Those returning Grandview High School alums meant well, early in Kenny Rodrequez’s tenure as superintendent, when they would visit their old school warm with nostalgia.

“They’d say, ‘Nothing’s changed!’” Rodrequez said.

“Not exactly what you want to hear.”

The old school is not so recognizable any more, thanks to a wave of improvements — which went beyond the high school and spanned the entire district — that came out of a $45 million bond issue passed by voters in 2021.

In a blue-ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, the Grandview School District and its community celebrated the culmination of the work.

With the high school’s Bulldog drum line setting the beat, the audience in the school’s remodeled cafeteria enjoyed what Rodrequez said was just the start of things to come.

These are the rewards of a community process that with “an overwhelming sense of pride” showed “what was possible,” he said. “This is just the beginning of a journey of what’s possible for our students.”

In April 2021, Grandview voters approved both a 60-cent increase to Grandview’s operating levy and the $45 million bond issue. The levy won with 57% saying yes, and the bond issue got 71% of the vote.

The bond issue enabled multiple projects across the district, touching every school. Some of the major improvements included the high school’s industrial technology program, the band room, the football field house and locker rooms, fine arts programs and playground improvements in all the schools, new windows in many schools, important maintenance of roofs and heating and cooling systems, as well as the remodeled cafeteria.

“It’s all about relationships and partnerships,” said Grandview Mayor Leonard Jones. “The city and the school district, we work together. We grow together. It’s all about the students and giving them every opportunity to excel . . . We all benefit when things like this happen.”