Harmonious Dist. 15 board approves capital projects

Sitting in the Palatine Township Elementary District 15 board meeting Wednesday night, you never would have known the reorganization that’s about to take place after last week’s surprising sweep by three challengers.

Civility and brevity were the orders of the day for a change, as members unanimously approved more than $2 million in capital projects to take place this summer during what was easily the shortest and most harmonious meeting of the year.

“It’ll be up to the new board to attack the district’s facilities plan and prioritize and budget for capital projects,” said outgoing member Sue Quinn, who didn’t seek re-election.

On Wednesday, April 27, newcomers Scott Herr, Gerard Iannuzzelli and Manjula Sriram officially take over the seats Quinn, board President Gerald Chapman and James Ekeberg have held for the past four years.

Quinn said the approved projects are the district’s most pressing building needs and carry none of the controversy as a year ago, when the $27 million bond issue was passed — and through a referendum later defeated — partly to fund 11 roof replacements within a few years.

The approved roof replacements are at Hunting Ridge and Lincoln schools to the tune of $662,700, a bid that came in $223,000 less than estimated. Another $625,000 will be spent at Hunting Ridge to replace the unit ventilators.

The district’s telephone system, which is at least 15 years old, is being replaced for more than $700,000. Officials said the investment is necessary because replacement parts are nearly impossible to secure and phone service was disrupted recently at three different schools, including for a four-day period at Plum Grove Junior High.

New lighting also will be installed at Hunting Ridge, Lake Louise, Lincoln, Paddock, Sundling and Winston Campus schools for about $500,000.

Though it wasn’t selected in the first round, officials still hope District 15 will secure an Illinois State Board of Education energy grant that reimburses up to half the cost of energy-efficiency projects, so total project costs could decrease as much as $248,000.

In addition to the capital projects, board members who often butt heads supported each other Wednesday on all issues including policy language and further investigating Superintendent Scott Thompson’s proposal to switch to paperless board packets.