The bond proposal, or the proposal for major renovations spanning the high school, Pre-K buildings, elementary schools, and middle school, is one of the biggest projects ever taken on by the East Grand Rapids administration, spanning multiple years and costing millions.

Dr. Heidi Kattula, district superintendent, and Anthony Morey, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, gave some more insight into what exactly the bond means for the future of the schools and their students.

Both Kattula and Morey have not only been involved in the planning stages of the endeavor, but also in reaching out to the community for feedback. They both believe one of the most important things in a proposal such as this one is to make sure the community is as involved and informed as possible.

“It’s important to be clear on your message. As we talk to students, we try to think about what students are most interested in and what they need to hear,” Kattula said.

Communicating not only with students but alumni and stakeholders in the project also has been vital throughout the project. 

“Good listening skills with our stakeholders is fundamental. Every meeting is about finding the best ideas and dealing with the various constraints, whether it be the physical site that we’re on, the competing financial interests, or identifying strong partnerships,” Morey said. 

   Gaining the trust of the community and providing complete transparency about what is in the works has been a goal of the administration, and they are doing so by making themselves available and communicating at an unprecedented level.

“Transparency is really important. From the beginning, we knew this would be something of interest, and we have provided milestone updates as well as 5-6 community letters before the election was called, which is not common for a school district to take that approach,” Morey said.

The bond not only includes a renovation of the high school but has three phases to it spanning all the schools in the district.

“In simple terms, this bond will have three major components, the high school being the largest both in terms of scope of work and cost. It will cost 118.3 million to transform the current high school,” Morey said.

The current plan for the high school includes 100,000 square feet of renovations that eliminate windowless spaces and make classrooms bigger and more open. Most of the center corridor on the top floor would likely go away partially and would be replaced with common areas. There’s even an idea to put a hole in the floor so that natural light through skylights can come all the way down to the first floor! A technological update in the performing arts center is also in the works as well as an update to the music corridor.

The renovation also involves a 60,000-square-foot multi-level add-on connected through

a walkway on the second floor.

 “Part of the dream with this new design would be to provide that top floor [of the addition] where you have a science lab but you also have that additional space for programs like Robotics and Science Olympiad who have so little space currently,” Kattula said. 

While there has been some concern among students that the renovations would negatively impact their high school experience, Kattula and Morey explained that there is a major focus on impacting students’ experience as little as possible during the renovations if the bond passes. 

“We’ve put the most amount of effort into the addition because students said that they want their high school experience to be untouched, and every other solution except for this one would dramatically impact students by putting them in portable classrooms,” Morey said.

The main challenge that comes with the high school renovation is the loss of parking slots in the senior lot, but solutions to the issue are currently in the works.

“We’re going to work on that problem. We’ve got plenty of ideas that are being talked about,” Morey said. 

Phase two of the bond includes a small addition to the preschool program, “allowing us to meet community demand for PreK services, kindergarten, as well as aftercare services,” Morey said.  

The last part of the bond will involve all three elementary schools as well as the middle school and will focus on updating systems and mechanics.  

“In this phase, we’ll focus on heating and cooling and temperature control in all the classrooms. We know from our student feedback that temperature control and quality lighting have a major impact on your daily classroom experience,” Morey said. 

  The election for the bond proposal will take place on November 7, and the next steps will be taken in the days that follow. 

“We’re hoping it passes, but if it doesn’t we will regroup and take the feedback we received from our voters. If it does, we’ll move forward with more intensive planning,” Kattula said.