SD U-46 breaks ground on $27 million Kenyon Woods Middle School addition

School District U-46 held a ceremonial groundbreaking for an addition and renovation at Kenyon Woods Middle School that district representatives said will add about 47,000 square feet and cost $27,000,000. The district described the project as part of a larger shift to a true middle school model serving sixth through eighth grades.

District representatives said the addition will include new classrooms with abundant natural light, new science labs and prep rooms, conference rooms, staff meeting rooms and dedicated collaborative space. "This addition at Kenyon Woods is going to help us provide access to safe, modern, inclusive learning environments for all of our students," said Staff member 2, an SD U-46 representative.

The district said the expanded facility will support an educational approach known as teaming, in which students are grouped in smaller grade-level teams of about 100 to 150 students and each team has the same group of core academic teachers who meet consistently to collaborate. "The addition and renovations ... will accommodate three teams each in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades," Staff member 4, an SD U-46 representative, said.

District speakers framed the groundbreaking as the result of a planning process that began with a 2018 school board visioning exercise and public listening sessions. "All of these were items that we heard were priorities from our listening sessions as we began this work," Staff member 2 said. Officials also linked the project to the district's recent referendum and the Unite U-46 planning work.

Speakers described the ceremony as symbolic of a longer planning and construction process. "While the ceremonial turning of dirt is symbolic, today's groundbreaking represents something real," Staff member 1, an SD U-46 representative, said. The district said it will provide monthly updates at board meetings and on district social channels as the project progresses.

No formal votes or contract awards were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. Project timeline details and contractor names were not specified in the transcript.

The expansion is described by the district as one of several fiscally responsible projects moving forward across the district; funding sources beyond the district's referendum were not specified in the transcript.

Kenyon Woods Middle School will continue through the planning and construction phases; the district said it will share progress updates publicly.