Latest news with #MatthewShipley
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Indian Prairie District 204 school board OKs $2.3 million LED lighting project
On Monday, Indian Prairie School District 204's school board approved a $2.3 million LED lighting upgrade project at three district schools. Crone Middle School, Scullen Middle School and Brookdale Elementary School, all in Naperville, will be getting their fluorescent fixtures replaced with LED ones, per Monday's meeting agenda. The lighting work at Crone, Scullen and Brookdale is set to begin in the fall, the district's chief school business official Matthew Shipley told The Beacon-News on Tuesday. It will be completed on second shift after school hours and won't affect school operations. In a memo to the board and district Superintendent Adrian Talley, District 204 Director of Building Operations John Robinson said that the new fixtures will lower the district's energy bills and qualify for a minimum of $60,000 in utility rebates. In March, the district approved LED fixture replacements at Metea Valley High School and Fischer, Granger and Still middle schools that are set to be completed over the summer, according to past reporting. On Monday, the board also approved building permits for summer HVAC work, per the meeting agenda, the hiring of two construction management firms for major renovations going on at Waubonsie Valley High School and Neuqua Valley High School and an updated contract with architect Wight & Co. for the Waubonsie and Neuqua projects. These renovation updates add to the growing list of the district's upcoming capital projects — like a $7.6 million auditorium renovation at Waubonsie in Aurora, secure entryways at 11 district elementary schools and flooring replacements and paving work at schools across the district. Indian Prairie is undergoing major capital work as a result of the passage of a referendum question in November, in which voters approved the district's proposal to sell $420 million in bonds for facility upgrades, according to past reporting. The bonds will be issued through 2029 for projects through 2032, Shipley previously said. But after those funds are used up, the district will need to find a way to generate funding for capital projects while they're paying off the bond issuances, Shipley reiterated in a presentation on Monday about the district's budget for next year. Also at Monday's meeting, the district swore in its returning board members, who were reelected by voters on April 1. Current board President Laurie Donahue, who was reelected in April, was again selected by the school board as president. Current board Secretary Supna Jain was chosen to be vice president by the board, and board member Allison Fosdick was selected as the board secretary.
Chicago Tribune
09-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
District 204 school board OKs nearly $1 million renovation of Foods Lab at Neuqua Valley High School
At its meeting Monday, the Indian Prairie School District 204 board OK'd another summer renovation project, this one at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. The project is a renovation of Neuqua's Foods Lab, per Monday's meeting agenda. The district's architect, STR Partners, bid the project and received five bids from contractors, the agenda said. The district decided on the lowest responsible bidder: Construction, Inc., from Lombard. The project is estimated to cost $944,000, per Monday's meeting agenda. The Foods Lab at Neuqua is used for a Career Technical Education course that teaches culinary arts, baking and knife skills, career development and the experience of running a restaurant, the district's director of building operations John Robinson told The Beacon-News in an email on Wednesday. The renovations will include building six teaching stations in the lab's two classrooms, along with new cooking equipment, sinks and disposals, lighting, ventilation and exhaust and other room renovations, officials said. The Foods Lab renovation adds to the growing number of summer projects set to be completed over the summer to update the district's facilities. In early February, the board approved $3 million in flooring replacements, about $2.1 million in paving work, just under $1.5 million in roofing and gutter repairs and about $600,000 to install four new playgrounds at various schools in the district, according to past reporting. In March, the board OK'd another $15.5 million in capital projects, which include constructing secure entryways at 11 elementary schools, replacing lighting systems with LED fixtures at several schools to improve energy efficiency and installing remote access at 22 schools that would allow school personnel to check the status of the schools' HVAC systems remotely. Later in March, the board also gave the green light to a $7.6 million renovation project for Waubonsie Valley High School's auditorium – a project that will include new seats, house lights, theater lights, sound systems, flooring and other renovations, district officials have previously said. It will also include aesthetics upgrades and Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades that will bring the building up to code, officials have previously said. The district is pursuing significant facilities upgrades as a result of the successful passage of a $420 million bond sale referendum by voters last November. The funds generated by the district's bond sales can only go toward capital projects, not day-to-day operating expenses, according to past reporting. For the projects taking place over the summer and into next fall, the district intends to spend around $40 million across this fiscal year and the next, the district's chief school business official Matthew Shipley has previously said. The $420 million in bonds are set to be issued through 2029 to fund projects through 2032, according to past reporting, and bond payments are expected to continue for 12 to 15 years after all the projects are completed.
Chicago Tribune
25-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
District 204 board OKs $7.6 million auditorium renovation at Waubonsie Valley High School
Students at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora will be getting an upgraded auditorium next year, following approval of the project by the Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education on Monday evening. The project, set to begin over the summer, includes over $7.6 million in renovations, according to the agenda for Monday's board meeting. The overhaul includes new seats, house lights, theater lights, sound systems, flooring and other replacements, according to a letter from John Robinson, the district's director of facility operations, to the school board included in Monday's meeting agenda. There will also be an 'aesthetics upgrade' and Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades throughout the auditorium, bringing the building up to code, officials said. On Monday, the board also approved building permits for summer 2025 capital projects, and statement of completion forms for capital projects that have been completed already. The auditorium project and other capital project-related approvals were approved unanimously in the consent agenda at Monday's meeting. The auditorium renovation will be paid for with funds from bond sales, District 204 Chief School Business Official Matthew Shipley told The Beacon-News in an email on Tuesday. The money for the renovation will be coming out of next year's budget since most work for the project will be completed after June 30, the end of the district's fiscal year. In November, voters approved Indian Prairie's proposal to sell $420 million in bonds to pay for facilities updates, according to past reporting. In recent months, the district has planned for a series of building renovations using money from the bond sales. In early February, the board OK'd more than $3 million in flooring replacements, about $2.1 million in paving work, just under $1.5 million in roofing and gutter repairs and about $600,000 for four new playgrounds at schools across the district, according to past reporting. The district will also be constructing secure entryways at 11 elementary schools, a project coming in at just under $10 million, as well as replacing lighting systems at several schools with LED fixtures meant to be more energy efficient, and installing remote access at 22 district schools to allow personnel to check the schools' HVAC systems remotely. These projects were approved at the district's last board meeting. For projects taking place over the summer and stretching into the fall, Indian Prairie plans to spend around $40 million across this fiscal year and the next, Shipley has previously said. The next bond issuance for capital projects, set for this summer, is likely to be over $100 million and will be factored into next year's budget. The bonds are being paid for by continuing an existing 37-cent property tax per $100 of equalized assessed value that was originally set to expire in 2026, according to past reporting. That means the tax rate for residents in terms of their contribution to capital projects would effectively stay the same. The $420 million in bonds will be issued through 2029 for projects through 2032, Shipley previously said. But after those funds are used up, the district will need to find a way to generate $10 million each year for capital projects for existing buildings, Shipley has said. And more bond issuances aren't an option, he said, because they'd still be paying off the old ones. The auditorium renovation at Waubonsie Valley is likely the last major capital project to be approved for the summer, Shipley said on Tuesday. The district has said it plans to provide a budget update at the board's May 5 meeting, and an update on June 16 on some of the projects funded by last year's bond sale referendum.
Chicago Tribune
12-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Indian Prairie District 204 school board OKs more summer projects, totaling over $15.5 million
Indian Prairie School District 204's Board of Education approved another round of capital projects on Monday. The projects, totaling over $15.5 million, are set to be completed over the summer, according to Monday's meeting agenda. The district will be constructing 'secure vestibules' at 11 elementary schools this summer, according to the agenda. These secure entryways would require visitors to interact with the main office before they can get into the school, district officials have previously said. The expected cost of the new entryways, approved by the board on Monday, is just under $10 million, according to the district. That price includes the bids for construction of the entryways, as well as expenses like furniture, security cameras and scanners, architectural costs and fees and permits, District 204's Chief School Business Official Matthew Shipley told The Beacon-News on Tuesday. Indian Prairie will also be replacing lighting systems at Metea Valley High School and Fischer, Granger and Still middle schools with LED fixtures, according to Monday's meeting agenda. The district has said that the new lighting will be more energy efficient and will qualify for at least $456,000 in utility rebates. The district will also be installing remote access at 22 district schools to allow personnel to check the status of the schools' HVAC systems from a computer rather than in-person. The total for those two projects, approved on Monday, amounts to around $5.7 million. On Feb. 5, Indian Prairie's board approved more than $7 million in capital improvements also set to be done over the summer, including flooring replacements, paving work, roofing and gutter repairs and the installation of four new playgrounds. These projects and the others set for the summer are being funded as a result of the passage of a referendum question in November, in which voters approved the district's proposal to sell $420 million in bonds for updates to its facilities, according to past reporting. The district planned to do $40 million worth of upgrades and repairs this summer, according to past reporting, with a focus on safety and security upgrades. The funds from the bond sales can only go toward capital projects, not operational costs. Bond sales will be done in rounds through 2029. Most recently, on Feb. 27, the board amended this year's budget – which was made and approved before the November referendum – to reflect nearly $15 million in capital funds from a bond sale in December. District officials have said that the next bond issuance, set for this summer, is expected to be over $100 million. The district plans to provide a budget update at the May 5 board meeting, according to past reporting, as well as an update on June 16 about some of the projects funded by the passage of the November referendum question.
