School officials on Monday night were provided details of a project designed to separate student traffic coming into Lincoln Middle School from members of the general public entering the building. The presentation took place during a Park Ridge-Niles District 64 Board of Education meeting.
The estimated $1.6 million project includes a redesign of the school’s main entrance, replacing the stairs in the entryway with a ramp and the construction of a secure vestibule that would allow visitors access to the interior of the school only after being buzzed into the building by staff, according to representatives from Chicago-based Studio GC, an architecture and design firm. The project also includes a makeover of the main office space, including the nurses office and the principal’s office, in addition to significant changes to the school’s learning resource center adjacent to its main entrance.
District 64 Superintendent Laurie Heinz said during the presentation that none of the changes will result in an increase in size to any school administrator’s office space.
To separate student traffic headed to the LRC from visitors entering the school through its main door, Richard Petricek, principal of Studio GC, said a glass bulletproof wall would be constructed. The wall would create a division between the LRC and the secure vestibule. In preparation for the changes, Heinz said during the tour that school officials have been counseling students not to let any adults into the building during school days.
The project also includes a new ceiling, tuck-pointing and a fresh coat of paint on the walls of the LRC in addition to new carpeting. Renderings of the space presented Monday night revealed carpets with black, gray, greenish-yellow and purple squares and octagonal patterns.
“We are proposing to pull a little bit of [the carpet colors] up on the walls, so it ties it together,” Petricek told the board.
The new LRC will include mobile desks and book shelves, according to Petricek.
“The goal here is to be able to convert the library as needed for instruction for multiple classes and multiple needs of those classes as they are in the facility,” he said. While a teacher may be leading a lesson in one section of the LRC, students can work quietly in another, he said.
Petricek said his firm also proposed two checkout areas instead of the single checkout station currently in the facility. He said staff told the firm’s architects that they have trouble checking out books for every child at the end of class time with only one station.
The proposed design also includes a “maker space” for more hands-on activities, a storage area and a separate section for either faculty or students to use to work on projects, he said.
Mary Jane Warden, the district’s director of innovation and instructional technology, said the new LRC will also provide space for certified students to help repair their peers’ Chromebooks. She said the proposed design includes “a lot more functional space and a lot more efficient use of space.”
Lincoln Middle School Principal Tony Murray said the design “allows more classes to come down at the same time and do different things.” He described the LRC as the “heartbeat of the school” and a facility that’s frequently used by many of its students and teachers.
Murray said he’s “very excited about the possibilities” the new design offers.
Chief School Business Official Luann Kolstad said the project is currently out to bid. Petricek said the work would be completed this summer.
Debt certificates and working cash bonds
In other board business, the district’s elected officials unanimously approved a measure authorizing the issuance of $9.25 million worth of debt certificates. The debt certificates, in addition to approximately $3.5 million already set aside by the district, will fund construction projects, including the Lincoln Middle School project, scheduled for this summer and the following summer, Kolstad said in an interview following the meeting.
The issuance of debt certificates will not affect residents’ tax bills, according to Kolstad. Unlike bonds, debt certificates are paid back through the district’s operating fund, she said.
Elizabeth Hennessy, managing director of William Blair, a financial consultant for the district, said the district will pay off the debt certificates over the course of 15 years, with the first payment due this December.
Kolstad said the district has budgeted $800,000 per year in payments for the debt certificates. She said she was able to set aside the funds as a result of savings achieved in contract negotiations with the district’s teachers and assistant teachers unions.
The interest rate on the certificates will be less than 5 percent, Hennessy said, but the exact figure will not be known until the purchase is made later this month.
Board officials also declared their intention to issue approximately $20.7 million in working cash bonds to pay for mandated health life safety repairs to district buildings. School officials said the measure approved Monday night does not allow for the issuance of any bonds just yet but lays the groundwork for future boards to take that step.
“I don’t want future boards to have to spend the hours and hours discussing this topic of where and how to get the funds [to pay for capital projects],” said board member Tom Sotos. “We’re hoping we give them that head start. We do hope future boards do only what’s good for the district with the money available and make sure they take care of the health [and] life safety stuff.”
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
