Stakeholder Perspective on $130 Million District 15 Referendum

(The below words were presented by District 15 resident Amy Nelson on Tuesday, October 12 at the District 15 Board of Education Meeting)

I want to take a few minutes to talk about the proposal that is being presented as part of the referendum. While I have not intended to make anything personal, let’s keep this all in perspective, as when a proposal is presented with this type of price tag – and I don’t just mean the dollar amount of 130M – people are going to push back and ask questions. It would be a shame if nobody thought this would happen, and an even bigger shame if you tried to silence it.

I am here to state publically some of the questions and concerns I have regarding this current plan. These concerns have been called attacks, fiction, opinions – I call them valid, because they come from the community that you have been elected to serve.

• We talk about the process being rushed. Facilities Plan Committee 2.0 was formed in January of 2016 – just 9 months ago – they held several closed door meetings, with no meeting minutes taken or details provided to the community. The meetings that are being held now at each of the schools along with other sites should have been held between April and August. Imagine how much more the community would have felt involved – and potentially lessening these alleged attacks on the Board and those who support this plan.
• While some are rightfully concerned about the tax increase they may be facing if this referendum passes, the majority of the people concerned about this plan are not at all focused on the cost. Although, while we are on the topic, the concept of trying to strike fear into the community by threatening additional costs if we wait a year – let’s put it into mathematical perspective. If we wait one year, based on Superintendent Thompson’s numbers in his recent memo to the Board, this would be an extra $5, or 1.4cents per day, for the average homeowner. I don’t think anyone is going to cry foul if you wait one year to ensure that this plan works for the majority of the community.
• It’s great that some kids are having their bus time reduced. But at whose expense? The proposed boundaries are now going to have kids that currently walk to Sanborn be bussed to Winston. Kids currently walking to Winston JH will be bussed to Sundling. Sundling is MUCH farther away from a large portion of the Winston park neighborhood that currently go to Winston JH. And, all of the NE kids will be bussed to Winston for 6-8 grade. This is farther for most of them than Sundling. Superintendent Thompson stated at last night’s Winston Junior High meeting that there will basically be no savings from a transportation standpoint – despite the $1M estimate that has been touted from the beginning.
• The STEM school – how hard is it to say “we will transform JA into a school appropriate for 6-8 graders so they don’t have to use bathrooms and desks and chairs that are built for 2nd graders. We are committed to providing locker rooms. We are committed to adding science labs and all of the other changes that would be needed to make this a REAL Academy intended for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.” You made fancy drawings for the Ela Rd school, but you can’t commit to providing JA with locker rooms and science labs? This shouldn’t require 3 years to figure out.
• Those pesky code violations – are they not “violations”? I am very confused, as Dr. Thompson has made it seem that the District’s own architect has grossly overstated the importance of these repairs. Or are you saying that these items aren’t important? Are they just a smoke screen for when you want it to matter – like with Sanborn? Actually, let’s talk about Sanborn. We have now been told by Dr. Thompson that the Life Safety costs of $100M can be completed with only $25M, and primarily with in-house staff. So, back to that math thing – we are discounting the total cost by 75%. Does this mean it should only cost 1.75M to bring Sanborn up to code, instead of 7M?
• Lastly, Osage Park. The rendering shows that the school’s footprint equals about 26% of the total acreage. Per the Palatine Village Manager, the Village has not been involved in traffic studies or discussions as to whether or not this property can handle the proposed 186,000sf school plus community building. Will the neighborhood accept a 3-story building; or even a 2 ½ story building with a partial basement and windows just above ground? Will they accept the additional traffic this is going to bring to the neighborhood? Will the neighborhood suffer from water runoff during heavy rains, now that it has a fraction of the open land left? Again – too many unanswered questions.

So – I am a firm believer that we cannot succeed as a community or a society if we only point out the problems and don’t provide possible solutions. Here are some ideas that I would ask the Board and this administration to consider:

1. Whether the referendum passes or not, please, hold town hall meetings. Perform surveys – phone, online, by mail. If we have 3 years to figure out all the details you haven’t wanted to provide, or claimed you couldn’t, I’m sure we can take a few extra months to adjust this plan so that most are happy, not just some.
2. Strongly consider other sites for the NE community school.
3. Consider forming dual language schools.
4. Consider redrawing boundaries despite the fact that it may be considered “political suicide”, [as I heard Dr. Thompson state at the Winston Elementary informational meeting]. This may mean splitting the low income population between Sundling and Winston JH. Barrington does it successfully with middle school kids grades 6-8 – so can we.

Thank you.