On Nov. 8, 2022, the Troy community seized the opportunity to pass the bond proposing the modernization and renovation of the Troy School District facilities for a better learning environment for students. The $555 million the district has received with this bond will be spent over the next 10-11 years in three periods, or series, of three to four years. 

As of March 2023, there have not yet been changes implemented visible to the community. However, staff and administrators in the Troy School District have been working behind the scenes, planning and designing projects for the decade ahead. 

When asked about progress since the bond has been passed, Richard Machesky, the Troy School District Superintendent, shares: “What’s been going on is a lot of planning and preparation. We’ve been working with groups of administrators, we’ve had teachers involved in those conversations, students involved in those conversations, doing some learning and planning for the projects that are going to start first.”

After intense planning and structuring of the projects coming forth, minor changes alerting the start of the first series are set to start occurring this upcoming 2023-24 school year. Some of these changes may be in our very own classrooms.

“We’ve also been meeting with groups to talk about furniture because we’re going to start piloting some furniture in classrooms already, starting in the fall,” Machesky states. “What students will see across the district is, mainly in the elementary and a couple of the secondary buildings, some pilot classrooms that have new flexible furniture.”

Flexible furniture that allows for flexible seating allows students to have more control over their learning environment in the classroom. Some schools around the nation including Albemarle County Public Schools have already implemented flexible seating in their classrooms and seen improvement in students’ grades, student engagement and student participation. 

Other than flexible furniture becoming implemented in pilot classrooms in the fall, more changes have been planned for Spring 2024.

When asked about other changes the Troy community may see the next school year, Machesky added, “Next spring, we’ll break ground for the new Smith Middle School, so you’ll start to see [the] staging of materials. After spring athletics next year, we’ll start to tear up the fields at Troy High, we’re going to be doing the new practice field and the tennis courts at Athens.”

The bond will not only be improving the Troy High School athletic fields but also renovating the building to fix notable problems regarding circulation and plumbing. Plans for these improvements are to occur later in the series. 

“The Troy High project, the International Academy project, Baker, is going to be in the third series, towards the end of the bond,” Machesky continues, “All the projects we promised the community we were going to do has to be spread out over the entire bond. The money we have set aside are designed to pay for those projects during that series.” 

Machesky also shares ways for students and Troy community members to get involved with the upcoming projects, “If there is a student, a staff member, a community member who wants to be involved in some manner or another in these conversations, there will be opportunities. Be listening for the weekly updates Kerry Birmingham sends out. If you have an interest, be watching for those opportunities and I strongly encourage who is interested to get involved.”

Machesky seems optimistic about the potential this bond has to positively impact the Troy community: “I really thank the voters in Troy for entrusting the Board of Education, our administrative team, with this task of updating and modernizing all of our buildings across the school district. The changes we’re going to be able to create over the course of the next decade are going to be generational. They believed in us, they trusted us, and I can assure them that they will begin to see the fruits of this experience. They’re going to be able to see the opportunity to make our facilities world-class, and really match the kind of learning that we expect to take place in our schools. Our students deserve that, our staff deserves that, our community deserves that, so I just want to say thank you for entrusting us with this opportunity.”

For a more detailed explanation of the bond, visit https://www.troy.k12.mi.us/bond-2022, and questions can be directed to [email protected].