Walsh: District Needs Direction on Easing School Overcrowding

With a third high school off the table for , officials will hold a workshop next week to begin brainstorming other remedies to ease overcrowding.

“We have to address other options such as utilizing the resources that are not currently utilized as well as have continued discussion on if we’re going to have one addition, two additions or no additions,” said District 308 School Board President Bill Walsh.

The school board Monday night to terminate the planning and construction of a third high school proposed for near Plainfield and Ridge roads.

Officials will hold a workshop, open to the public, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, in the Community Room at , to discuss other alternatives like conducting cost comparisons for utilizing Murphy Junior High School and the old Traughber Junior High School versus value engineering the proposed additions to the two existing high schools.

“[Supt. Dan] O’Donnell and the administrative team need direction,” Walsh said.

Initial cost estimates for the additions came in at about $80 million on the high end.

According to preliminary estimates from Kluber Architects and Engineers, bringing OEHS to a maximum capacity of 3,200 students will cost the district $39.4 million. ATS&R Architects presented the board with their plan in six steps for its addition at OHS. Those steps range in cost from $32.6 million to $42.29 million.

The construction costs for building a third high school were estimated at about $105 million.

Walsh said even though the district has the bonding authority of $450 million and has already spent $166 million “doesn’t mean we have to spend all of it.”

“We really need to look at other solutions,” he said.

Board member Brent Lightfoot said school officials should have considered value engineering when they initially began talking with the architects about the possible expansions.

“I think, given the way the economy is and my desire not to raise taxes, we’ve got to start at the bottom versus large, all encompassing plans,” he said.

O'Donnell said officials did do value engineering when the project first began.

“We started out with a much larger project that was value engineered down to some degree already,” he said. “[The board] thinks we can go farther so we’ll go back to the drawing table.”

O'Donnell said with the third high school out of the picture, the additions are the next best solution rather than re-engineering existing buildings in the district.

“The additions would would give us much-needed room and cause the least disruption,” he said.

Board members also will be working against the clock. November is the deadline to sell bonds to finance any new construction projects around the district.

“It takes about a month to do the paperwork to get bonds sold,” O’Donnell said. “So we’re asking the board to make decisions by September so we can know how many bonds we have to sell."

According to District 308 documents, if officials opt to go with the additions, taxpayers with a home valued at $200,000 will pay an additional $69 in 2013, $68 in 2014 and 2015, $67 in 2016 and $66 in 2017.