The Lockport Township High School District 205 Board voted Monday to approve a $3.45 million bid with Berglund Construction Company to complete ceiling repairs at the district’s Central Campus this summer after a ceiling collapse in a third-floor classroom last November closed the building for the remainder of the school year.
The work, expected to be completed for the start of the 2024-2025 school year, is the second phase of the ceiling replacement project. During the first phase, the ceilings were removed and a structural engineering firm investigated each room for any issues.
In the second phase, all structural repairs will be completed and new drywall ceilings, ceiling tiles and LED fixtures will be installed.
Three firms bid on the work, ranging from $3.45 million to $4.72 million, according to district documents.
The repairs will be paid for using cash reserves, said Superintendent Robert McBride. The district plans to reopen Central Campus, which is home to its freshmen center, in the fall.
The board also directed the administration to prepare to sell $26.2 million life safety bonds, use $10 million to $12 million in cash reserves and explore leasing district-owned land to a community solar energy program to generate income and repair the most pressing needs at the 115-year-old Central Campus.
“Public bodies, especially schools, use solar power as a way to have alternative revenue,” McBride said.
The vote did not authorize the bond sale. Last week, district officials said selling bonds would cost residents with a home valued at about $295,600 about $35 a year.
The district has several needs to consider including repairing or replacing the roof, windows, heating and cooling systems, electric wiring and galvanized water pipes. The district also wants to make the campus more accessible to individuals with disabilities and create more space for both the Lockport Academy special education program and the Career and Community Connections vocational transition program.
Board members said they can’t postpone repairs, noting costs continue to rise.
“I don’t think that costs are going to go down, they are only going to go up,” board member Veronica Shaw said. “The issues at Central are not going to go away.”
The district is limited to about $35 million in debt it can issue before it would need voter approval, McBride said.
In March, voters rejected an $85 million referendum to fund improvements to the Central Campus.
“We hear from the public that they don’t want to increase their costs,” board member Lou Ann Johnson said. “We are in between a rock and a hard place.”
A piece of ceiling plaster fell in a third-floor classroom at Lockport Township High School District 205’s Central Campus Nov. 1, 2023. (Lockport Township District 205)
District residents told the board Monday other options need to be considered that won’t result in a property tax increase. One option residents suggested was investigating whether the area could be redistricted and students sent to other schools, perhaps in the Lincoln-Way School District.
John Walters, a Homer Glen resident, said residents rejected repairs to the Central Campus via the referendum.
“There are a lot of voters that think it’s a waste of money on an old structure,” Walters said. “There’s a huge segment of the population that have no emotional connection to the Central building. And others know it’s a huge ongoing problem to keep an ancient building in working order, and it’s going to be a constant draw on taxpayer dollars. It’s divisive.”
According to the district, the board has discussed facility improvements at both campuses since 2020 when a full structural engineering report was commissioned.
The district held an open house last week for the community to talk with board members, district administrators, members of the Central Campus Advisory Council and architects, financial professionals and representatives with the solar industry.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
