By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Public Schools will seek its largest bond issue in district history this November.
The district’s Board of Education July 21 voted unanimously to put on the Nov. 4 ballot a $186.4 million bond issue. It will not raise the district’s debt service millage.
The new bond issue comes just a little more than four years after district voters approved a $75 million bond proposal, a measure that passed with 59 percent support from voters.
The November bond issue would fund extensive improvements throughout the district, to be built out in three phases with the first phase starting in 2027, ZPS Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Jon Voss said.
“We will have to be intentional about what projects are in the first phase of the bond, and what projects can wait,” Voss said.
Some of the improvements that would be addressed in the bond issue include:
• Expansion and renovation of Creekside Middle School, including construction of four new classrooms to the north of the sixth-grade wing, along with repurposing other spaces that would add a total of six new classrooms to the school.
• Update and refresh all elementary classrooms, with an emphasis on upgrades at the district’s older buildings – Lincoln, Roosevelt and New Groningen.
• Improvements to DeWitt Auditorium at Zeeland East High School that include seating, flooring, lighting and sound.
• Updating all aspects of Lokers Auditorium of Cityside Middle School, including seating, flooring, lighting and sound. A new choir room would be built on the southeast side of the building and the existing choir room would become backstage space.
• Upgrades at Zeeland Stadium, including new bleachers, no longer built into the side of a hill, that include more seating and better sightlines for handicapped seating, a larger entry area that will allow for better flow of patrons in and out of the stadium, remodeled locker rooms and bathrooms and press box improvements.
• Updating transportation and maintenance facilities that district officials say are falling into disrepair. Both facilities could end up being housed at the same location. “Getting our buses, vans, trucks, plows, mowers, and other major equipment out of the elements will extend their life,” Voss said.
• Creating a large multi-use building where the current Zeeland West soccer field now sits that would include turf and an indoor track, as well as a portable floor that could be used for dance or other large-group activities.
• Create shared space at Zeeland West for the school’s robotics program and the new public safety course.
• Updating all of the district’s elementary playgrounds.
• Upgrading infrastructure, such as heating and cooling systems, electrical and mechanical systems and roofing.
District administrators began work on the new bond proposal in 2022 with a facilities assessment. They conducted staff surveys and met with building principals and directors last year to get further input on district needs, Voss said.
The district had planned to seek a $136 million bond issue in May 2020, but that proposal was put on hold as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, then scaled back to the $75 million bond issue that went before voters in 2021.
The 2021 bond issue funded such projects as the addition of six new classrooms at Adams Elementary School, classroom renovations at Cityside, expansion of the district’s sports complex, new science and technology labs at Zeeland East, equipment upgrades in industrial arts and skilled trades spaces at Zeeland West and renovations to the Early Childhood Center.
ZPS conducted a community survey on the new bond proposal in February and March of this year with more than 1,100 responses. Of those who took part in the survey, 85.7 percent said they could support the bond proposal as long as there was no millage increase, Voss said.
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Public Schools will seek its largest bond issue in district history this November.
The district’s Board of Education July 21 voted unanimously to put on the Nov. 4 ballot a $186.4 million bond issue. It will not raise the district’s debt service millage.
The new bond issue comes just a little more than four years after district voters approved a $75 million bond proposal, a measure that passed with 59 percent support from voters.
The November bond issue would fund extensive improvements throughout the district, to be built out in three phases with the first phase starting in 2027, ZPS Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Jon Voss said.
“We will have to be intentional about what projects are in the first phase of the bond, and what projects can wait,” Voss said.
Some of the improvements that would be addressed in the bond issue include:
• Expansion and renovation of Creekside Middle School, including construction of four new classrooms to the north of the sixth-grade wing, along with repurposing other spaces that would add a total of six new classrooms to the school.
• Update and refresh all elementary classrooms, with an emphasis on upgrades at the district’s older buildings – Lincoln, Roosevelt and New Groningen.
• Improvements to DeWitt Auditorium at Zeeland East High School that include seating, flooring, lighting and sound.
• Updating all aspects of Lokers Auditorium of Cityside Middle School, including seating, flooring, lighting and sound. A new choir room would be built on the southeast side of the building and the existing choir room would become backstage space.
• Upgrades at Zeeland Stadium, including new bleachers, no longer built into the side of a hill, that include more seating and better sightlines for handicapped seating, a larger entry area that will allow for better flow of patrons in and out of the stadium, remodeled locker rooms and bathrooms and press box improvements.
• Updating transportation and maintenance facilities that district officials say are falling into disrepair. Both facilities could end up being housed at the same location. “Getting our buses, vans, trucks, plows, mowers, and other major equipment out of the elements will extend their life,” Voss said.
• Creating a large multi-use building where the current Zeeland West soccer field now sits that would include turf and an indoor track, as well as a portable floor that could be used for dance or other large-group activities.
• Create shared space at Zeeland West for the school’s robotics program and the new public safety course.
• Updating all of the district’s elementary playgrounds.
• Upgrading infrastructure, such as heating and cooling systems, electrical and mechanical systems and roofing.
District administrators began work on the new bond proposal in 2022 with a facilities assessment. They conducted staff surveys and met with building principals and directors last year to get further input on district needs, Voss said.
The district had planned to seek a $136 million bond issue in May 2020, but that proposal was put on hold as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, then scaled back to the $75 million bond issue that went before voters in 2021.
The 2021 bond issue funded such projects as the addition of six new classrooms at Adams Elementary School, classroom renovations at Cityside, expansion of the district’s sports complex, new science and technology labs at Zeeland East, equipment upgrades in industrial arts and skilled trades spaces at Zeeland West and renovations to the Early Childhood Center.
ZPS conducted a community survey on the new bond proposal in February and March of this year with more than 1,100 responses. Of those who took part in the survey, 85.7 percent said they could support the bond proposal as long as there was no millage increase, Voss said.
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