LOWELL, MI – Lowell Area Schools has a 30-year, $52 million school bond on the May 7, election ballot to accommodate growth, renovate, modernize and improve school facilities.

“The enhancements will not only upgrade our facilities so that we can accommodate teaching and learning in the classroom but hopefully, position us so that we can accommodate the growth that we are seeing,’’ Superintendent Greg Pratt said.

Pratt said every school building would get updates that would be funded without an increase in the current 7.0 debt millage. He said debt falling off the rolls over the next few years is allowing the district to take on new debt with no millage increase.

Lowell, which has nearly 4,000 students, is among seven Kent ISD districts with tax proposals on the general election ballot, including Byron Center, East Grand Rapids, Kelloggsville, Kentwood, Rockford, and Sparta.

The bulk of the Lowell bond proposal, $34 million, would go toward the total makeover of middle school, located at 750 Foreman St.

Built in the late 1960s, Pratt said the building needs to be modernized and renovated to meet the needs of its 870 students.

He said the makeover would include a two-story addition for classrooms and create learning communities with common areas for various collaborative and hands-on activities to support project-based learning.

Dan VanderMeulen, principal of the middle school, said educators have learned a lot over the years about how children learn best.

“At the middle school age, in particular, our kids need to be up and moving, interacting with each other, and working on projects together,’’ he said.

“We’ve learned from business and industry that it is less about memorizing things and more about applying things. Studies indicate that kids are more likely to retain material and increase learning if they are working with others.’’

Besides creating a more 21st century learning environment, the school would see the following improvements:

New, larger classrooms

New science labs

Technology and security improvements

A new cafeteria and kitchen

Six new tennis courts

Centralized heating and cooling system

New traffic configuration to improve drop-off/pickup

Last year, the district held community forums and conducted a survey to make sure the bond was in line with what families wanted to see.

The priorities targeted date back to a 2011 Facility Needs Assessment compiled by Tower Pinkster that identified several needed projects when the district didn’t have much bonding capacity.

The high school would see a $5.1 million in improvements to outdoor athletics, if the bond passes.

Pratt said a new synthetic turf field for soccer and lacrosse would be on tap at North Athletic Fields. He said there would also be eight new tennis courts and the baseball and softball fields would get new dugouts, improved drainage, fencing, and a press box and bleachers.

At the elementary level, the proposal aims to meet five-year infrastructure needs, limit each building to 600 students, and add five K-2 classrooms at Alto Elementary – the fasting growing primary program.

Some infrastructure needs that would be addressed include: new mechanical systems and air conditioning at Alto and Bushnell elementary schools, roofing at Cherry Creek, and a new lighting and control system and additional parent drop-off lane at Murray Lake.

Pratt said the bond projects are not a wish list, rather target the district’s current most immediate needs.

"I think it puts us on the front-end of the growth coming as we see subdivisions popping up,'' he said.

To increase the capacity Bushnell Elementary the district is relocating the Curiosity Corner Preschool.

Pratt said the district purchased the old St. Mary’s school building, 320 Amity St. SE, for $200,000 from a third-party with general fund dollars it saved. He said school leaders anticipate investing $1 million in renovations.

“We hope to have the project done and students moved by next January,’’ Pratt said.

For more information about the full bond proposal, visit the district website.

Academically, the district has a 92 percent graduation rate and fewer than 5 percent dropout, according to state data.

Under state law, the 2019-20 school year will be the first year that third graders can be held back if more than a grade-level behind in reading.

Lowell had 69.4 percent of students proficient in English at the end of third grade and 66.5 percent were proficient in math.