COVID-19 stalls Highland School District building expansion program
Plans for a building expansion program at Highland District 5 schools are indefinitely on hold in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
In January, a feasibility study conducted on Highland’s school buildings recommended a list of improvements ranging from expanding Highland Primary School to constructing a performing arts building at Highland High School. Superintendent Mike Sutton characterized it as a compilation of everything that might be needed at the schools, not a list of everything that would be done.
But among the biggest issues was that Highland Primary has kindergarteners split between two buildings with special education classes scattered about the buildings, which is a safety concern, according to FGM Architects spokesman Art Hayhurst as he presented the study in January. In addition, Highland Middle School is overcrowded, with the library often used as a classroom, limited special-needs and STEM classrooms and no vocational areas.
“Our conclusion was that we needed to build a new primary building and an addition to the middle school,” Sutton said.
However, the items in the strategic plan for the district relating to facilities and construction have been temporarily put on hold, Sutton said. In order to afford the construction, the district would need to issue bonds totaling approximately $25 million, and that would require a voter referendum.
Over the next seven years, Highland’s bond debt was expected to drop from $4 million a year to zero, and the district would be debt-free, making it a key time to assess facility needs while maintaining the same tax rate, Sutton said at the time.
But now it might not be the right time for such a referendum in the wake of the pandemic and its economic impact on Highland residents, Sutton said.
“We need to make sure what we’re doing is going to make sense in the times that we’re living in,” he said. “Right now the idea is to put it on hold for the time being, and see where things shake out ... If things open up and the economy recovers, we may have another discussion.”
The next election where the referendum could take place would be the November presidential election, which is anticipated to have a high voter turnout.
Some projects will still proceed this summer, including a sanitary sewer upgrade and parking lot work.
“Those are projects that need to be done regardless of the economy,” Sutton said.
Planning for summer school
Meanwhile, the district continues its plans for summer school with remote learning, though the state has now announced that in-person learning can soon resume. Sutton said district officials are working on multiple plans depending on how Illinois has progressed against the pandemic by the time school starts.
“That’s the big question: Where will we be in August?” he said. “We’re hopeful that we will be in Phase 4, which allows groups of 50 or more.”
That would permit a schedule and school logistics more in line with previous standards. Alternatively, Sutton said, the district would have to consider alternative scheduling with half the students attending one day and the other half the next day. Busing alone would be challenging financially and logistically, he said, with the necessity of seating one student every other seat.
The metro-east region is currently in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan. To move to the next phase will require a further reduction in positive tests and hospital admissions with more availability of ICU beds and contact tracing.