Upgrades to Olathe middle school auditorium and student experience spaces are moving forward.Â
Last week, the Olathe Board of Education approved the architectural and engineering proposals for the auditorium renovations, scaled based on need. Other upgrades to the middle schools are included in the plans as well, also depending on what each building needs.Â
Summit Trail Middle, the newest of the 10 middle schools, opened in 2018. It will not be included in the middle school auditorium upgrades. Santa Fe Trail Middle, the oldest, will also be excluded from this project as the entire middle school is expected to be demolished after a replacement school opens in fall 2024.Â
Every other middle school — California Trail, Chisholm Trail, Frontier Trail, Indian Trail, Mission Trail, Oregon Trail, Pioneer Trail and Prairie Trail — will be the focus of this section of the bond 2022 project list, according to the engineering proposal presented to the school board last Thursday.Â
The Olathe school district is working toward a March or April decision about how best to dea…
The projects will focus on theatre seating replacement, any necessary painting, upgrades to lighting, curtain and carpet replacement and possible technology upgrades. Other schools may also have upgrades to their gym, front office spaces, ceiling upgrades and flooring replacement among other things. Some of these internal and external improvements also address safety.Â
The physical construction across all eight affected schools is estimated to cost roughly $8.7 million, all financed from the 2022 bond measure. Though early phases, like bidding and design work are ongoing, actual construction won’t begin until after spring break in 2024. The final phase will wrap up sometime in early fall 2025.Â
Upgrades to student experience spaces were identified as a major part of the deferred maintenance and aging facilities leg of the bond project list. In addition to middle school auditorium upgrades, bond dollars could also go to finance a media center upgrade at Olathe South High and are already promised for playground accessibility projects at all of the elementaries.Â
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