told Lakewood Patch. “The community has waited far too long for these projections to come to completion."

In 2009, the district decided to shutter Grant Elementary School. However, the district recently shifted gears when presented with new data suggesting that enrollment is projected to climb during the next several years. 

The school will stay, but like the others it will be rebuilt.

At the high school, everything east of the Civic Auditorium will be demolished and rebuilt. 

Demolition on the buildings could begin as soon as summer of 2014, with construction beginning that fall. Details, such as where classes will be held during the construction, still need ironed out.

The project is the third part of a plan that’s been in the works for years.

The first phase of the district’s Master Plan built Hayes and Harrison elementary schools and Harding and Garfield middle schools in 2004.

Renovations of Horace Mann and Emerson elementary schools, as well as the western portion of the high school, were part of Phase 2 in 2007.

Widespread financial hardships prevented the district from moving forward with the third phase then.