Bond proposal remains far from finalized

By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — Although the details are far from finalized, Lake Orion Community School’s Board of Education and members of district administration spent around four hours discussing a potential future bond during a workshop meeting on Feb. 26.
In preparation for the board’s January workshop, Tom VanDeGriend of GMB created a document with hundreds of desired items mentioned by stakeholders from each school.
By the Feb. 26 meeting, VanDeGriend put green X’s next to items that are recommended to look into further for the bond, and board members also prepared a list of how they prioritized items.
VanDeGriend told the board and administration they are in the prioritization phase of the bond.
“I would encourage you to understand this document is always a living document, it’s kind of changing constantly,” he said. “It’s meant to be something that has helped us work towards a final solution of what we might actually implement.”
The district last went out for a school improvement bond in 2018 when voters passed a $160 million proposal.
Dozens of items were listed under each school to make the buildings on par with each elementary school in the district. A Blue Light Emergency System is one such item that is being installed in new buildings, according to VanDeGriend.
The system is similar to a fire alarm that can be programmed to contact a fire department immediately for emergency services and more.
Several items appeared on multiple lists for multiple schools. Many of these items were upgrades and work to extend the useful life of items already located in schools, including window upgrades, roofing upgrades, generators, visible thinking spaces to display student projects, lock-down doors to “compartmentalize” buildings, various playground upgrades, additional building entries, walk-in freezers, exterior door monitoring, security cameras, laundry rooms and sensory rooms.
Elementary schools
Some items listed for LOCS’s Early Childhood Center include additional parking, ADA playground enhancements, an additional storage room and classroom additions.
Blanche Sims Elementary’s list includes, outside storage, developing a pedestrian path and adding “canopies and plazas at the end of classroom wings” among other items.
Included on Carpenter Elementary’s list are playground equipment upgrades, a laundry room, adding a staff room, kitchen renovations and mechanical replacements.
Orion Oaks Elementary School listed potential upgrades include fencing improvements, adding a laundry room, counter top replacements, sink replacements, air-handling unit replacements and adding a sensory room.
Staff lounge upgrades, group restroom upgrades, paving replacements, and other items were included on Paint Creek Elementary School’s list.
Stadium Drive Elementary School lists cabinet replacements, upgrades to the gym, kitchen and cafeteria floors, operable partitions, adding a sensory room, and intervention room upgrades.
Weber Elementary’s list also included a laundry room, plus adding dimmable lights to classrooms, expanding the kitchen, a polished concrete flooring upgrade and adding additional power outlets to class rooms.
Middle schools
An item for all middle schools was a “competition stadium.” Items included for the stadium that would host at least football games include a press box for announcing and bleachers that would be located all on one side of the field.
Oakview Middle School items on its wish list include an additional hard surface outdoors, adding dimmable lights to all classrooms, cabinet replacements, rubber treads and risers for stairs, a septic field replacement, remodeled locker rooms, a new score board, a parking lot replacement and special education upgrades.
On Scripps Middle School’s list is counseling suite upgrades, kitchen renovations and parking lot replacements.
Included on Waldon Middle School’s list are mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades, flooring upgrades, replacing bleachers, a new scoreboard and new locker rooms.
Lake Orion High School
Upgrades listed for the high school include reconstructing drop-off loops, additional parking, a snow melt at the building’s main entry, flooring upgrades, new field house bleachers and a scoreboard, locker room renovations, pool upgrades and equipment replacements, a school store expansion, upgrades to the auto class room and shop, health sciences, foods/nutrition, E-sports, finance, marketing 101 and other classroom and department upgrades.
There was also a STEAM “‘wing’ addition” and STEAM “robotics addition” listed. Some items listed under the wing addition were an architecture lab, engineering lab, robotic arms lab and medical foundations lab.
The robotics addition’s items include a field, seating for 75, work benches, a table area for coding and CAD.
The CERC building and the Pine Tree Center also included improvements, but the improvements for the Pine Tree Center would not take place if the building closes.
For more information about bond planning search “LOCS Board of Education, administration, reviews needs assessments data in planning for future bond” on lakeorionreview.com.