Sault Area Schools bond proposal includes plans for new elementary school, legacy hall

SAULT STE. MARIE — In the Nov. 7 general election, the Sault Ste. Marie Area Public School district will be asking voters to consider a $57 million bond proposal.

Currently, Sault Area Schools consists of two separate elementary schools, a separate high school, and a campus for the middle school and main high school and career center. If the bond proposal passes, the district plans to replace the two elementary schools with a single school, which will then share a campus with Sault middle and high schools. A legacy hall will also be added to the high school.

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School officials said the main benefit to bringing all of the schools together on one campus is efficiency, including more efficient after-school programs and less cost for maintenance.

Another benefit would be to make school security more efficient.

"Being all on the same campus helps the school system be more efficient but also helps us if we need to secure campus," said Sault Superintendent Amy Kronemeyer.

Currently, the district shares a single school resource officer (SRO) who covers all the schools at the same time and travels between them multiple times a day. By sharing a campus, the SRO will have easier access to all three schools at the same time and could react more quickly in an emergency.

In addition, the plan is expected to decrease pick-up times for parents and buses, eliminating the need for parents with multiple kids to drive to two or three locations.

The new school would be larger than the previous two and would house more than 600 students. All new facilities will be built, including the addition of an indoor gymnasium that is separate from the cafeteria.

In both current elementary schools there is one gymnasium that doubles as a cafeteria. School officials want to fix this, and encourage more activity and fun at school with both an indoor gym and two playgrounds.

"We're really noticing that our youngest students are lacking the ability to just simply play," said Kronemeyer. "Where we live, there are big chunks of time where kids actually can't go outside for recess, and they lack play. So we wanted to make sure that the gym space was available for gym time as well as indoor recess time."

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The legacy hall project is an extension to the high school that would create better access for students. The legacy hall is meant as a celebration of an important anniversary, as this year is the 150th anniversary of Sault Area Schools being founded.

The hall of fame will include artwork and historical references to the history of the district. It will also document every student that has graduated from Sault High in the last 150 years.

The hall of fame project is already approved and being planned by the district, and will continue with planning and construction in a different portion of the school should the bond proposal be voted down.

The legacy hall, which will be built on the left side of the school, will add hallways and bathroom access to students in that portion of the school, and also includes a new band room.

School officials said the new band room has been needed for several years.

"Currently, the band practices in the choir room, which has lots of stairs in it," said Kronemeyer. "We want to give students facilities to support them. It isn't feasible to set drums up on stairs or relocate the entire band to the football field via the bus every marching band practice."

In addition to new add-ons, the high school will be partially renovated. Planned projects include redoing some lockers, adding a cover to the pool, and becoming more handicap accessible.

The legacy hall, elementary school and new playgrounds are all being designed with handicap accessibility in mind.

"It's quite common that we need to get people to a second floor and we can't or they need to be able to go to the bathroom in a wheelchair and the bathrooms aren't big enough," said Kronemeyer.

School officials said the two projects will be separated and completed at different times, starting with the elementary school in order to keep the tax increase manageable and low.

If the proposal passes, elementary students are expected to be able to move into their new school in the fall of 2026, after which the legacy hall will begin construction.

— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sault Area Schools bond proposal includes new elementary school, legacy hall