The decision to close Edison Primary School came sooner than expected.

At an emergency meeting Tuesday, the Kankakee School Board approved the immediate closure of Edison due to structural issues in the building, which had been home to 185 students in kindergarten through third grades.

The decision came in the midst of a series of public hearings intended to gain community input on the school’s closure at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

The closure had been proposed due to the high costs of necessary repairs and maintenance work — estimated at around $6 million — coupled with district-wide declining enrollment.

However, a recent architectural assessment revealed the structural issues at Edison have been getting progressively worse.

Engineering study

DLA Architects, the architectural firm that works with Kankakee School District 111, conducted a follow-up engineering study at Edison on Dec. 22.

The study took place the Monday immediately following the first public hearing.

Harrison Neal, assistant superintendent of business services, said he received the architects’ report on Monday, Dec. 29.

The architects’ most recent assessment was done in October.

The follow-up study resulted in the recommendation to immediately stop using Edison’s 1958 addition.

“In just a couple of months, we’ve had a pretty significant change to the state of the facility,” Neal said.

It was previously known that the foundation in the 1958 addition has been sinking into the ground.

Edison was built in 1956, with the original building running parallel to Maple Street. The addition facing east and west was built in 1958.

In 1990 to 1991, Edison had a sinking foundation; architects and engineers got involved at that time and lifted up the side of the building.

It appears the foundation is sinking again, with the situation getting worse over the past two months.

The storm in the area on Sunday is believed to have had some impact on the building as well, Neal said.

A 1 and 3/4 inch gap has formed between the ceiling and wall in a classroom on the sinking side of the building. This shift happened within the last two months.

“With much more shifting, we could have a potential for a partial roof collapse, and that’s something we can’t take a chance on,” Neal said.

Other signs of stress include cracks on interior classroom walls, the cracking of a window sill beneath an air conditioning unit inside a classroom, and a sinking floor inside a classroom.

“If you set a marble in the center of the room, as they did, it just rolls straight toward that wall,” he noted.

In the crawl space under the building, the brick that is supposed to be supporting the floor beneath that classroom is falling inward or collapsed in some areas.

Cracks are visible on the outside wall of the building, with additional cracks having shown up on both sides of an exterior door.

One of the cracks has grown and is now nearing 2 inches in width.

“So what we have is the south wall and part of that west wall that are pulling away from the roof line there, and that is creating a dangerous situation,” Neal said.

Minimum repairs needed

To make the building safe, the south and west foundation walls would have to be stabilized by installing resistance piers at regular spacing along the walls, costing an estimated $300,000.

The floor would have to be retrofitted and leveled at an estimated cost of $200,000.

A connection would have to be established, attaching the roof deck to the wall in a number of spots at an estimated cost at $75,000. Other work that may be needed includes asbestos abatement and replacement of the ceiling, architectural or engineering drawings, and replacement of drywall, floor coverings or other elements damaged during repairs.

So, that’s roughly an additional $600,000 needed on top of other repair work.

“Not only is it not safe, but it’s going to be cost prohibitive to make it safe,” Neal said.

The architects indicated the other side of Edison that is not sinking could still be used.

“I didn’t feel comfortable just moving students and staff to another side of the building,” noted Superintendent Teresa Lance. “Not when we have space in other buildings.”

Students, staff relocating

Three classrooms of Edison students, including kindergarten, first and second grades, will be relocated to Steuben Elementary School.

Edison’s resource/instructional special education classroom will also move into Steuben.

“We have spaces in all of our buildings,” Lance said. “Hence, the reason why we came to you in the beginning about closing. We are underutilizing the space that we currently have.”

Lance said teachers will be following their students to the new school locations.

All four of Edison’s third grade classrooms will be relocated to Kennedy Middle School.

The Living and Learning Classroom at Edison will be moved into Mark Twain.

To make space, two pre-kindergarten classrooms from Steuben and one pre-kindergarten classroom from Mark Twain will be moved into Proegler, home to the district’s early childhood program.

Edison’s English as a second language teacher and its social-emotional learning coach will both continue to support students when they move to Kennedy and Steuben.

Edison’s three food and nutrition service workers will be moved to other schools, with two going to Kennedy and one heading to Kankakee Junior High School.

One maintenance worker will go to Kennedy, and the night custodian will go to support Steuben at night and Kennedy as needed.

“This is still preliminary,” Lance noted. “We feel confident that this is the plan, but we also know that we still have some moving pieces.”

Edison’s administrators will also go to support the other school buildings.

Cale Kuester, principal of Edison for five years, will support Kennedy, Steuben and Mark Twain.

Other logistics

Other logistics are still underway, including rerouting transportation for Edison students who take the bus.

Students are scheduled to return from winter break next week.

From Jan. 6–9, Edison students will be remote learning while staff prepare classrooms at their new locations.

During this week, bagged lunches will be made at Kankakee Junior High School for pickup by Edison families.

In-person learning is to resume Jan. 12.

“As soon as Mr. Neal called me (on Monday), we went into action, and we still don’t have all the answers,” Lance said. “But we are working around the clock to make sure that our families and staff members are well-informed.”

Teachers, kids impacted

Frances Noble, who has spent her entire 25-year teaching career at Edison, spoke through tears while addressing the board.

Noble is concerned about the potential learning loss the change could cause her students.

“We are a family at Edison,” she said.

Noble said teachers have been making peace with the idea of Edison closing at the end of the school year. They were excited to celebrate last moments and experiences in the building with their students.

Now, they won’t get that chance.

Noble said she never let on how much the pandemic affected her emotionally. She is certain the sudden move out of Edison will take another mental toll on her and many of her students.

“This is tough,” Noble said. “Just know, it’s tough.”

More than two dozen were in the audience at the emergency board meeting at Lincoln Cultural Center, including the majority of Edison staff and some parents and grandparents.

Verlon Jordan, grandmother of an Edison student, was concerned of the potentially jarring effect of returning from winter break to a new setting.

She said she hopes students and teachers will have an opportunity to regroup and say a proper goodbye to their school.

“There are some kids that have special needs that a change like this difficult for them,” Jordan said. “... Just don’t lose sight of kids. We need to have emotional support for them, not just for a week or two.”

The public hearings regarding the proposed school closure started Dec. 19, with two additional meetings slated for 5 p.m. Jan. 7 and 8.

Although the decision has already been made, the meetings are still scheduled, but they will take place at Lincoln Cultural Center instead of Edison.