Bond Passes with Overwhelming Majority

The $38 million bond passed with the support of 84.95% of voters in the Independence School District. Superintendent Dr. Dale Herl says, “I want to extend my thanks to all of the voters who have had a direct impact on the future success of the ISD.”

The bond will build a new elementary school to ease overcrowding, eliminate all mobile trailers in the ISD and advance the Academy model for all ISD high school students by adding and enhancing classrooms for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), Culinary, Vocational and Business coursework.

The new elementary school at 31^st and Hardy Avenue will have a capacity of 450-500 students. This will ease overcrowding and eliminate all mobile trailers at the elementary level.

At Truman High School, the bond will pay for a new entry and exterior upgrades, addressing safety concerns and modernizing the building exterior. Four additional classrooms will be added, moving four math classrooms out of the mobile trailers and into the school. At Truman, the bond will expand and remodel the lunchroom, remodel science classrooms and add a physical therapy and athletic training classroom space for the Academies.

At Van Horn High School, the bond will pay for instructional space for our Culinary Pathway, adding five commercial kitchens to be used by students from all three high schools. A new competition gym will be added with locker rooms, concession stands and a mezzanine for wrestling and seating. At Van Horn, the bond will add a metals classroom, wood shop, remodel science classrooms and add a physical therapy and athletic training classroom space for the Academies.

At William Chrisman High School, the bond will pay for four additional classrooms, including two Cisco computer networking rooms for the Academies. A weight room will be added, allowing the wrestling room to move to the existing weight room. At Chrisman, the bond will remodel science classrooms and add a physical therapy and athletic training classroom space for the Academies.

The new elementary school will be completed in the summer of 2019. The William Chrisman High School addition will be completed by February of 2018. The planned completion for Van Horn High School is November 2018. At Truman High School, the classrooms and lunchroom completion date is February of 2018. The front entry at Truman will be finished by August 2018. Science classroom remodels at all high schools will be phased in during the summers of 2018 and 2019. Completion dates are approximate as weather and building conditions could be a factor.

You can see what the projects would look like in these renderings.