Boyd community to receive new facility with approval of Proposition S
Boyd Elementary School is 110 years old. But in 2018, a group of citizens came together and recommended needed improvements to Boyd and other Springfield schools.
“Midtown is a neighborhood school, sitting on an acre and a half,” said Cheryl Clay, president of Springfield NAACP and member of the Community Task Force on Facilities. “By relocating Boyd to a larger lot in the same neighborhood, it would provide more room, with additional outdoor and indoor learning spaces.”
Boyd’s design was a standard school building more than a century ago. But its current design is a barrier to learning and to the community, says Mike Brothers, member of the Community Task Force on Facilities and Executive Director of University Relations at Drury.
“A new school building would meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide easy access for all students, parents and community members,” said Brothers.
In addition, Boyd is a three-story building and all of its bathrooms are located in the basement. Second-graders on the top floor must climb down and up three flights of stairs to use those facilities during the school day. Building a new and accessible school, students would have easier access to restrooms.
A new Boyd Elementary School will address these issues as well as security challenges, provide a storm-shelter gymnasium, and serve as a regional early childhood mini-hub at a estimated cost of $20.34 million.
Boyd is one of many schools that would receive facility improvements with approval of Proposition S. Learn more at SPS.org/PropS