KUNA, Idaho — While Kuna students are out for summer break, construction crews are hard at work making upgrades to local schools.
“It’s very strange to have the high school be without kids,” Assistant Superintendent Brian Graves with Kuna Schools said.
This summer, the halls of Kuna High School are closed to students and filled instead with construction crews working on long-overdue improvements.
“If you don’t have a hardhat, then you’re not here,” Graves said.
WATCH | See the upgrades underway at Kuna schools this summer
The HVAC system and fire alarms at Kuna High are being overhauled in phase II for $2.23 million. New vestibules are also being added with a $550,000 price tag. The total costs of the upgrades to Kuna high come out to $4 million over two years.
“You’re looking at probably almost 25 years of things that needed to be replaced, needed to be upgraded,” Graves said.
Graves noted these projects are not funded through levies or bonds.
“A lot of our parents are used to us when we have to do a project like this, we’re asking them with taxes, levies and bonds. This is not that,” he said.
Instead, the upgrades across Kuna schools are being made possible by House Bill 521.
“Every school district got that money to do improvements, do small builds, and we really focused it so far on our HVAC projects,” Graves said.
Other schools are also undergoing summer upgrades. Reed Elementary is getting a new roof for $382,000, and Indian Creek and Ross Elementary are receiving HVAC improvements aswell at $2.5 million over two years.
The Ada County Highway District is also using the lull in traffic to make upgrades to entryways at Kuna High.
“You hope that they notice it. The projects you’re seeing are all the stuff behind the walls. Literally they tell you when it’s not working, but they don’t really thank you when it does work... They're gonna be safer, they're gonna have better accessibility and then behind the scenes for our wallets, it’s gonna be more efficient,” Graves said.
If all goes to plan, the projects will be finished by the end of summer before students return to classrooms this fall.
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