District 34 must rebid on some renovation work
Bids for Glenview School District 34 renovation projects have come in higher than budgeted, moving some of this summer's work to 2023.
Following a facilities study of the district's eight school buildings and administration building, a referendum for $119 million easily passed on March 17, 2020.
The money was dedicated to renovations at the district's three primary (kindergarten through second-grade) buildings, its three intermediate (third- through fifth-grade) buildings and also at Springman and Attea middle schools.
A key facet of the referendum was to fund full-day kindergarten facilities at the primary-grade buildings - Henking, Lyon and Westbrook schools.
"Phase I" of the project consists of creating one-story additions at each school to provide eight classrooms apiece, plus other indoor and outdoor infrastructure and features.
Ground broke at the primary schools on May 17, 2021.
Construction of the Phase I additions is on schedule for completion by this August, said Cathy Kedjidjian, District 34 director of Communications and Strategic Planning.
Also on schedule is Phase 4 of the plan, a longer-scale interior renovation at Springman. All the Phase 4 work is scheduled to be completed by the start of school in 2025.
Phases 2 and 3 pertain to renovations at Pleasant Ridge, Glen Grove and Hoffman schools.
At the District 34 board meeting this March, representatives of the district's construction management firm, Nicholas & Associates, said bids for Phases 2 and 3 came in at just under $63 million, higher than budgeted.
The district said Nicholas & Associates' Nick Papanicholas detailed several reasons, particularly a large rise in the consumer price index and vast increases in materials, including a 200% increase in lumber costs and 111% for steel.
The management firm broke down requests for proposal into four bids. The board approved contracts for two of the four packages at a total of more than $30 million.
The two other Phase 2 and Phase 3 packages will be bid later this summer at the start of the 2023 budget cycle in hope of receiving savings and getting in early on summer 2023 construction schedules.
As Kedjidjian explained, while initially half of all the district's classrooms were scheduled to be renovated this summer, the updated plan will see half of the learning spaces at Henking, Lyon, Westbrook and Springman receive renovations.
Next summer, the other half of those classrooms will be renovated as well as all of the classrooms at Attea, Glen Grove, Hoffman and Pleasant Ridge. The renovations are still expected to be completed by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Kedjidjian said that about 350 students have registered for the full-time kindergarten classes, which start Aug. 25. The fee for full-day kindergarten is $3,600, though people who registered before March 31 were able to pay a reduced rate of $3,300.
"Our kindergarten planning team has been working all year to prepare the curriculum, schedules and structure for full-day kindergarten," she stated in an email to the Herald.
Only 10 students, however, have registered for half-day kindergarten. Schools that provide a full day of kindergarten classes also are required by the state to provide a half-day option. The structure of the half-day sessions in District 34 had yet to be determined.
The district will offer a kindergarten information night at Henking, Lyon and Westbrook schools at 6 p.m. May 4. Information and a signup is available online by visiting www.glenview34.org and selecting the "Full-Day Kindergarten" pull-down tab.