Dist. 200 moving ahead with $7.2 million in facility improvements
The Wheaton Warrenville District 200 board agreed Wednesday to move forward with $7.2 million worth of facility improvements that are scheduled to be completed this summer.
Approval of the work comes two weeks after the board issued nearly $10 million in bonds to be used for critical facility projects at 18 of the district's 20 schools. With the last day of classes now anticipated to be June 10, the work will begin June 11.
The district has been working with Performance Services — a firm that provides construction and renovation solutions for schools and municipalities — to identify and complete the projects.
Bob Wede, a business development manager of Performance Services, gave the board a brief overview of the projects the $7.2 million will cover during Wednesday's meeting.
In an analysis of all the district's schools, more than $30 million in facility needs were identified. The district's facility committee and Performance Services prioritized those needs and created an improvement list.
“We really focused on age systems, as well as learning environment issues and also energy savings,” Wede said.
Of the $7.2 million in projects being completed this year, about $3 million will be spent on Wheaton North High School.
The outdated and poorly functioning unit ventilators, along with an automation system and a gym air handling unit, will be replaced. Repairs will also be done to about 15,000 square feet of the school's roof.
About $2 million will go toward Johnson Elementary School, which will also receive upgraded classroom ventilators, as well as a new, web-based control system.
A new roof and other improvements at Emerson Elementary School will amount to about $1 million.
Projects at the remaining 15 schools total to about $1.2 million. Wede said they mostly include lighting fixture upgrades and improvements to classroom ventilation, such as the installation of “fan-powered relief.”
“They aren't getting the fresh air that you'd like to have there,” he said of the classrooms' conditions with the current ventilation systems.
“We'll be doing that at almost all your elementary buildings.”
Final pricing for everything except the roofs should be available by the end of this month, Wede said. Roof pricing, he said, should be in by the beginning of May.
Superintendent Brian Harris said the board will be asked to approve additional work — including new pavement at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and Johnson Elementary School, a new track at Wheaton North High School and new carpeting at the middle school level — in the near future.