The Building Tomorrow Together community engagement facilitating team presented their final report to the Board of Education during a special meeting on Dec. 18.

This initiative was launched last fall to gather input from parents, residents and staff on how to address the needs of the district’s four aging schools over the next decade in the area of accessibility, safety and security, operations and maintenance, and capital improvements. A Facilities Master Plan completed last year identified $80 million in needed renovations and repairs. However, the district current revenues can only fund approximately $20 million of these improvements.

To gather community input, a 19-member team comprising parents, staff, and residents was formed in September. This team embarked on an engagement process in October and November, including two community workshops, public tours of each school, and an online public opinion survey. These efforts aimed to build understanding of the district's needs and financial constraints while fostering community dialogue on possible funding options.

Detailed information about the process and feedback is published on the district’s website at northbrook28.net/bttd28

In their presentation to the board, the team co-leaders described the engagement process and their analysis of facilities needs, financial responsibility and evaluation of next steps.

“Thank you to the Board of Education for creating and trusting this process to improve our schools,” said Facilitating Team Co-Leader Steve Szumowski as he opened the presentation to the board. “Thank you to the members of our facilitating team, to the teachers and staff who joined us as part of this process, and to the hundreds of community members who took the time to participate and provide their authentic feedback on their vision for the future of our schools.”

During the community workshops, a consensus emerged that resulted in a change in direction from simply fixing identified needs in aging buildings to a more long-range plan that starts a replacement cycle to meet the needs of our students for generations to come.

Building Tomorrow Together Findings

FACILITIES NEEDS

• Each of D28’s schools has notable and major needs that would benefit from a successful referendum.

• There are major consequences over the next decade if D28 is not able to improve its schools in the next few years, including aging and obsolete mechanical systems, increased day-to-day maintenance costs, and continued space issues.

• Survey data indicates that there is general support for projects that will:

  • Improve safety/security

  • Increased accessibility

  • Address infrastructure needs
     

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• Taking a “Band-Aid” approach to addressing facility needs will cost more in the long run due to inflation and increased costs of maintaining aging buildings and deteriorating infrastructure.

In alignment with the feedback from the second community engagement workshop, the team recommends pursuing a $94.9 million referendum that, combined with district funding of $20 million, will build a new Meadowbrook elementary school, and fully fund the renovations and updates recommended in the Facilities Master Plan for the other three schools.

The team offered pros and cons for seeking voter approval of the plan in either of the next two upcoming elections, in April 2025 or March 2026. Both options require a comprehensive communications effort about the district finances, building needs and priorities and the correlation between school finances and the quality of education and facilities.

The Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m Wednesday, January 8th to determine if they will vote to put a referendum on the April 1, 2025 ballot or continue with more community engagement.

Download the Final Report