$25 Million In Upgrades Proposed For Joseph Sears School

KENILWORTH, IL — Kenilworth School District 38 board members are set to review and potentially vote to approve the final draft of a master facilities plan at Monday's meeting.

The multi-year plan would include up to $19 million of capital improvements between next year and fall 2023.

Once the first two phases of the facilities plan is complete, an estimated $6 million in additional funding would be used to finish up work on parts of the building. The final scope of the third phase has yet to be determined.

The one-school district serves about 470 students from junior kindergarten to eighth grade in a single building — Joseph Sears School. Classes have been conducted in the same building at 542 Abbotsford Road since 1912, according to the district's website, with another wing added in 1945.

The new master facilities plan calls for more than 13,000 square feet of additional space to be added on the southwest side of the building at the Ivy Court.

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Work to develop a new master facilities plan has been going on since at least February 2019, when the district and DLA Architects began working on a "Visioning process" with the Boston-based consulting firm New Vista Design.

"As Kenilworth School District 38, DLA Architects, and New Vista Design undertook a review of the best and most current academic building design elements in the United States, it became apparent that The Joseph Sears School and campus required significant capital investment to achieve this goal," according to the plan's executive summary.

Following a series of workshops, focus groups and surveys, district officials and their architects developed a series of design priorities and guiding principals.

The facilities plan calls for the retention of the school's facade on Abbotsford Road and its auditorium, while "nearly all aspects of the school" will be upgraded.

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The plan calls for a community entrance, a green roof, expanded outdoor classroom space, more science labs, a new lunchroom, "learning neighborhoods" for different grade levels and a new community hub, including office space for the Kenilworth Park District, additional gym space and room for more park district programming.

According to a summary of projected construction costs, the most expensive single line item is expected to be the addition of a commons, cafeteria and second-floor classrooms.

Given the district's AAA long-term debt rating, it would be able to issue up to $4.4 million in debt certificates without a referendum, according to the plan. But the proposed expansion does not call for borrowing any money, and the entire cost of its first two faces is expected to be covered by existing fund balances.

The district has been running an operating surplus for years while delaying capital spending, leading to a cash and investment fund balance exceeding $25 million, according to a financial overview of the plan.

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Also on the agenda for Monday's meeting: an update on efforts to rename Joseph Sears School.

In June, a pair of Sears School and New Trier High School alumni circulated a petition calling for the removal of the name of the village's founder, who the petition described as a "white nationalist."

The following month, the board discussed plans for an advisory group to review the petition and community forums to discuss it.

Monday's meeting is scheduled to begin around 7:30 p.m. and will be conducted using videoconferencing software.

Read more: Final Draft Master Facilities Plan