Building committee reconsiders new high school
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[During a special building renovation meeting of the Unit No. 3 School Board Tuesday evening, board members began to reconsider moving forward with plans to demolish a portion of Harrisburg High School known as "C" building. The board has been planning to rebuild that portion of the school with funds from the 1-percent sales tax referendum that passed in the recent primary election.
Based on new information Superintendent Dennis Smith has received about the financial status of the state of Illinois, there are concerns more budget cuts and layoffs are in the district's future.
"Do we want to lay people off next Spring while we're breaking ground on a new building?" Smith asked. "Because of everything that's happening, should we pause and have a conversation about this?"
Board members began to discuss the possibility of using the funds to renovate the entire school rather than demolishing and rebuilding one portion of the school.
"Based on our new circumstances, would we be better off if we took the $15 million and spread it across the four buildings?" Smith asked the board, talking about the four "buildings" that make up the high school.
Community member Elizabeth Woodworth said she thinks many people in the community probably don't understand that funds for building renovations and funds for paying teachers' salaries come from different sources and will not look kindly upon the board laying off teachers while building new construction on the high school.
On the other hand, she said, people who voted for the sales tax referendum will be expecting to see a new high school and will also be upset if the board chooses not to move forward with plans to rebuild C building.
"I think you're exactly right," said board member Dean West. "I think there would be a huge misconception. Having said that, I think the issues are totally separate."
West went on to say he doesn't think the board should make their decision based on what's happening in Springfield. He also said he would like to see a proposal for how the $15 million could be used if it was spread across the entire building.
"As much as a new school sounds great, I'm really a proponent of remodeling," said board member Michele Way. "I think we could do a lot with $15 million to upgrade our school."
District architect Ed Kerkhover said his concern when deciding whether to renovate the old building or construct a new building is that they're going to run out of space in the old building.
"We're going to lose space as we upgrade space," he said.
Kerkhover also had concerns about the board's need to address how they plan to heat and cool the buildings.
"We are not going to get another 30 years out of these boilers," said Kerkhover. "They're 30 years old already."
He said the heating and cooling issue needs to be addressed before C building is renovated or rebuilt.
"You're losing a tremendous amount of energy on that campus," said Kerkhover.
As talks progressed about whether to renovate or rebuild, the board moved to the consensus that they need someone to take a more detailed look into the structural integrity of the high school before they decide to spend any money renovating it.
"The big unknown is the foundation of each of the buildings," said West.
He said he wants to ensure the board doesn't spend all their money remodeling a building with structural issues.
"We need a true assessment of if those buildings are worth doing that kind of work to," said Smith.