Above and Beyond: MISD Delivers 2016 School Bond Projects Ahead of Schedule
On May 7, 2016, McKinney voters approved a $220 million McKinney ISD school bond package—accompanied by a tax decrease—that included a wide array of items ranging from campus refresh projects to additional school security features to the new McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center.
And, while the stadium—and the more recently unveiled McKinney High School Performing Arts Center—have received the lion’s share of public attention where the bond is concerned, a number of other important, albeit less visible, bond projects have also been completed since work began in the summer of 2016.
“I could not be more pleased with how the work has progressed over the last three years on these school bond projects,” McKinney ISD Superintendent Dr. Rick McDaniel said. “Our facilities department has done an outstanding job of delivering on the promises that we made when we called for this school bond in 2016, and we are extremely grateful to be part of a community that has supported our efforts to bring the absolute best education possible to our students in facilities that not only enhance our ability to do that, but that also instill pride in our students and the broader community.”
Now, with the final campus refresh projects at Wolford Elementary and Reuben Johnson Elementary slated for this summer and construction already underway on the fine arts expansions at Cockrill Middle School, Evans Middle School and McKinney Boyd High School, work on the 2016 bond is nearing its conclusion, and that offers a perfect opportunity to provide an overview of the work that has been delivered by the district—work that McKinney ISD Chief Financial Officer Jason Bird says has gone above and beyond.
“We’ve done far more refreshes than were ever promised in the bond,” Bird explained. “We only had two: Valley Creek and Glen Oaks. That was it.”
To those, the district added Eddins Elementary, Walker Elementary and the aforementioned Wolford and Reuben Johnson.
“So, all this elementary work has been above and beyond what the bond called for,” Bird said. “We believe we have delivered everything that has been promised, and we have delivered more elementary refreshes than were ever even considered for the bond. We have delivered additional refresh work at McKinney High School and McKinney North that were never a part of the bond. And, we have delivered all that in a substantially shorter period of time than the original five years that the bond program was slated for.”
The district was able to add these projects with funds saved by using its own project managers and by moving the timeline forward on the projects.
Campus Refresh Projects
Valley Creek Elementary, Glen Oaks Elementary, Walker Elementary and Eddins Elementary all received campus wide improvements that included new tile flooring, new carpet, fresh paint, technology upgrades and new furniture as well as attention to HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roof replacement needs. Gone are the bracingly bright and busy, primary color schemes in favor of more subdued, up to date design choices.
Additional School Upgrades
Eighteen campuses across the district received roof replacements totaling nearly 2 million square feet as well as updates to HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems.
Safety and Security, Transportation
The 2016 bond also called for safety and security enhancements that would provide additional security cameras at the high schools and the installation of security cameras at the district’s elementary and middle schools. Lock-down buttons have been installed at all campuses, and the facilities department is in the process of finalizing the transition to new fire alarm systems across the district.
The bond also supplied the funds needed for MISD and its transportation provider, Durham School Services, to add two additional security cameras to each MISD school bus as well as a driver camera and a system that tracks and records all driver activity behind the wheel. Bus parking expansion and a bus fueling station are currently in the design and permit phase of implementation.
McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center
The most visible of the bond projects was of course the beautiful new MISD Stadium and Community Event Center, which has already been used to host playoff games for football and soccer and was the host site for the 2018 NCAA Division II Football National Championship. The district learned in March that the NCAA has chosen the stadium to host the championship game for the next three years. Additionally, the event center has already hosted numerous events including the 2019 Athletics Hall of Honor induction ceremony and the 2019 Teacher of the Year Dinner.
Other Athletics Projects
The bond also provided for tennis court resurfacing and upgrades to the baseball and softball fields at Boyd and North. The softball field at MHS will also received upgrades. New turf was installed at the Boyd football field and the MHS and North indoor athletic multipurpose facilities, and the tracks at MHS and North have both been resurfaced. The Sam Serio Natatorium at MHS, which serves the swim and dive teams of all three high schools, received new tile, updated locker rooms and a new pool floor.
Fine Arts
Fine arts expansions are well underway at Cockrill Middle School, Evans Middle School and McKinney Boyd that will provide much needed performance and rehearsal space for those schools’ band, choir, orchestra and theatre programs.
The new MHS Performing Arts Center and Sperry Performance Hall opened earlier this spring as the MHS Theatre Department hosted its inaugural run of performances, bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” to life and garnering rave reviews for the performances and the new venue.
Technology and 1:World Instructional Technology Initiative
In 2014, MISD began its 1:World instructional technology initiative that put a laptop in the hands of every MISD high school student beginning with that year’s freshman class. Now fully implemented, the 2016 bond provided funds to continue issuing the students of each successive freshman class a laptop to use throughout their four years of high school. It also provided for updates to the district’s technology infrastructure and technology needs across the district.
“As work on the 2016 bond program nears its conclusion, each project represents a commitment to the students of McKinney ISD from not only the district, but also the entire community,” McDaniel said. “We can’t forget that. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of these projects and lose sight of the purpose—and that’s to provide every student in MISD with a first class education. All of this work that is the result of the 2016 bond helps us do that. So, thank you to everyone who played a part in making it happen.”
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