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Report: Class sizes, maintenance among Dist. 204 community priorities

Three spending priorities emerged from the Engage 204 process meant to help set a long-term plan in Indian Prairie Unit District 204.

Participants in the community engagement sessions hosted between November and March told parent facilitators they want the district to lower class sizes, tackle deferred maintenance projects and increase teacher salaries. To do all three would cost $24.2 million a year, plus a one-time bill of $10 million for maintenance and repairs, according to district estimates.

While facilitators told the school board there was consensus on these top three concerns, they said the desires of Engage 204 participants diverged from there, with some preferring the district hire additional support staff, such as instructional coaches to help close achievement gaps, and others preferring the district upgrade locks and intercoms, find new space for alternative programs or complete elementary school air conditioning.

"We had a good enough discussion to get good indicators about areas of priority," said Jessica Johnson, one of the facilitating team leaders.

Facilitators passed along the priorities to the school board, which now will consider next steps. These could include a comprehensive boundary study - another suggestion that emerged from Engage 204 - and discussions about how to afford costly repairs or new programs.

"We clearly need to go somewhere," school board President Mike Raczak said before hearing the priorities. "You can't engage the community and not respond."

In a separate vote during Monday's meeting, the school board approved a teachers contract that provides averages raises of 4.13, 3.5, 3.43 and 3.46 percent during the next four years. "The new contract was a great step in the direction for teacher salaries," Johnson said.

But that leaves class sizes and deferred building maintenance as major areas the public still wants addressed.

"We don't want our buildings crumbling around our students," parent facilitator Mark Lobos said. "And I think the whole community agreed with that."

Facilitators and school board members said they wished more people would have joined in the sessions, which drew an average of 131 people, while nearly 490 people came at least once. With this level of participation from a district with nearly 28,000 students from parts of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, facilitators urged the school board to view their recommendations cautiously.

"I think this gives us a good snapshot," school board member Mark Rising said. "But like you said, don't jump to too many conclusions based on just this information. Because maybe we should go a little bit deeper, or dig deeper."

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