INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – About 70 percent of classrooms in Independence are full or overflowing. A bond issue passed Tuesday should help alleviate overcrowding.
Voters approved an $85 million dollar bond that will be used to build two new elementary schools.
“I was very excited,” says Laura Bagunu who teaches art at Thomas Hart Benton Elementary School.
Last year she had to go room to room using a cart as her classroom because of overcrowding. This year she is set up in a trailer outside the school building.
“It is not the ideal classroom… Whenever there is bad weather it's a little bit hard for the students to get out here, says Bagunu.
Other teachers have class in the hallways.
The newly passed bond will allow the district to build four additional classrooms at the school.
School Board President Blake Roberson says the money will reach every school in the district.
“The two new elementary schools are going to be a big shot in the arm for the community. But we have overcrowding in every school, and we have aging buildings. There will be remodeling and renovations in every school,” says Roberson.
The new elementary schools are expected to be complete by the 2011 school year. One will be built on the west side of Independence. The other will be on the east.
The work is expected to create up to 1500 construction jobs.
