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Board adopts amended bond resolution; process team to study Lee's Summit and Westview options
Summary
The board approved an amended resolution that ties construction sequencing to the Process Action Team review of Lee's Summit Elementary and Westview Elementary, requires the CAC to rank individual projects if consolidation is not pursued, and clarifies timing language before construction.
The Lee's Summit R‑VII Board of Education on Jan. 14 approved an amended resolution placing conditions on the issuance and use of the district's proposed bonds and attached a process (PRAT) to study options for Lee's Summit Elementary (LSE) and Westview Elementary (WVE).
Superintendent Dr. Buck told the board the amendment reflects the district's financial constraints if the two campuses are treated as separate projects. "If that group says no we don't want to merge ... we wouldn't have enough funds to do both buildings separately with the existing bond unless the projects come under budget or interest rates change," he said.
The resolution as amended asks the district's Capacity Advisory Committee (CAC) to rank the three priority buildings if the PRAT recommends not consolidating LSE and WVE. The PRAT will study several options, including consolidation, keeping existing boundaries, or recommending a reboundary process if appropriate. Board members amended the PRAT exhibit to strike a specific reference that had been read as an instruction to create a larger reboundary, and they added language clarifying that "no construction work to affect consolidation of LSE and WVE will commence" until the required steps and reviews are complete.
The board discussed that the combined cost of renovating both LSE and WVE under the original CFMP scope would exceed available bond proceeds; Pleasant Lee Elementary's renovation had previously been estimated near $23 million. Board counsel and staff flagged election deadlines: to change the bond request before the election, the board would need to act before Jan. 28, and the annual timing for renewal/notice ties annual review to an Oct. 1‑Nov. 1 cycle.
Members stressed that any reboundary work affecting neighborhoods beyond the two campuses should involve broader community input. Board Member Meyers said such boundary changes would need a separate district‑wide review so a small, focused group does not make decisions impacting many other families.
The amended resolution and the PRAT exhibit passed on a board vote. Board members said the PRAT will include representatives from the district's CFMP (Capital Facilities Master Plan) committee and may call for additional community participants.
The board also directed staff to ensure the PRAT's recommendation is shared with the CAC and that the CAC sequence projects (1, 2, 3) if consolidation does not move forward so the board knows the order of construction if funds become available.
