Palatine Dist. 15 not on board yet with $3 million in construction projects
Three schools. Nearly $3 million in repairs.
That's the proposal Palatine Township Elementary District 15 officials unveiled Wednesday night before several wary school board members who wondered whether there are more pressing needs in the district's 20 schools.
“We haven't received any information at all about what's urgent,” board member Scott Herr said. “We have no idea how to prioritize. ... As a board, we're kind of in the dark at the moment.”
Administrators assured the board that they picked high-priority projects within a $3 million capital budget — what the district typically spends annually. That number isn't ironclad, though. The board earmarked roughly $4.6 million this school year.
Officials will bring back bids from construction firms for board approval. In summer 2015, they hope to replace galvanized pipes and upgrade bathroom fixtures at Plum Grove Junior High and Lincoln Elementary schools. New parking lots at Plum Grove and Lake Louise Elementary also are on the table.
Herr said he wants the results of a comprehensive survey of the district's buildings before making a decision on plans for the summer construction season.
“As a board member, I want to know if we've got imminent safety issues,” Herr said. “I want to know now so we can get it done before, you know, summer break.”
Whether there are any safety issues in schools will be revealed in December, when the board reviews an audit of district facilities. The findings by architects and engineers will help the district prioritize projects for the next decade.
The last mandatory assessment, based in part on Illinois State Board of Education regulations, was done in 2005.
In January and February, the district also plans to hold four community forums on the study. The process could lead officials to allocate more than the $3 million, Superintendent Scott Thompson said.
He added that administrators did consider the analysis to identify the projects unveiled Wednesday. But he cautioned that the district would be “behind the eight ball” if officials waited until after a Dec. 10 presentation on the audit to start seeking bids.
“We're in a situation where we want to create a comprehensive plan that gets a lot of input and goes out for many years,” Thompson said. “We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. This information is going to take a bit of time to put into a plan and to make sense of.”