Latest news with #Project2
Chicago Tribune
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Oak Park and River Forest High School board eyes remake of arts facilities
While the nearly $102 million Project 2 demolition and reconstruction of the southeast portion of Oak Park and River Forest High School is only about halfway done, thoughts are already turning to the next major project at the school. The OPRF District 200 Board of Education members recently heard a programming report about the goals of what is known as Project 3, which if approved would include the demolition and reconstruction of the southwest portion of the building. It's the next of five phases in OPRF's Imagine plan, named after a work group of community members that met to imagine the future of the school building. Project 3 will focus on the arts, especially music and theater. The two co-chairs of the Imagine work group, Lynn Kamenitsa, who is also a director of the Imagine Foundation, and Mike Poirier, presented the programming report to the School Board June 12. Alyson Sternquist, a project manager for the district's architectural firm, FGMA, who led the Project 2 design also spoke to the board. They all said the current facilities for arts and music in the southwest portion of the building need to be improved. 'Many are outdated, some of them are physically failing,' Kamenitsa said. 'Most of them are not accessible in the sense of ADA accessibility and many of them present health and safety concerns.' Kamenitsa said the physical shortcomings of the current spaces impair instruction. 'The programs that use those spaces, their needs aren't met,' Kamenista said. 'The result is that there is lost instructional time, it compromises faculty's ability to deliver their curriculum and, in the case of music, to conduct state mandated student assessments.' Kamenitsa said the space in the southwest portion of the building cannot be configured to meet current needs and standards. The report recommended new construction include new music classrooms and facilities, a Black Box theater that would mostly be used for student directed plays, some new physical education spaces including an adventure gym space, a cardio room, a trainer space, a new wrestling room and a green roof to manage stormwater runoff and designed to accommodate any future solar panels. The current 2,180 square foot band room is much too small and was not designed for the 125 or so students that are now in the band. Sternquist said current standards call for music spaces to have 30 square feet per student which would suggest a band room of 3,750 square feet. The programming report states the current band room is undersized, has hazardous noise levels, lacks recording and digital capability and the tiered floor is not ADA compliant. The recommendation is to have a double height ceiling, to get rid of risers and to accommodate recording and digital teaching needs. The report also envisions 18 ensemble practice rooms of various sizes. The next step in the process will be for the architectural firm FGMA to develop a conceptual design which should be ready by September. The school board voted to pay FGMA $182,500 for the conceptual design. After the board receives the conceptual design it will weigh in on what it desires and then by next spring, a detailed schematic design will be developed. School officials said the scope and cost of Project 3 cannot be determined until a schematic design is approved. Once the cost is determined the School Board will have to decide how to pay for Project 3. Work would not start until after Project 2 is completed next summer. Project 1, which was completed in 2023, included, among other things, a new two story student commons area, 15 new classrooms, including two new science labs, eight all gender bathrooms, a new cafeteria and a renovated main entrance. Project 1 cost $42.2 million and was paid for by using cash reserves. Project 2 is being paid for by a combination of cash reserves and borrowing along with some charitable donations raised by the Imagine Foundation. Next fall a community meeting will be held to solicit community input. Board member Tim Brandhorst said that input will be vital and suggested that at least one more community meeting be held next year. 'I hope that won't be the only opportunity for the community to tell us what they think about this project,' said Brandhorst about the one scheduled community meeting. Brandhorst also suggested trips to other area high schools could be scheduled to show taxpayers the facilities at other schools. Board member Josh Gertz, concerned about costs, wondered if the band and orchestra could perhaps share the same room but was told that was not realistic. 'All of these spaces are currently used all day long,' Sternquist said, noting that OPRF has robust band, orchestra and chorus programs. 'It's not realistic for band and orchestra to use the same space based on just the current curriculum.'
Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Oak Park and River Forest High School receiving $3.5 grant for HVAC system
Oak Park and River Forest High School is getting a $3.5 million state grant to help pay for the geothermal heating and cooling system that will regulate temperatures in the new portion of the school that is being built to replace the school's southeast corner that has been demolished. The grant has been in the works since the spending authority was approved last year but the money, which comes from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Opportunity's Build Illinois capital projects fund, was formally released by the Illinois General Assembly last month as part of the budget that was approved by state lawmakers at the end of May. 'I was happy to support the high school's request that the state play a part in what is a sweeping project to build a modern, environmentally and fiscally responsible school facility that will serve students and the community for years to come,' State Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said in a prepared statement. The construction project is known as Project 2. OPRF can use the money for any part of Project 2 but Heidi Ruehle, the executive director of the Imagine Foundation, said that the intent is to use the money to pay a portion of the approximately $12.5 million cost of geothermal work. The geothermal work is budgeted separately from Project 2, which is expected to cost nearly $102 million. 'It's not restricted to geothermal but it's expected to be used for green energy,' Ruehle said. 'Of course geothermal falls underneath that umbrella but there are other aspects to this project that do as well.' The new construction will include a new swimming pool, a new third floor gym, and a host of other additions and improvements. The Imagine Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising foundation dedicated to raising money to support Project 2, did most of the leg work in securing the grant but brought in OPRF officials to make the formal application. Ruehle said that the Imagine Foundation, then led by former executive director Lynn Kamenitsa, first reached out to Harmon's office in 2023 after the funding for Project 2 was approved. Harmon's office helped with the grant application process and connected the Imagine Foundation and OPRF staff with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. 'We just needed to understand how this could come together and they just kind of walked us through that process,' Ruehle said. The Imagine Foundation has committed to raising at least $12.5 million, and hopes to raise $15 million, to help pay for Project 2. It has already given $2 million to OPRF and plans to hand over another $1 million check to OPRF at the June 12 school board meeting. Ruehle said that since the Imagine Foundation did much of the work of securing the $3.5 million state grant it will count the $3.5 million in state money towards what the foundation has committed to raise. 'Because Imagine took the lead on this and it was part of our fundraising efforts,' Ruehle said. While focusing on private donations Ruehle said that the Imagine Foundation will continue to seek out government and other grants. 'We don't have any other major grants on the horizon but we're certainly hoping that they're out there,' Ruehle said. Although the $3.5 million state grant was first authorized last year the Imagine Foundation did not want to publicize the grant until it was certain that the grant would be released as part of this year's budget bill. 'We wanted to make sure the money was in hand or guaranteed before any information was put out there which we agreed on with D200 and Harmon's office,' Ruehle said. OPRF District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson thanked Harmon and the Imagine Foundation for their help in securing the state grant. 'We are grateful to the OPRFHS Imagine Foundation and our local elected representatives for their assistance in securing state funding to help D200 build better educational facilities for our students,' Johnson said in a news release issued by OPRF. 'By supporting our investment in geothermal for Project 2, this grant helps us take a big step toward meeting our District's very ambitious sustainability goals, which include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% of 2012 levels by 2050.' While Harmon helped get $3.5 million for OPRF, that amount pales in comparison to the $40 million state grant that is going to Proviso West High School, the alma mater of Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, to build a sports complex. Before being elected as a state representative in 2012 Welch had served as president of Proviso Township High School District 209 Board of Education. 'The state budget funds projects in communities across the state,' said an emailed statement from Jon Maxson, a spokesman for Welch, when asked to comment about the grant for Proviso West. 'Since 2021, Speaker Welch has helped fund a $30 million bridge in Kane and McHenry county; $33 million for a sports complex in Tinley Park; $50 million for Woodlawn; $30 million for Fermilab in Batavia; and $50 million for Northwestern—all outside of his district. These are economic development projects that have invested in red and blue communities alike. One project in this year's budget helps a school in his district fund a new sports complex that will serve the entire community and surrounding area by supporting student athletics, community events, and opportunities for local businesses.'
USA Today
21-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Did Project 2025 release a book ban list? No, a social media user did
Did Project 2025 release a book ban list? No, a social media user did | Fact check Show Caption Hide Caption Texas school district to review ban of Anne Frank novel, other books The Keller Independent School District in Texas is reviewing at least 41 books that the school board has recommended to ban from school libraries. Ariana Triggs, USA TODAY The claim: Project 2025 seeks to ban nearly 3,000 books over topics including 'female autonomy and independent thought' A Feb. 15 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims the conservative policy initiative Project 2025 plans to restrict access to certain books. The post includes a video with text that reads in part, '#Project 2025 is terrified of women. It links to a spreadsheet of books labeled "Ban book list." 'It is almost 3,000 books long, and it makes the somewhat critical mistake of explaining why it's banning books,' the post's creator says in the video. 'So, for example, when it says it is banning Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own,' it says, 'Promotes female autonomy and independent thought.'' The post received more than 145,000 likes in five days. Similar claims also spread on X. More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page Our rating: False Project 2025 did not make the list. It was created by a TikTok user. TikTok user took credit for list Project 2025 is a policy blueprint published by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation in April 2023. Also known as "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise," the playbook includes policy recommendations to overhaul the government under a conservative president beginning in 2025. The organization said it didn't generate a banned book list. "That rumor is completely false and ridiculous," foundation spokesperson Ellen Keenan told USA TODAY. A TikTok user created the spreadsheet and said as much in an introduction at the top of the document. 'I made this list to spread awareness that you might not find these books at the libraries,' the list's creator wrote. 'Few people don't have a privilege to buy books so they rely on school/libraries to access it. There is alot of books we didn't know that got ban.' (sic) The document also includes a resource list of news articles and watchdog groups. Fact check: No proof Elon Musk ordered all federal workers to pass drug tests or be fired One of those sources, PEN America, is a nonprofit that has been tracking school book bans since 2021. The organization wasn't aware of an official Project 2025 banned book list. 'Last summer, PEN America issued an analysis of the education component of Project 2025,' Pen American spokesperson Suzanne Trimel told USA TODAY. 'Nothing in this report raises up a 'book ban list.' Certainly, if there had been one, we would have included it.' The user who posted the claim told USA TODAY she received the list from someone who characterized it as Project 2025's 'book-banning plan.' She later learned Project 2025 did not create the list. 'Had I known that post would have gotten so many views, I would have chosen my words more carefully,' she said. Project 2025 does oppose some library materials It's unclear where the purported ban of Woolf's essay originated, but many titles on the list have been the subject of debate. Bans over the past three years have predominantly targeted books with themes of race, sexuality and gender identity, according to PEN America. Although Project 2025 didn't create the list in question, it does use rhetoric consistent with other book-banning efforts, Trimel said. The Project 2025's forward, for example, references an 'omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology,' which it considers 'pornographic.' It says educators and public librarians who provide access to such materials should be 'classed as registered sex offenders." Some of Project 2025's coalition partners also maintain book rating websites and have been "active in the organized campaign to target books and the freedom to read," Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told USA TODAY. USA TODAY reached out to the list's creator for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Our fact-check sources Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here. USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.
