The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Dist. U-46 report identifies 17 schools requiring work

By Seth Hancock
  School District U-46 has identified $70.9 million in projects needed to address issues at 17 buildings in the 10-year safety survey report.
  Sheila Downs, director of plant operations, said because of the district’s size, its buildings are on a cycle with different buildings being addressed in each year’s report.
  “Each of the buildings has to be looked at and inspected by an architect every 10 years,” Downs said. “From there, they create two sets of lists. One is the health safety violations, anything that is a code issue. And then our architect also gives me a separate list of things that aren’t necessarily code related but that are recommended…. Then they set specific dates depending on the severity of the items. And so, there are some items that need to be repaired the next year to three years. There are some items that are lower priorities that can be completed throughout the duration of the 10-year cycle.”
  The highest costing needs are at Elgin’s Ellis Middle School ($11.7 million) and Streamwood’s Tefft Middle School ($11.1 million).
  There were three buildings on the list that have been marked for potential decommission in a facilities study recently completed: Elgin’s Illinois Park Center ($5.1 million), Streamwood’s Hanover Countryside Elementary School ($3.8 million) and Elgin’s Garfield Elementary School ($2.9 million).
  Downs said the district would address the most urgent needs at those locations but will keep the possible plans of decommission in mind when considering long-term items.
  Other buildings on the list are Elgin’s Larsen Middle School ($6.8 million) and Century Oaks ($5.4 million), Hillcrest ($4.1 million), Creekside ($4 million), Lowrie ($3.3 million), Washington ($1.8 million) and Highland ($1.2 million) elementary schools as well as South Elgin’s Fox Meadows Elementary School ($4.5 million), Streamwood’s Glenbrook Elementary School ($2.9 million), the Planetarium in Elgin ($1.2 million) Bartlett’s Nature Ridge Elementary School ($1 million) and Hanover Park’s Laurel Hill Elementary School ($143,400).