Peering at everything from crowded computer labs to boilers to rust flaking from a classroom building, members of a citizens committee for the College of DuPage got a close look Tuesday at the workings of the school they are charged with advising.
The citizens committee, which has been meeting since mid-July, was formed by the community college to help it plan for the future. Each of the 110 members of the panel will have a chance to take one of 10 tours this week and next.
The aim is to give committee members a behind-the-scenes look at the school and its offerings. After a Tuesday afternoon tour of facilities, one of the committee members said she was impressed with how efficiently the school operates.
“The number of programs here is wider than I thought,” said Jessica Gerdes, school health program manager for the DuPage County Health Department. “They have done well using what they have. They have been very efficient getting additional programs opened and expanded.”
The committee is expected to issue a final report to the college’s board of trustees in November.
One important committee task will include an examination of the school’s master plan, a blueprint outlining future development, including upgrades to technology and science rooms and replacement of aging buildings.
In the past school officials have estimated that the work included in the plan will cost about $209 million, an amount that officials said is expected to climb once they finish revising numbers to reflect today’s prices.
Officials are concerned with the need and cost of upgrading technology.
“Upgrading computer information systems is a chronic issue and one that is a cost issue as well,” said Meryl Sussman, dean of the business and services division for the college.
She noted that computer labs have been “hobbled together” out of regular classrooms and said they are awkward and inefficient with computers stacked atop regular tables.
Another concern is training health-care workers. High on the school’s priority list is a new health sciences building with labs and classrooms.
Without an influx of cash, the school cannot pay for the upgrades. Options for raising the money include selling a portion of its 275-acre Glen Ellyn campus, raising tuition and fees and asking voters to approve a referendum measure.
Committee members said Tuesday that it will be difficult to make their recommendations.
“How do you prioritize?” Gerdes said. “Should health-care programs take precedence over programs in auto body shop? Whose needs are the most important?”
Dan Crabtree, a career and guidance counselor at Wheaton Academy, a private high school in West Chicago, said it would be difficult to decide how best to handle future growth, especially given that enrollment and demand for nearly every program seems to be growing. This fall, about 34,000 students have enrolled at the school.
“I’m struck with the shortage of space for all of the programs that they are running here,” Crabtree said.
Whatever is decided, the improvements would be among the most extensive renovations for the school since its founding in 1967. The school’s district covers most of DuPage County and parts of western Cook County and includes 960,000 residents.
