A special election
on two bond proposals for the Wayland Union school district is less than two months away, and three special public meetings on the issue were held over the past couple of weeks.
Voters is the May election will be asked to consider two bond proposals that will add a new upper elementary school for fourth and fifth grades, add a new wing to the middle school to accommodate all sixth-graders, improve safety and security, add a new swimming pool, install artificial turf at the football and track stadium, and pay for other facility upgrades.
The issue has been split into two bond proposals, one essentially for academic facilities and the other essentially for athletic facilities.
Proposal 1 — $34.1 million cost
Passage of this proposal will expand educational space, enhance safety and security, upgrade technology, and upgrade infrastructure in five school buildings.
Highlights include building a new elementary school for grades 4 and 5 across from the Transportation Building just south of the high school on Wildcat Drive. School officials assert the district’s continued growth in population has caused overcrowding in lower elementary classrooms. Enrollment projections are for 264 more students in the next five years and the district has already seen an increase of 185 new students in the past five years.
The proposal also would fund the addition of a new wing to the current junior high so that the new middle school would take in all sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Sixth-graders then could take advantage of music rooms and additional athletic options.
If proposal 1 is approved, the district would sell the 75-year-old Pine Street Elementary building to be repurposed in the community. The Pine Street gym still would be used by the district for community recreation programs and for athletics.
School officials have indicated that the cost of building a new elementary school is nearly the same as adding on to each of the elementary buildings at Pine, Steeby, Baker and Dorr.
“However, adding on is not a feasible option due to the already limited space at each school which would mean losing green space, playground areas, ball fields and parking areas,” Superintendent Norm Taylor has said. “Additionally, renovating and upgrading Pine Street School to meet the current building codes is not as cost effective as building a new school.”
Proposal 2 — $20.845 million cost
Passage of Proposal 2 would add a new pool onto the high school and convert the old pool space into new Robotics and Computer Aided Design (CAD) labs, and an updated auto shop. The growing band and orchestra programs would then have new and larger rehearsal space added in the former auto shop. The old pool conversion also would create new community locker rooms for the fitness center and pool.
The current pool at Wayland High School Wayland’s pool is more than 42 years old and school officials insist it has exceeded its useful lifespan. The pool depth is not up to current codes and the mechanical systems of the pool are struggling to continue to operate, with parts hard to come by. The pool over the past several years has been closed often for repairs.
Proposal 2 approval also would add 12 new tennis courts and deal with excessive crown and drainage issues of the football field by converting it to synthetic turf. The eight current tennis courts by the middle school are unusable due to safety concerns caused by large cracks in the playing surface. The tennis courts by the high school would be removed and converted to additional needed parking space once the new courts are constructed and playable.
The two bond proposals are the result of a long-range facility planning process that began nearly two years ago as part of the Five-Year Strategic Plan (2015-2020), a citizens’ and community driven effort that began in March 2015.
“One of the primary areas of focus was facilities/learning environment which had a goal to conduct a feasibility study to explore options to alleviate overcrowding at the lower elementary due to enrollment growth, and conduct a facility needs assessment,” Taylor said.
The assessment was conducted in the fall of 2015 by Tower Pinkster, a professional architectural firm. The results suggested maintenance and facility upgrades and took up needs from one to five years, six to ten years and 11 to 15 years.
Taylor said only the highest priority items needing attention in the next five years were considered in the current bond proposals. Three public forums were held in 2016 and a Citizens Advisory Committee met multiple times to provide recommendations.
The last day to register for the May 2 election is April 3. Voter registration and absentee voting information are available online at the Michigan Secretary of State’s “Michigan Voter Information Center” at https://webapps.sos.state.mi.us/MVIC/.
A complete list of specific projects, bond language, and frequently asked questions can be found on the district’s website: www.waylandunion.org/bond-info. For more information, questions, call Taylor at 269-792-2181 or e-mail taylorn@waylandunion.org
