School district begins $55M bond project

School district begins $55M bond project

A partial rendering of the new office entrance at Alpine Elementary. Courtesy Kenowa Hills Public Schools

A school district in the area has begun construction on a $55-million bond project to improve six facilities over the next four years.

Kenowa Hills Public Schools broke ground on the first phase — improvements and new construction at Alpine Elementary —yesterday.

Bond improvements will encompass all Kenowa Hills facilities: Kenowa Hills High School; Kenowa Hills Middle School; Alpine Elementary; Central Elementary; Zinser Elementary; and Kenowa Hills Early Childhood Center.

District Superintendent Gerald Hopkins called the projects “an effort to provide all students a safe an engaging school experience.”

“There are so many amazing things happening inside the walls of our classrooms, and we are excited to begin to make these experiences even more so with building improvements that will be highly visible to our teachers, students and parents,” Hopkins said.

The bond

Voters passed the bond to fund these projects in the May 2016 election.

The district has also purchased new buses and IT equipment with the bond funds.

Firms on the project

GMB Architecture + Engineering is the project’s architect.

Owen-Ames-Kimball is the construction firm on the project.

Kenowa Hills Public Schools

Kenowa Hills Public Schools is headquartered in Alpine Township outside of Grand Rapids.

It serves portions of Alpine Township, the City of Walker and Wright Township, including Marne.

Project timeline

2017

Alpine Elementary: Secure entry, traffic and parking lot re-configurations, new gymnasium, building improvements

Kenowa Hills High School: Secure entry, athletic improvements (baseball and tennis)

2018

Early Childhood Center: Secure entry

Central Elementary: Secure entry, traffic and parking lot re-configuration

Kenowa Hills Middle School: Secure entry, traffic and parking lot re-configurations

Zinser Elementary: Secure entry

2019

Central Elementary: Building improvements

Zinser Elementary: Building improvements, traffic and parking lot re-configurations

2020

Kenowa Hills High School: Building improvements, traffic and parking lot re-configurations