Taylor School District Unveils High School Renovation Plans Five Years After $130 Million Bond Vote

Families and taxpayers in Taylor, Michigan, received their first look at plans to renovate and modernize Taylor High School during a community town hall, five years after voters approved a $130 million bond intended to pay for a new high school and career center.

District leaders abandoned the new construction plan after the 2021 vote, determining during the 2022 design phase that the available funding would not cover the cost of building from the ground up. After surveying voters, officials chose to renovate the existing high school instead.

The proposed redesign includes a new library, new science and arts wings, and upgraded classrooms. Plans also call for east, north, and central courtyards, along with a dedicated space for ninth graders and classroom features such as lockable casework and movable desks for teachers.

Security is a central element of the design. According to the district's presentation, wings would be separated by lockdown doors capable of isolating parts of the building, and security offices would be spread throughout the school to help staff respond to incidents.

Superintendent Mike Wegher said safety was a top priority in the design, pointing to two fights at the high school during the week of the town hall as evidence of the need for improvements. "The biggest thing to me is that hallway layout," Wegher said. "You heard a lot of it today that the way it currently is can lead to unsafe situations. And to have a simplified floor plan where people can see all the way through is going to help us maintain better safety."

The district is working with two firms on the project: The Collaborative as architects and Barton-Malow Builders as construction manager. Many attendees said they were glad to see how the bond money would be used, and teachers and other community members said they looked forward to the plans moving ahead.

Construction would be carried out in eight phases. The city expects to award bids between February and April 2027, with the first phase scheduled to begin in June of that year. The final phases are expected to be completed in December 2030.

The 2021 bond proposal called for three bond sales totaling $130 million. So far, only one sale, worth $31 million, has taken place, in April 2022. The school board is scheduled to vote on the design plans and the next set of bond sales at a meeting on Nov. 4.

The district broke ground in March on a new sports complex at the school.