Takeaways:
- The Kansas City, Kansas, school district is asking voters to approve a $420 million bond.
- The bond would pay for replacing Central and Argentine middle schools, consolidating six elementary schools into three new buildings, a new main public library, an aquatic center and a range of repairs and upgrades.
- A homeowner whose residence is appraised at $100,000 would pay an added $97.75 a year for 30 years.
When visitors come into New Stanley Elementary School in Kansas City, Kansas, Principal Luis Arres feels embarrassed, as if he didn’t clean up for houseguests.
Vacuums, brooms, shelves of stacked copy paper, even a ladder clutter the hallways. But there’s nowhere else to store those items in the 101-year-old school.
There’s not enough room for the students either.
Fifth graders and the music room fill three buildings that stand apart from the main school. Children brave the weather when they move between buildings, and Arres worries about how isolated they would be in an emergency.