Loyola City Schools recommends $68.4 million bond to build three new K–4 primary schools after survey support

Loyola City Schools officials onended a community forum presenting a recommended master plan to replace the district’s three primary schools with three new kindergarten-through-fourth-grade buildings and to finance the work through a proposed $68.4 million bond.

Superintendent Tim Weber opened the forum and invited architect Mike Richley and Treasurer Rhonda Johnson to walk residents through the plan, community survey results and the expected tax impact. "We are now down to two options," Richley said, describing a process of traffic and geotechnical studies, steering-committee review and public engagement that narrowed an initial set of eight alternatives.

The district commissioned a statistically valid public-opinion survey of 207 adults conducted March 5–19 with a reported sampling error of about 6.81 percentage points. Richley said 60% of respondents rated the three-new-K–4 configuration ("Option Blue") as a good idea; the alternative plan of two K–2 schools plus a separate 3–4 building ("Option White") received less support. "So this is the final master plan,"…