The structure that served as a focal point for a group of parents who organized to keep Mission Valley Middle School from closing five years ago is no longer standing.
Demolition crews this week felled the Mission Valley library, which was built in 2008 and used by students for just two full school years before the school closed.
The library renovation was funded by the proceeds from a $184 million bond issue approved by taxpayers in April 2004 after the Shawnee Mission School Board voted to put it on local ballots earlier that year. The library renovation was one of more than 150 projects financed by the bond proceeds, and cost approximately $1 million.
But just two years after its completion, then-Superintendent Gene Johnson recommended that the school be shuttered as the district faced budget pressures. That recommendation spurred the organization of the Save Mission Valley group, which put enough pressure on the board that Johnson was initially forced to pull the resolution from the agenda for its scheduled vote for fear of lack of support. After some arm twisting by then-board chair Deb Zila, however, the board ultimately voted to close the school in December 2010. Current board members Donna Bysfield, Craig Denny, Patty Mach, Cindy Neighbor and Zila all voted in favor of the motion to close the school. Departed members Susan Metsker and Larry Winn voted against it.
The school board later accepted a bid of $4.35 million to sell the building to a group led by RED Development in June 2011.
Here’s a look at the library as it stood over the weekend:
And the site where it used to stand on Tuesday:
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