O’Fallon school district explores expansions, new campus to address space crunch

Constructed nearly seven decades ago in 1958, O’Fallon Township High School’s Smiley Campus is experiencing growing pains that district leadership say demand action.

The school community gathered Monday evening at the Smiley Campus, which houses grades 10-12. The newer Milburn Campus hosts only freshmen. Superintendent Beth Shackelford presented key concerns and potential solutions, all of which were informed by previous community input and conversations with architects.

Community members gave feedback and floated some ideas of their own.

“The way we educate students today in 2025 is not the way that we educated students in 1958,” Shackelford told the group. “Yet, to some extent, we are operating in a facility (that) was structured for that 1958 student.”

Problems with O’Fallon Township High School

Most of the challenges at Smiley come down to space issues and overcrowding, Shackelford said. These range from a lack of cafeteria space—which results in less time for students to eat—to parking constraints that prevent students who get their driver’s license mid-year from driving to school.

O’Fallon parent Maggie Baron has five children: three are OTHS graduates, one currently attends the high school and one is a seventh grader who will eventually attend OTHS. All her children who have attended Smiley noted the crowded hallways.

It is difficult for students to navigate the seven-acre building in a five-minute passing period, Shackelford said. Most of Baron’s four oldest children never used their lockers because they were out of the way and there wasn’t enough time to stop, she said.

“It’s always scared me,” Baron said, seeing the hallway situation as a fire hazard.

Learning spaces are also an issue. According to district data, the average science lab at Smiley is nearly 29% smaller than the size recommended by the National Science Teaching Association and the Illinois State Board of Education. The average general classroom is 11% smaller than recommended, Shackelford said.

As a result, Shackelford said, desks are small and close together, and students sit at lab spaces during instructional time because there’s not enough space in science classrooms.

Teachers do not have their own classrooms, and there are no dedicated spaces for alternative education programs. There is also not enough space for the expected growth of the district’s self-contained special education program, Shackelford said.

Although 10 additions over the years have increased the number of classrooms at Smiley, they have resulted in departments being scattered throughout the building and few spaces with natural light, Shackelford said.

Potential solutions.

Shackelford presented what she called a few “dream big, ideal scenario” options Monday evening:

• Right-size all science classrooms—or, for a higher cost, all science and general education classrooms. These scenarios would include a multi-story addition at Smiley and changes at Milburn, such as more space for self-contained special education programming. Smiley would still serve grades 10-12 and freshmen would stay at Milburn.
• Demolish everything but the Panther Dome at Smiley and rebuild, shifting the school closer to Route 50 and providing expanded parking. A courtyard would address the lack of natural light. The current grade distribution between campuses would remain the same in this most expensive option.
• Extend Milburn so it can serve freshmen and sophomores, with juniors and seniors at Smiley (after some renovations).
• Add extensive expansions at Milburn so it could serve all grades. The community would need to determine what to do with the Smiley campus, which has seen significant improvements with athletic facilities.

“When we planned Milburn, we bought the land and built the building so that it could be expanded … knowing that our community is growing, that we’re going to have greater needs,” Shackelford said.

In addition to the options she presented, attendees Monday also discussed the idea of splitting OTHS students between two buildings, both serving grades 9-12—similar to Belleville District 201’s East and West high schools.

That conversation dates back nearly 20 years, Shackelford said. At the time, informal feedback indicated the community preferred a campus specifically for freshmen, rather than splitting all O’Fallon high school students between two schools. The Milburn campus resulted from that decision and a referendum, she said.

Shackelford is not ruling out the possibility of an O’Fallon East and West, or a North and South, in the future.

“Anything and everything is on the table,” Shackelford told the BND. She added that the top priority is that any changes reflect what the community needs and wants.

Will a referendum be needed?

In short, it depends on what the district and community decide to do—and when.

Any of the “dream big” options Shackelford presented Monday, or other similar-sized projects undertaken soon, would require voter approval, she said. Some parents expressed concerns about getting buy-in from voters who do not have children attending OTHS.

However, the district could make incremental changes in the short term—such as adding storage or addressing the lack of space for growing special education programs—without a tax rate increase or the need for a referendum, Shackelford said.

Many of the additions to Smiley over the years were accomplished through issuing and refinancing bonds, which didn’t require a referendum, and by using the district’s reserves for facilities and other existing financial resources.

Shackelford said the board will use findings from Monday’s meeting to continue assessing priorities and will also re-send surveys. She expects long-term facilities planning to be a major topic at the board meeting in February. In the future, the district will analyze how to finance potential projects, she said.