$105 million bond issue for Lindbergh School District

Trololzilla · PostMar 12, 2019#12019-03-12T06:12+00:00

The April 2nd ballot is set to see a $105 million bond issue for the Lindbergh School District.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/edu ... 573a5.html

The $105 million in funding would pay for safety renovations at five schools, and new construction and significant renovation at Lindbergh High School. The Lindbergh School Board approved ballot language at a meeting Tuesday night. It will require support from four-sevenths of voters for passage.

Approval of the bond will not increase the district tax rate, district officials say. The current debt service tax rate of 83.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation will remain unchanged. Instead, the debt from the current bonds will extend an additional seven years, to 2041.

As an alum: it's about damn time. It will be so nice for future students to have a modern, upgradeable/expandable high school that isn't cramming kids into it, that isn't literally falling apart, and is likely a lot safer for everyone. I don't know how the hell they managed to cram over 4,000 kids into that thing in the '70s; it felt unbearably cramped when I went there (not too too long ago) and we only ever had about half that.

The only thing I'll be sad to lose is the library: that thing is a treasure because of how unique it is and it was always probably my absolute favorite part of the school. Still, I'm digging the preliminary renderings and hope it turns out somewhat similarly.

More renderings: https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... 5m-in.html

symphonicpoet · PostMar 12, 2019#22019-03-12T08:08+00:00

^Well, the place was beginning to feel like a prison in the 80s and the 90s when I was there, now it will look like a prison too.

Glad I'm not participating int his nonsense.

Trololzilla · PostMar 13, 2019#32019-03-13T06:04+00:00

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑
Mar 12, 2019
^Well, the place was beginning to feel like a prison in the 80s and the 90s when I was there, now it will look like a prison too.

Man, I think Sperreng will always have LHS beat in that regard

, but yeah, I do get a bit of a prison vibe from the renderings. "Security and safety" and whatnot. At least a lot of the interior renderings show it having a lot of glass and natural light and actually feeling spacious (which the current buildings do not haha). I think a lot of the 'glass wall' type stuff might be on the non street-facing side of the rendering (again probably for 'safety reasons'). Hopefully these are just the first of a few renderings and newer designs will be a bit more... inviting. I fully expect the new school to look a lot like the two new ECE buildings and the new admin building, however, knowing the district. Ah well. As long as the new band room/hallway will actually be designed for 250+ band members instead of the 100-150 I'm sure the current one was originally was meant to hold.

symphonicpoet · PostMar 13, 2019#42019-03-13T06:08+00:00

I can see adding to it. I can see remodeling it. I cannot support tearing it down wholesale. (Especially the library, but also the main building, the math building . . . ) The Freshman building and the theatre can go. Get rid of the mediocre new crud. Save the interesting old stuff. The "cores" are just dang cool. The campus feel is awesome. Losing that would be a pitty.

Trololzilla · PostApr 04, 2019#52019-04-04T07:47+00:00

Prop R passes with a nearly 80% 'Yes' vote. Wonder how long it'll take for the projects to begin?

PostFeb 08, 2020#62020-02-08T19:17+00:00

The first bid for the new $89 million (estimated) high school is due be approved later this month.

The first bid for the new Lindbergh High School is set to be approved this month, leading up to the construction of the first fully rebuilt high school in St. Louis County in decades.

The newly rebuilt $89 million Lindbergh High School will be constructed within the existing footprint of LHS, with much of the work happening while students are on campus and moved around to avoid construction noise.

“Everybody’ll be really really proud of it, it’ll definitely be a separator of us and what we do with our kids facility-wise from other places in the county, for sure,” Superintendent Tony Lake told the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Kiwanis in a preview of the new high school Nov. 21.

The final cost of the estimated $89 million new school funded by Proposition R, last year’s no-tax-rate-increase bond issue, won’t be known until bids are approved. Bid packages will be accepted in three separate parts, starting this month.

A vote on a bid package for the Central Utilities Building and demolition of the Math Building is set to happen at the Board of Education meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11. Once permits are secured, construction will begin on the CUB as early as late spring.

And that will kick off a planned three-year construction for the new high school, down from the original four-year timeline.

Now instead of finishing in December 2023, officials estimate that construction could finish by August 2023, with new buildings opening in stages as they’re done.

The new three-story building could open for students as soon as January 2022, up from fall 2022, with students then moving out of two existing buildings that could open as complete remodels as early as January 2023.

Once those new buildings are open for students, the 300 and 400 buildings will be demolished, the parking lot will be redone and finishing touches like landscaping will happen before August 2023.

The plans from the architect team of Ittner and Perkins+Will call for two existing buildings — a three-story “T building” and a one-story, referred to as the “pancake” — to be reused on the new campus, along with the two existing gyms, the pool and the round library building, which will not serve as the library for the new school.

The auditorium and other buildings, including the Math Building and the 300 and 400 buildings, will be demolished.

A new three-story building referred to as the “boomerang” will be built to connect with the existing buildings, forming a single building under one roof. A new auditorium and a central library will be built.

The football field — currently being reworked with synthetic turf — and other athletic fields will stay behind the school.

Soon after school lets out in May, the decrepit Math Building will be demolished in June, making way for the next three years of construction leading up to the new school’s debut.

More interesting details in the full article.

Nice to see that they're re-purposing more of the original buildings, namely the library (though that apparently won't be the library anymore). Math building is no loss at all; that was utter trash that was falling apart when I went there and perpetually smelled of weed, and God help you if your 'homeroom' was in there, because then that's where your locker was. Was always partial to the 300's building myself, being a band kid, so I'll be sad to see that go with all the memories I have of that building. Doubt the new band room will have nearly as much character or intimacy, but hopefully whatever replaces the 'band hallway' will finally be large enough for everyone.

Also great for them to finally replace the natural grass varsity field with synthetic turf - the field was awful to march on, particularly after rain. Lindbergh had to be one of the last high schools in the area to have a fully natural field. All-in-all, I'm pretty excited about this, though I hope they bring a bit more color to the actual building rather than mostly drab creams/whites/greys.

New render:

gary kreie · PostJan 13, 2024#72024-01-13T21:34+00:00

So I see the rebuilt Lindbergh High School is finished, and nearly all of the old High School buildings have been demolished. I understand one of the primary reasons for rebuilding the high school is security. Read: mass shooting prevention. The old layout had multiple entry points, according Channel 2. The new one has only one.

So how do we measure the "gun tax" imposed on property owners to rebuild schools, rather than passing reasonable gun control? Why should property owners pay the gun tax, rather than gun owners. It should at least be a cost of enjoying a dangerous hobby.

It looks like Lindbergh went with the "shelter in place" design which has failed so often. I assume the 2-stories of classrooms have only a standard width door leading to the hallway which a mass shooter can easily block trapping kids in the room. The experts say when there is a shooting, response should be RUN, HIDE, FIGHT in that order. Lindbergh design seems to be HIDE, FIGHT centric.

I would have built the classrooms all on one floor, with one wall of every classroom consisting of a bar-style garage door that opens very quickly, like the one at the entrance to my Subaru Dealer Service area. Then on command, all garage doors could open at once and kids all run away. A shooter would likely not even choose to target a school with such garage door walls, since he wouldn't be able to block kids in. He'd look for an easier target. The site should be able to accommodate a single story design, since the old one was single story, and the school population is, what, half what it was decades ago?

Trololzilla · PostJan 14, 2024#82024-01-14T10:50+00:00

^ I'm pretty sure a lot of the classrooms in the new buildings do actually have garage style doors so they can be used more flexibly. The classrooms in the older buildings probably do still just have the same old standard doors like they did when I went.

Yeah, found a video of the new interior:

More in depth tour:

gary kreie · PostJan 14, 2024#92024-01-14T12:38+00:00

Thanks for the videos. Interesting to see how they did use garage doors inside to configure spaces. Don't get me wrong. I think they did need a new building and the new design looks very beautiful and functional. And unfortunately, I believe in and I support the need to rebuild nearly every school in America to mitigate the school shooting epidemic. I just wish they had gone a littler further to make a shooter see this school as not a productive target due to design. Not sure it quite gets there.

GoHarvOrGoHome · PostJan 14, 2024#102024-01-14T16:59+00:00

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw those garage door walls