With Rosemont’s help, school district will bypass bidding process for new $57 million building

The village of Rosemont will help pay the extra cost of a new $57 million Rosemont Elementary District 78 school and swimming pool over and above what voters authorized in a $40 million referendum, under a complex intergovernmental agreement that also calls for dissolution of the park district and absorption of its duties by the village.

The deal — inked by Mayor Brad Stephens, school board President Chris Stephens and park board President Rick Drehobl — allows the single-school district to bypass a formal construction bidding process that would otherwise be required under state law, and have the municipality hire its favored general contractor that’s handled most of the big building projects in town for decades.

The village board this week approved a contract with Degen & Rosato Rosemont LLC that sets the guaranteed maximum price for the new two-story, 100,000-square-foot building at $57,588,400. Though the village is the contracting agency overseeing the construction and billing process, the intergovernmental agreement calls for the school board to vote on the same construction contract — which is scheduled for the board’s meeting next Monday.

“We’re acting as a checkbook and utilizing the village’s so-called expertise in construction management,” Mayor Brad Stephens said. “The village is here as a backstop. We’ll make sure it will be on time, within budget, and no impact to taxpayers.”

Because construction costs have climbed since the March 17, 2020, referendum in which District 78 received approval to issue bonds for a new school, the village will use reserve funds to pay the balance of costs, in addition to surrounding public infrastructure, the mayor said.

Local leaders have long been looking to replace the 1960s-era K-8 school on Ruby Street, which serves families within Rosemont’s gated residential subdivision south of Higgins Road.

Initial plans called for the new school to be built on open space next door to the old school, but further discussion with the park district led to a land swap outlined in the intergovernmental agreement.

The new school will be constructed at Lange Park, which is about four blocks away and where demolition of a field house is nearly complete. In exchange, the old school could be renovated into a parks and recreation facility, or be torn down to make way for a new parks building.

District 78’s new building will include an indoor pool — smaller than the Olympic-sized one in the existing school — while the village will pay for parent drop-off/pick-up lanes, a new synthetic turf field and underground stormwater detention at Lange Park.

Officials said it would’ve been inefficient and a safety hazard for the new school to be built on the same site while classes are in session. They added there’s limited property available for a new school in the tiny single-family area of Rosemont.

At the same time, talks led to the village taking over management and operation of park district programs following the Jan. 1 retirement of longtime park director Karen Stephens. All remaining employees would become employees of the village upon dissolution of the Rosemont Park District via referendum. The elected park board would become an advisory body, and all district property would be controlled by the village.

The earliest that referendum could happen is March 2026.

Construction on the new school is expected to take two years and be ready for classes in August 2027.