Center Cass Tax Backers Paint Grim Picture

DARIEN, IL – A mailer from a group pushing a big tax increase in Center Cass School District 66 suggests the district's schools are unsafe.

It also says the schools' fire alarms are particularly problematic. However, the local fire district's reports indicate otherwise.

One side of the flyer focuses on fire safety, featuring a photo of a fire alarm pull station.

It asks, "Could kids get out quickly enough?"

Then it presents what it calls a fact: "Center Cass fire alarms are antiquated & unreliable – same with the intercom security system."

Patch obtained the fire inspection reports for Center Cass schools from 2017, 2020 and 2021. A resident received the reports through a records request earlier this year.

The reports from the Darien-Woodridge Fire District show that the schools met all standards, including with fire alarms. The reports say the fire district found no violations.

A 2017 report included a notation that Prairieview Elementary needed to seal penetrations in a firewall for the heating and air conditioning system.

On Friday, Patch filed a public records request for any inspection reports since 2021.

The other side of the mailer says, "Are Center Cass schools safe? Sure doesn't seem like it."

It gives a laundry list of issues, including trip hazards, falling roofs, cracking exterior walls, inadequate security doors, a lack of security cameras, and bad lighting compromising cameras.

The mailer was put out by the Save Center Cass School District 66 committee. It cited all of its information in the mailer as coming from a Sept. 14 "health life safety" report by Wold Architects.

According to state Board of Elections reports, the group has received $23,000 from the teachers union, known as the Center Cass Education Association.

The group's co-chairwoman, Elizabeth Uribe, said last week that $20,000 of that money came from the Downers Grove-based Diogenes political action committee, whose leadership is made up of Center Cass teachers.

As of Friday, the Board of Elections lists all the money as coming from the union.

On Nov. 8, voters are set to decide whether to increase the district's part of the property tax bill by nearly 20 percent.

In June, 60 percent of voters rejected a 24 percent hike.

The district says it does not have enough money to get through a full school year. It warns it would lay off teachers if voters again turn down the tax measure.