Summer Improvements to Schools Outlined

Summer roof repairs to schools will account for $1 million of the Community Unit School District 95 budget. The Committee of the Whole discussed the budget and planned capital improvements on Thursday night.

If all the roofs in need of repair were fixed, the cost would be around $3 million, according to Michael Engel, the school district’s interim assistant superintendant of business operations.

Sarah Adams, Spencer Loomis, Middle School North, Seth Paine, May Whitney,  and Lake Zurich High School all require asphalt, roof, and various other repairs.  The projects are expected to begin around June 13, at the conclusion of the current school year.

Engel summarized the various capital/major projects scheduled for the summer at the schools in the district. The board agreed with the improvements, which have a total budget of $1.694 million. They include:

• Replacing fire alarm system (Sarah Adams/$174,000.00)

• Replacing Kalwall roofing system (Sarah Adams/$600,000.00)

• Removing mobile classroom footings and repave playground

(Sarah Adams/$26,000)

• Provide ADA accessible sidewalk to playground  (Sarah Adams/ $8,000)

• Replacing deteriorated hallway vinyl composition tile (Seth Paine/$38,000)

• Patching concrete at student drop-off (Middle School North/$3,500)

• Repairing asphalt at school bus drop-off (Spencer Loomis/$9,000)

• Repairing and patching topcoat asphalt hard play surface at kindergarten exit (Spencer Loomis/$22,000)

• Patching and topcoating parking lot (administrative/$75,000)

•  Replacing fire alarm system (Isaac Fox/Middle School South/$564,000)

• Providing additional ventilation and accommodations to create a classroom in store room 302 (Middle School South/$44,400)

•  Adding lockdown routine announcement to existing fire alarm systems-$2,400 each (Lake Zurich High School, Seth Paine, Middle School North, Spencer Loomis/$9,600)

• Replacing mastic and floor tile in room 19 (May Whitney/$18,000)

• Eli mate pedestrian bridge (May Whitney/$3,720)

• Repairing sewer damage near door 8 (May Whitney/$1,200)

• Repairing asphalt parking surface at staff parking area west of May Whitney (May Whitney/$18,000)

• Patching and topcoating drive to May Whitney, PDC (May Whitney, PDC/$80,000)

Additionally, Engel mentioned that various district-wide roofing projects are pending, with opening bids scheduled for Tuesday, March 29. Engel also cautioned that because a number of repairs include petroleum-based products that are tied to the rising cost of oil, prices for repair work could ultimately be higher than current estimates.   

After Engel spoke, Fred Schuster, the school district’s architectural consultant, discussed several other structural improvements that will be necessary, including the replacement of underground circuitry. Schuster said that $15,000 is needed to repair an overloaded circuit board, and $55,000 is the estimated cost for installing new underground feeders.

Schuster suggested using as few vendors as possible for these repairs as one way of potentially keeping costs down. Schuster also discussed the installation of remote access to the various schools.

“Remote access to facilities is desirable and can be easily accomplished,” he said. Schuster acknowledged that IT management is an issue in the district, which is currently without centralized automation.           

After Engel and Schuster finished speaking, the board members discussed long-range plans for school facility improvements and upgrades, and how the anticipated costs of those changes will continue to mount the longer  they’re delayed.

The board agreed to “dust off” and take another look at a facilities survey that was completed five years ago. The survey had been initiated to study the feasibility of razing and rebuilding the old and patially vacant May Whitney elementary school.

“At the time, we didn’t just want to do a Band-Aid solution,” said board member Kathy Brown.

Board member Doug Goldberg, who was on the facilities committee, said that up until several years ago the assumption was that a new facility would eventually be built. 

“That obviously isn’t going to happen any time soon,” said Goldberg. “I think we have to think in terms of how we improve May Whitney. And in five years we revisit what will happen with that facility.”

Board member Mike Finn agreed with Goldberg. “The paradigm of building a new facility that was in heavy discussion several years ago is no longer valid,” said Finn. “I don’t think that people who have seen a 25 percent decrease in their home’s value want to hear about a new facility being discussed."

Finn wondered if this year  a dedicated cash reserve can be implemented. Finn explained that while there was $8 million banked by the district at the beginning of the school year, much of that money has been gradually drained due to expenses.

“There are anomalies in school board accounting that differ from other types of business accounting,” said board member John Kropf. “We don’t have money coming in throughout the year like most other businesses.”

During the three-hour meeting of  Community Unit School District 95 Committee of the Whole last night,  a number of issues on the agenda were discussed at length, but the subject of the school district’s budget dominated the meeting.

In previewing the district’s overall budget, Engel reminded the board that there will be no revenue generated from the annual buyback of the school district buses because of a current deficit in that program. Engel said that there will be a negative balance of $722,451 at the end of the school year after the bus buyback is implemented.

There also will be a loss of slightly more than $479,000  in state funding and the state will on average be 100 days late in payments due to the ongoing state financial crisis.

The district has allotted $100,000 for new science books and $25,000 for student mentoring as additions to the next fiscal budget, said Engel. Also, there is $300,000 going towards the district school’s ongoing technology improvement plan.

“There will be a 3.70 increase in revenue,” said Engel, which will offset some of the district’s expenses.