District 25 considering $35 million bond sale to fund additions

Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 is discussing selling a minimum of $35.1 million in bonds early next year to pay for additions to two more of its schools.

The school board Thursday discussed options for repaying the bonds over 15 or 20 years for additions to Thomas Middle School, Windsor Elementary School and a number of life safety projects across the district.

The discussion comes as District 25 is completing additions at two of its schools - Ivy Hill and Olive-Mary Stitt elementary schools - in time for the school year to start later this month. The district sold $18 million in bonds for those projects.

The projects are in response to growing enrollment across the district. Superintendent Lori Bein said Windsor is already overflowing with students and has two classrooms in mobile units outside the school. The principal's office has already been converted into a conference room and part of the library will be portioned off for another classroom this year, she said.

The projected plans for Windsor include adding six classrooms, three new office and meeting rooms, new bathrooms, additional storage, and expansions to the gymnasium and commons area. The projected cost for the project, expected to begin in March 2017, is $9.8 million.

Another construction project is also planned for Thomas Middle School to begin in November and is planned to cost $15 million and include a new, larger gymnasium and convert the old gymnasium into a band room, music room and five more classrooms.

Both expansions are planned to be completed by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

The potential bond sale would also include $10.25 million for districtwide life safety upgrades to be done in the summer of 2017 and 2018.

The school board Thursday gave Bein direction to come up with more detailed plans for the Windsor expansion, and at the next meeting on Sept. 22, board members will vote on their intent to sell bonds for the work.