Northwest School District Bond Issue Projects Nearing Completion
Date Posted: October 23, 2025
Posted In: Projects,
From Leader Publications: After months of construction and years of planning, the Northwest R-1 School District is nearly finished with a long list of upgrades to schools and facilities around the district. The last two major projects to be completed include the House Springs Elementary School gym and storm shelter and the Valley Middle School Fine Arts addition.
Those projects are among a long list of capital improvements the district has funded with revenue from a $28 million bond issue voters approved in April 2023.
Northwest chief operating officer Mark Janiesch said the district still needs to add air conditioning to the old gym at Northwest High School. Then, the district may use some leftover bond issue funds to upgrade air conditioning at Valley Middle School, which will wrap up all the bond issue projects.
District officials plan to soon solicit bids for the air conditioning work and bring those bids to the Board of Education in November.
House Springs Elementary gym
Janiesch said a lot of progress has been made on the House Springs Elementary gym, adding that the difference between the new gym and old gym is like night and day.
He said the district plans to spend about $5.6 million to build the new House Springs Elementary gym and already has spent about $5.4 million on the project. He expects the project to be complete on or under budget.
“I would say that the gym is 97 percent complete. We are so close,” he said.
Janiesch said district officials expect to obtain occupancy permits for the gym within a week or two and will have a few items to complete while the building is in use.
Some of those last projects to finish include the installation of automatic door opener components, cameras and audiovisual equipment.
“S.M. Wilson & Co. bids out most of our projects and also runs them until they are completed,” Janiesch said. “They have been in charge of this project from the start. We work directly with vendors for audiovisual (AV) equipment, which is through KC Audio Visual, and cameras, which are through Tech Electronics, to get those items bid and installed.”