LASD board expected to formally place facilities bond request on May ballot.

Possible concept for high school/middle school renovation.

LASD board expected to formally place facilities bond request on May ballot.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

LUDINGTON — The Ludington Area School District Board of Education is scheduled to meet in a special meeting today, Monday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m. to take action on a resolution to call for a bond election on Tuesday, May 7.

During that election, voters will be asked to approve a millage of up to 2.32 mills, generating $100,935,000 for 30 years, a 1.71 mills increase in the maximum amount of district taxes currently being paid. The estimated average annual amount of taxes would be 2.58 mills.

The project would fund the following:

• Construction of a new elementary school, housing grades kindergarten through five, on school-owned property near the southwest corner of Jebavy Drive and Bryant Road in Pere Marquette Township (known as the Outcalt property).
• New additions and renovations to the middle school and high school complex. The high school was built in 1957; the middle school was built in 1965. 
• Renovations and upgrades to L.F. Peterson Auditorium and the Donald Baldwin Community Pool, both built in the mid-1970s. 
• Improvements to the transportation center, including a new roof.
• Improvements to existing athletic facilities.
• Safety improvements, including single secure points of entry in all school buildings.
• Aggressive marketing of vacant and unused buildings. The proposal would mean the closures of all the current elementary schools: Foster Elementary, built in 1925; Franklin Elementary, built in 1957; Lakeview Elementary, built in 1964, Pere Marquette Early Childhood Center, built as Pere Marquette Elementary in 1965. 

The bond would be phased, allowing construction in 2019 and 2022.

The meeting will be held in the board room at the district’s central business office, 809 E. Tinkham Ave.

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