Post by wvhsparent on Oct 11, 2006 6:33:33 GMT -6
District 203 wants input on facilities
Committee wants to know communities’ priorities
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Naperville Unit District 203 facilities committee has decided not to move forward in determining priorities for its buildings until it hears from the community.
The group will hold a community forum at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Naperville Central’s little theater, 440 W. Aurora Ave. Students will give tours of the school at 6:45 p.m.
“Without getting community input in a real sincere way we’d be putting the cart before the horse,” said Doug Wilson, who heads the committee.
The group has been studying overcrowding issues at Naperville Central and Mill Street Elementary since May along with a host of other district-wide facility problems, but has mostly looked at them in isolation.
Now members need to put the pieces together to determine what their priorities are based on the money available.
Monday, committee members learned that additions, remodeling and rebuilding they recommend for district schools would require a tax increase if they are above $59 million.
Prior to hearing this figure, the group had said its preliminary recommendation for Central would be to build a new building on the current site. Total project costs released Tuesday showed this would cost about $133.8 million.
At the forum, the committee will also present an option to renovate and expand the school for roughly $53.25 million and another option to only address several top priorities such as science labs, which would cost about $23 million total for several fixes.
At Mill, the committee has said it favors remodeling and adding onto the building. Doing so would cost about $11.05 million for the entire project.
The committee is also reviewing an option to rebuild the school on the same site, which would cost about $18.55 million.
After hearing these total costs Tuesday, some members questioned if it would be better to rebuild since the costs are relatively close to each other.
Other potential district projects include building or leasing an early childhood center, deepening North’s pool, increasing security, improving traffic flow and adding artificial turf to the high school football fields. The committee learned Tuesday that building and leasing an early childhood center would actually cost the same — $11.25 million.
Members did decide, however, to scratch additional classrooms off their list of needs due to decreasing enrollment. If the district consolidates its early childhood program, several schools would gain more classroom space as well.
After hearing from the community, the committee plans to put together two proposals for the school board — one that utilizes a referendum and one that does not.
The group currently plans to present a final report to the school board Nov. 13.
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dailyherald.com
Committee wants to know communities’ priorities
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Naperville Unit District 203 facilities committee has decided not to move forward in determining priorities for its buildings until it hears from the community.
The group will hold a community forum at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Naperville Central’s little theater, 440 W. Aurora Ave. Students will give tours of the school at 6:45 p.m.
“Without getting community input in a real sincere way we’d be putting the cart before the horse,” said Doug Wilson, who heads the committee.
The group has been studying overcrowding issues at Naperville Central and Mill Street Elementary since May along with a host of other district-wide facility problems, but has mostly looked at them in isolation.
Now members need to put the pieces together to determine what their priorities are based on the money available.
Monday, committee members learned that additions, remodeling and rebuilding they recommend for district schools would require a tax increase if they are above $59 million.
Prior to hearing this figure, the group had said its preliminary recommendation for Central would be to build a new building on the current site. Total project costs released Tuesday showed this would cost about $133.8 million.
At the forum, the committee will also present an option to renovate and expand the school for roughly $53.25 million and another option to only address several top priorities such as science labs, which would cost about $23 million total for several fixes.
At Mill, the committee has said it favors remodeling and adding onto the building. Doing so would cost about $11.05 million for the entire project.
The committee is also reviewing an option to rebuild the school on the same site, which would cost about $18.55 million.
After hearing these total costs Tuesday, some members questioned if it would be better to rebuild since the costs are relatively close to each other.
Other potential district projects include building or leasing an early childhood center, deepening North’s pool, increasing security, improving traffic flow and adding artificial turf to the high school football fields. The committee learned Tuesday that building and leasing an early childhood center would actually cost the same — $11.25 million.
Members did decide, however, to scratch additional classrooms off their list of needs due to decreasing enrollment. If the district consolidates its early childhood program, several schools would gain more classroom space as well.
After hearing from the community, the committee plans to put together two proposals for the school board — one that utilizes a referendum and one that does not.
The group currently plans to present a final report to the school board Nov. 13.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dailyherald.com