Community Voices
Page 7
Bond Issue for North Middle Addition Affects Every School by Dr. Marc Snow, Superintendent of Schools, Grain Valley Schools
Grain Valley Schools Community, I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention our next school bond issue which will be on the April 2, 2019 ballot. This is a $7.5 million dollar bond issue with the primary purpose of finishing our second wing of classrooms and adding a third wing of classrooms at North Middle School. Specifically, this will mean the addition of classrooms, student restrooms, collaborative areas, additional parking, and other work spaces for the school. Our primary alternate bid will be the replacement of the artificial turf at the high school stadium. Other capital improvement projects, such as asphalt work, are also being considered at this time. You may be asking, “Why would a bond issue to be used primarily for an addition to North Middle School concern me?” The short answer is that this addition to North Middle School at this time is a critical component to our long -range facilities plan that affects EVERY school in our district. The addition of
the classrooms, upon passage of the bond issue, will bring North Middle School to a similar size and layout as South Middle School. This is the next piece of the puzzle for our long-range facility needs. With the help of our community, we have been providing much needed additions and renovations to Grain Valley High School since 2012. Our longrange plan for the high school will continue for several more years. In the meantime, we need to provide for additional classroom and district program space at the middle school level. We also anticipate the need for a fifth elementary school in the next six to ten years. Completing the build-out of North Middle School now allows us to ensure all the other pieces fall into place over the next six to ten years, for the good of all students. Passage of this bond issue does not require raising the district’s debt service tax levy rate. In passing a bond issue, the community gives us permission to borrow the funds needed for capital improvements, such as classroom additions and equipment.
Rendering of the addition planned for North Middle School. Graphic credit: Grain Valley Schools We are not borrowing more than we can afford to pay back using our current debt service tax levy rate. Please call us at 847-5006 or e-mail
us at news@gvr5.net if you have any questions. Thank you for voting on April 2nd.
Community Profile: John Overstreet Editor’ Editor’s Note:
In our completely biased opinion, John Overstreet is a gem. We are grateful he shares his wonderful photos with us, and we have seen first hand his impact on the student athletes he photographs. We are pleased to feature Mr. Overstreet in this week’s Community Profile. We welcome your nominations for our Community Profile section at news@grainvalleynews.com.
How long have you lived in Grain Valley? We moved from Lincoln, Illinois to Blue Springs in April of 1994. We purchased land north of Grain Valley that summer and started building our house in late 1995. We moved into the house in May of 1996 and have been here since. What do you enjoy most about living in our community? Strangely enough, we moved to the Grain Valley because at the time it was one of the smallest communities in the area. I was raised in a small town, and my wife on a farm. We both attended schools with graduating classes (well under 100) where you knew everyone in the building for most of your life. Today, we laugh at our concern back then that we couldn’t fathom living in a “city” as big as Blue Springs, or having our children attend such a large school,
so Grain Valley seemed a good alternative. Little did we know what lay in store. While it has grown some threefold since then, Grain Valley still seems to have a small community atmosphere to us, perhaps because we’ve been here to see so much of that growth. It’s been exciting to see the changes, from getting our own Sonic (yes, that was a BIG deal back then), to watching the community build and fill additions at the High School (which was brand new when we moved here) and Mathews, to adding two new elementary schools and two new middle schools. With the addition of another high school on the horizon, Grain Valley is headed to a population of over 5,000 students. From a City Hall that shook as trains went by, to the current facilities on Main Street, and now, with plans to build a new complex that includes an aquatic center on the Sni-a-Bar Farms John Overstreet with his wife Beth, his daughter Lauren, and son Joshua. property on the south end of Buckner Photo courtesy of John Overstreet. Tarsney, Grain Valley continues to grow, bringing new residents, new Why are you passionate about doing, like sharing a few pictures of the businesses, and new opportunities to kids in our community to count for that, photographing high school athletics/ our community. I think what I enjoy then who am I to argue? activities? most about living in the Grain Valley I started snapping pictures at school Great question, and I wish I had a area is that the growth of the last 20 events way back when my son Joshua great answer. I’m not really sure why I plus years has supplied my wife and I was still playing football, mostly just to do it. I kind of just stumbled into it and with countless new friendships, while capture memories for our family, and have been hooked since. I believe we all providing my children with a place they the families of his teammates. Digital should find a way to give something can call home, and a community they photography was just starting to back to our community, and if I’m lucky feel connected to. become affordable for everyone, so we enough to have something I enjoy
see OVERSTREET on page 9
