Dist. 25 summer projects entail roof, flooding fixes

Every year when District 25 students get out of school for the summer, the construction equipment moves in.

This year Arlington Heights school officials want to repair roofs at two schools and fix some flooding problems at another two, said District 25 Director of Facilities Management Ken Roiland.

Roiland will present his suggested list of summer construction projects to the school board on May 14. The board is slated to approve the list at that meeting.

The two most expensive projects are $300,000 in roof repairs at Thomas Middle School and Miner Elementary School and $435,000 to transform some Westgate storage rooms into classrooms, Roiland said.

At Westgate, storage and a woodworking room will be changed into classrooms to accommodate students in years to come, he said.

Another project includes spending $150,000 to fix flooding problems at Thomas and Olive schools.

Flooding inside Thomas has been an issue for years, Roiland said.

"Especially during microburst rain storms," he added. "Water will come up the drains and some of the toilets."

The work on Olive will alleviate drain flooding outside the school.

This summer, officials will also wrap up a two-year plan to cool off all District 25 schools by air conditioning Dryden, Ivy Hill, Patton, Westgate and Windsor. Last summer, air conditioning was installed at South, Thomas, Greenbrier and Olive-Mary Stitt schools.