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Projects being completed on time and within budget
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07-28-09
Lee's Summit R-7 students to benefit from new facilities thanks to 2008 no-tax-increase bond issue. Projects being completed on time and within budget
By Janice Phelan
R-7 Community Relations Director
Lee's Summit R-7 School District students are benefitting from numerous construction projects and school improvements thanks to passage of the district's $54 million no-tax-increase bond issue in April 2008.
Sunset Valley Elementary School, the district's 18th elementary, will open its doors to students this August. Construction began on the new school during summer 2008 and has progressed on time throughout the last year. The school is located at 1850 SE Ranson Road, immediately south of the Bailey Farm Park, and has a capacity of approximately 658 students.
A second new facility opening this August is the Miller Park Center, the district’s new special-education, day-treatment facility. This newly renovated facility is located in the district’s vacated former administrative office in downtown Lee’s Summit at the intersection of Sixth and Miller Streets. It houses the district’s behavior learning program which will serve students from kindergarten through high school who were previously served through contracted out-of-district programs.
Miller Park Center also houses a number of Special Services Department employees, including occupational/physical therapists, educational diagnosticians, social worker, behavior/autism specialists, Health Services Department as well as instructors for visually impaired students and orientation/mobility. In addition, the R-7 PTA has an office in the building.
The district’s new swim/dive facility, known as the Lee’s Summit R-7 Aquatic Center, is also opening this fall. The center serves high school competitive swim programs with opportunities for middle-school intramurals, physical-education/health instruction, extra-curricular elementary instruction and community aquatics. The self-supporting, joint-use Aquatic Center features a 25-yard by 50-meter pool with diving area.
The district’s April 2008 no-tax-increase bond issue is also funding new classrooms to provide an all-day kindergarten program for 2009-10, school additions and renovations throughout the district, instructional technology, marching band uniform replacement at Lee's Summit High School and Lee's Summit North High School and school buses. All bond projects are being completed on time and within budget.
Both Miller Park Center and the Aquatic Center are examples of the R-7 School District's continuing emphasis on good stewardship of school district funds. Renovation of the district's former administrative office, which the district had outgrown, saved money when compared to new construction. The district was also able to preserve a historic building, originally constructed as a high school in 1922. This well-built facility served R-7 students for many years, first as a high school, then as a junior high and later as an elementary school. In 1975, the building was converted into district offices, serving in this capacity for 32 years.
The Aquatic Center is located on land already owned by the school district, saving costs associated with land purchase. Approximately half of the facility's cost is funded through the no-tax-increase bond issue with the remainder funded from district alternative resources.
Community members will have the opportunity to tour all three new facilities during dedication ceremonies scheduled later this fall. Dedication for the Aquatic Center will be 2 p.m. Aug. 10. Miller Park Center's dedication will be at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 24, and Sunset Valley Elementary's dedication is scheduled at 3:30 Sept. 27.
In addition to the no-tax-increase bond issue, voters approved a no-tax-increase Prop C waiver continuance issue in April 2008. Both issues were placed on the ballot following a recommendation from the R-7 Citizens' Advisory Committee and unanimous approval by the R-7 Board of Education. More information about the bond issue and Prop C issue are available at the district's web page at www.leesummit.k12.mo.us and select "2008 Election Progress."
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