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Blue Springs, MO —
The Blue Springs School District has been planning to improve safety and security at its schools. However, after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary last month, the district put those plans on a fast track.
The Blue Springs Board of Education, during a special meeting Thursday, unanimously approved placing a $20 million bond issue on the April 2 ballot. The issue would not raise taxes.
Superintendent Paul Kinder said the board as well as the Citizen’s Advisory Committee planned to place the bond issue on the ballot in February 2014. However, he said, after the killing of 26 students and teachers at the Connecticut elementary school Dec. 14, the board decided to move up the timeline about 10 months.
“We don’t want people to think this is a knee jerk reaction to what happened,” Kinder said. “It was already on the drawing board. We just felt it was our responsibility to bring it to the citizens now to see what they thought.”
Although a list of specific projects has not been finalized, about $14 million of the funds will be used to improve safety and security at district facilities. Because of renovations and changes made to Blue Springs and Blue Springs South high schools as well as the middle schools in recent years, Kinder said most of these changes will take place at the elementary level.
The remainder of the funds will be used to renovate academic and instructional areas in various locations.
“While many of these projects people will be able to see, others will be more difficult,” he said. “A lot of the projects, like bullet proof glass and panic buttons, we will not be able to tell people exactly where it will be going. We don’t want to leave those areas exposed.”
Kinder said the board has also approved the employment of six additional law enforcement officers, bringing the number of police officers in the district’s police department to 13. Those new officers will be hired sporadically over the next nine months.
“We have three of those positions advertised right now, and the rest will be hired this summer,” Kinder said. “We have had several meetings with our security team in light of the Newtown tragedy. We want to make sure our schools are secure as they possibly can be.”
The Blue Springs School District has been planning to improve safety and security at its schools. However, after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary last month, the district put those plans on a fast track.
The Blue Springs Board of Education, during a special meeting Thursday, unanimously approved placing a $20 million bond issue on the April 2 ballot. The issue would not raise taxes.
Superintendent Paul Kinder said the board as well as the Citizen’s Advisory Committee planned to place the bond issue on the ballot in February 2014. However, he said, after the killing of 26 students and teachers at the Connecticut elementary school Dec. 14, the board decided to move up the timeline about 10 months.
“We don’t want people to think this is a knee jerk reaction to what happened,” Kinder said. “It was already on the drawing board. We just felt it was our responsibility to bring it to the citizens now to see what they thought.”
Although a list of specific projects has not been finalized, about $14 million of the funds will be used to improve safety and security at district facilities. Because of renovations and changes made to Blue Springs and Blue Springs South high schools as well as the middle schools in recent years, Kinder said most of these changes will take place at the elementary level.
The remainder of the funds will be used to renovate academic and instructional areas in various locations.
“While many of these projects people will be able to see, others will be more difficult,” he said. “A lot of the projects, like bullet proof glass and panic buttons, we will not be able to tell people exactly where it will be going. We don’t want to leave those areas exposed.”
Kinder said the board has also approved the employment of six additional law enforcement officers, bringing the number of police officers in the district’s police department to 13. Those new officers will be hired sporadically over the next nine months.
“We have three of those positions advertised right now, and the rest will be hired this summer,” Kinder said. “We have had several meetings with our security team in light of the Newtown tragedy. We want to make sure our schools are secure as they possibly can be.”
