Inside Park Hill’s aging schools: See buildings slated for upgrades if bond passes

In Tuesday’s election, voters will decide if Park Hill Schools will receive extra tax dollars to renovate some of the district’s buildings and raise teacher salaries.

Proposition O would allow Park Hill to borrow $128 million in bonds, which it would pay back by increasing the district’s property tax levy by 30 cents. If passed, it would be the district’s first property tax increase since 2002.

The bond would support the replacement of Park Hill High School, stadium and field improvements at Park Hill South High School, renovations to some of the oldest elementary schools in the district, and future land purchases for the district. A separate ballot question, Proposition G, would increase the district’s tax levy to raise teachers’ salaries.

The Star took a tour of Park Hill High School, Chinn Elementary and Plaza Middle School to see the conditions of the buildings slated for potential upgrades.

Park Hill School

Park High School was built in 1952 when Barry Road had only one, lane causing the school to have limited parking for guests and staff, according to district officials. While the building has been renovated several times in the past few years, the front office and several classrooms in the front part of the building remain.

Brad Kincheloe, the principal of Park Hill for 27 years, said the school is in need of additional classrooms. While older classrooms were built for more students than what is acceptable nowadays, he said, the number of classes needed has multiplied.

Park Hill only has one kitchenette with seven different classes each term sharing the space.

In older parts of the building, the hallways are much narrower than in newer parts. During passing periods some halls serve as “one way” hallways to prevent overcrowding. Park Hill Schools recently set new boundary lines for the district to address issues of overcrowding in certain schools, but district officials say another layer to that problem is aging facilities.

The school uses several classrooms from the earlier years of Park Hill. The school’s original gym, smaller than the modern standard high school gym, is currently being used as a wrestling room for both girls and boys.

The basement of the school where the older locker rooms used to be located is being used for classrooms, two of which are for students with disabilities.

In another room, once used as an automotive shop for students, are art rooms.

There are currently two operating gyms at Park Hill, but neither is large enough to hold the entire student body for assemblies. Back in 2022, voters approved a bond issue that didn’t require a tax increase for a competition gym for the school.

Jacob Beck, who teaches weights and health and also coaches wrestling, said the weight room isn’t up to par with neighboring school districts, not even Park Hill’s own Park Hill South. For the first time, air conditioning was installed in the gym last year

“The beauty of Park Hill is that we kind of do things in spite of what we have,” said Beck. “It’s pretty exciting to see what we can move forward with when we get some new facilities.”

Chinn Elementary

Chinn Elementary, built in 1959, would also benefit from Proposition O, as would Southeast Elementary and Line Creek Elementary.

Chinn Elementary is a Title I school, meaning it receives additional federal funding to support its students from lower income households, and uses the funding to provide extra resources, staff and professional development.

Currently, the school has the highest number of students who qualify to receive free/reduced lunches and the highest number of homeless students in the district. However, this is expected to change due to the district’s new school boundaries.

The school’s library is out in the open in the middle of the school and also serves as a space for teachers to gather due to the lack of conference spaces. Currently, the school’s printers are located in the library.

Andrew Hargis, the school’s principal, said the school could benefit from more conference rooms and spaces for teachers to print their materials.

The library is multilevel with a part of the shelves located down a few steps. This has become a problem for three of the school’s students who are wheelchair users, Hargis said. The librarian gladly brings books up to the students for them to browse, said Hargis, but continuously points out this is not ideal for the students.

Several students at Chinn are not toilet trained. Hargis said classrooms with toilets would be beneficial to some of the school’s population that require additional help from staff. Currently, these students use the bathrooms in the teachers’ or nurse’s office.

Voters in the district will decide on the two proposed tax increases in the April 8 election. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.