Freeburg hopes this grant can help it blow the roof off its school building — literally
Construction projects within Freeburg Community High School District #77 are expected to bring more than 100 new homes over the next five to 10 years.
To accommodate the new students that come with new construction, the district is looking at blowing the roof off of the high school to build a second story.
“We don’t have a spare classroom in the building,” Superintendent Greg Frerking said.
The school board will have a public hearing Thursday before voting on a fast-track grant proposal to add the new classrooms.
Freeburg’s enrollment has fluctuated over the last 15 years, hitting a peak of 750 students in the mid-2000s, before dropping to about 600 in the early 2010s.
In 2020, enrollment is back up to 650. Frerking said it would stay relatively steady between 680 and 700 for the next few years, given the increasing class sizes in the district’s feeder schools. Eventually, the district is expecting an enrollment of around 715 students once families start to move into the new subdivisions.
Freeburg Zoning Administator Matt Trout said ongoing and proposed projects will add “at least” 100 new homes into the district. Adding more classroom space now will give the district room to grow before overcrowding becomes dire, Frerking said.
“We might have to leave some classrooms empty for now,” he said. “We won’t need all 14 right away.”
The district already secured $3.6 million for the project through general obligation bonds authorized by the school board this spring. Now, they’re submitting an application for a state grant for just over $1.9 million to cover the rest of the 1,800 square-foot addition.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced $25 million in grants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant is competitive, with awarded amounts being between $500,000 and $5 million.
To qualify, proposed projects must pertain to public buildings and help skilled labor forces get back to work, conditions Frerking said he’s confident the district meets, though he has no idea how competitive the grant will end up being.
Without the grant, the district anticipates it still will have enough surplus revenue over the next two years to complete the project, though using those funds would “cut themselves short” for other renovations and maintenance.
“It’d be a tough decision, Frerking said.
The grant requires the project to be “shovel ready,” which means it must be able to start within 90 days of the award of the grant. Frerking said the district is working with an architect to make sure it would be able to meet that time frame, since the addition will require going into a previous on-site addition from 1996 to “beef it up” structurally so adding a second story can be done correctly.
In addition to increased classroom space, Frerking said the project would give more space to the district’s “flourishing” industrial arts program and upgrade science labs that are original to the early 1970s.
Freeburg is seeing growth in its industry programs, including industrial arts and agriculture, Frerking said. Last year, the district renovated a bus garage into an agricultural center. Whatever the project, Frerking said it was exciting to oversee program and enrollment growth in the district.
“It was hectic, but it was a lot of fun,” he said of the agriculture center renovation. “It was exciting to see it get done.”
