Dist. 204 plans to discuss Metea land

[gatormom]

Dist. 204 plans to discuss Metea land
Amy Boerema
Daily Herald
1/4/2008

After a two-month standstill, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 leaders are hoping to move forward in picking a site for Metea Valley High School.

The board will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. today at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora.

Officials will meet in closed session to discuss pending litigation and property acquisition. They will open the meeting for public comment but take no action.

Board President Mark Metzger said Thursday officials recently received information they had been waiting on for weeks about a potential site for the school.

Officials say a third high school is needed to ease overcrowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools in the district that serves portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook.

"We can finally compare all the sites on an apples-to-apples basis," Metzger said. "There's been almost no progress since November, as we continued to wait and hope for (this information.)"

He declined to give details on the news or how long the talks could last.

The district's third high school originally was going to be built on 80 acres known as the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.

But landowners and school officials, who already own 25 acres at the site, couldn't agree on a price for the rest of the land.

This past fall, the district took the landowner to court to determine the value of the land. The jury settled on a $31 million verdict -- $17 million more than school officials believe the site is worth.

While that parcel hasn't been completely ruled out, Indian Prairie leaders now are considering several other sites. They have not disclosed them.

Meanwhile, the district and Brach-Brodie landowners will next meet in DuPage County court at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The district has requested a new trial to debate the property's value, with attorneys saying there's valid evidence a new hearing is needed.

Attorneys for the landowners, who are seeking to dismiss the motion, have called the request a stall tactic.

[d204mom]

gatormom said:

"We can finally compare all the sites on an apples-to-apples basis," Metzger said. "There's been almost no progress since November, as we continued to wait and hope for (this information.)"

Glad to see that we are still sticking with our "wait and hope" plan. It's been so effective! I would hate to switch to a "get something done" plan at this point.

[EagleDad]

It will be interesting to see how we compare an 80 acre site of which we already own 25 acres and have unknown sunk legal costs and replanning costs to a few 70 acre sites on an apples-to-apples basis.

I hope they do a good job of factoring in all the differences (like land size, already invested costs, opportunity costs, time costs for delayed construction) - I'm hopefully optimistic they will.

[kidsrgrwn]

d204mom said:

gatormom said:

"We can finally compare all the sites on an apples-to-apples basis," Metzger said. "There's been almost no progress since November, as we continued to wait and hope for (this information.)"

Glad to see that we are still sticking with our "wait and hope" plan. It's been so effective! I would hate to switch to a "get something done" plan at this point.

[al]

Guess this is as good a place as any for this update

A synopsis from today's IPPC meeting where Dr. D spoke on the new high school - (I did not attend but received this report from an IPPC rep.)

next Tues. information on the location for the 3rd high school will be released and presented to the board.

there will be a vote on the location during the 1/22 board meeting.

if the land is approved recommended boundary changes will be released within two weeks.

If all goes as planned, school will be open by 08/09.

No more details would be given, much discussion followed.

DISCUSS!!!

[EagleDad]

Do you mean the information on the location for the 3rd high school will be presented Jan 14 (Mon)? That is the next SB meeting and to present info to them on Tuesday they would need to schedule a special meeting (or possibly violate the open meetings act)?

Also, there is no scheduled board meeting 1/22 (also a Tues). They would again need to schedule a special meeting.

Good info al, thanks for sharing.

[al]

^ that's how I got the information - (near verbatim), so yes, I took it to mean next Tues. (15th) the info will be released and he referred to a 1/22 board meeting for the vote.

face it - he was speaking officially (in public) so I take this to be true (or he believes it to be true), and certainly no secret since the IPPC members report back to their respective PTAs. Must want this info to be out there.

[d204mom]

"Telephone" is possibly the worst communication game ever invented.

This is their communication plan?

omg I thought it couldn't get any worse and yet they go and top themselves again. And again. It would be so much more entertaining if it weren't so pathetically sad.

[gatordog]

al said:

If all goes as planned, school will be open by 08/09.

No more details would be given, much discussion followed.

DISCUSS!!!

I think al means 09/10 (that was the original schedule)
edit: thanks for update al, Aug 2009 is target.

I will speculate here...
the land must be pretty much ready to build as-is. Site prep must be minimal.

[momto4]

gatordog said:

al said:

If all goes as planned, school will be open by 08/09.

No more details would be given, much discussion followed.

DISCUSS!!!

I think al means 09/10 (that was the original schedule)

I will speculate here...
the land must be pretty much ready to build as-is. Site prep must be minimal.

Funny, I took it to mean August of 09, not the 08-09 school year.

[confused]

I heard that they would release the recommendation for the third site via the district listserve next Tuesday. The board will vote the following Tuesday. The information I heard didn't mention the 1/14 meeting but my as*umption is that the recommendation would be discussed that night. It also seemed that only the site info would be released, not the boundaries.

The good news is that at least they are giving us a target date as to when we will know.

[al]

8/09 = August 2009 (sorry for the confusion - didn't catch that)

and yes, this is an inane way to release info the the public. I'm very very surprised that no one on here had heard it yet -

edit - ^ guess I spoke too soon, confused!

[blankcheck]

This is pathetic. They are not acting like adults (or super. & SB) members should. This information should have been release in a district wide press release. Once again, communication is not there strong suit.

Having been a member of IPPC in the past, that seems to be their starting point - from there the message gets out.

Won't it be interesting to see what new boundaries they came up with. I say that because they can change them when ever they want. No more minor tweeks etc. Talk about a bad sales job oin the voters of this district. And what are we paying for attorney fees??

[EagleDad]

I had heard they might be ready to discuss the land and comparitive options at the 1/14 scheduled SB meeting. Unlike Daeschner though, I wasn't spreading the word.

I'm glad to hear he has announced it - Good for you Dr D. - I hope, for your sake, that you are not mistakenly pre-announcing it, like you did at the 12/10 board meeting.

Fool me once - shame on me - fool me twice....

[d204mom]

al said:

if the land is approved recommended boundary changes will be released within two weeks.

Will they be legally binding? Ya know, there is a big school board election between now and Sept 09.