News

Actions

Lansing Schools putting $120M plan together

Posted at 6:57 PM, May 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-05 07:58:18-04

Lots of changes are coming to Lansing schools after voters approved a $120 million bond on Tuesday.

The district is now working on a time frame to start improvement projects and moving Eastern High School could be one of the first.

At almost a hundred years old parents like Eileen Gianiodis say the school building isn't cutting it.

"They deserve to have a really good healthy building where things work and they don't have to worry about temperature or all the bathrooms working," Gianiodis said.

But now Gianiodis' daughter may be one of the first to graduate from the new Eastern building.

"Every kid in our district deserves to be in a building where things work, where they can take advantage of technology and all of the things that they're able to because learning takes place differently," she explained.

Nothing is set in stone but moving Eastern to the current Pattengill Middle School building is at the top of the list.

"I think Eastern and Pattengill should be probably top priority because we do have a timeline on moving out of Eastern High School," said School Board President Peter Spadafore.

The district has at least five years to make the change since it sold Eastern to Sparrow Health Systems last year. Turning the current middle school into a high school will involve building a three story wing of classrooms, expanding the cafeteria and adding a competition gym.

"We're not going to stick shovels in the ground tomorrow," Spadafore said. "It's going to be a while before we see that actually happen."

"We looked at what we needed and the community gave us what we needed," Spadafore added. "This was not a laundry list of fancy wants and Taj Mahal high schools and things like that."

Another project that could be at the top of the list is expanding Fairview Academy" to fit the Pattengill students.

Spadafore says the school board will be forming a subcommittee to help oversee all these construction projects.