The Shawnee Mission School District is slate to being the $23 million project to rebuild Pawnee Elementary in 2022, and there’s already an idea of what it’ll look like.
Shawnee Mission voters approved a $264 bond issue in January that included $122.5 million for elementary school rebuilds — including Pawnee’s. Rev. Laura Guy, the Shawnee Mission West area board member, thanked voters for approving the bond issue.
Guy said after living in the neighborhood for 27 years and sending her children to Pawnee, she knows the updates are needed.
“Pawnee has been the anchor of our neighborhood, and to know that for generations into the future that school, Pawnee, will continue to be an anchor in the neighborhood and a gathering place for people, but with everything new,” Guy said. “I can’t wait to see it happen, not just for Pawnee, but for other schools.”
Justin Durham, the lead architect for Hollis + Miller — the firm working on Pawnee’s rebuild — said the following components will be part of the new elementary building at 9501 W. 91st Street:
- Two drop-off loops in the parking lot, one of which could be used for buses. Durham said this will allow the building to grow with the school’s needs.
- An outdoor classroom, which will feature planters for classroom use, a learning wall and a pergola canopy. This will be located just outside of the maker space.
- A connection directly to the school from sidewalks off 91st and England Streets.
- Two half-sized classrooms on both floors, a sensory room and reset room on each floor, as well as a testing room on the second floor and a flex office on the first floor.
Below is a look at the design for the Pawnee rebuild, as included in board documents:
