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With some water leaking in the educational wings of Yorkville Middle School, the district is targeting its 17-year old roof for a more than half-million dollar restoration.
For much of the $572,407 price tag for the roof the district plans on using Land Cash funds in the sum of $395,938 to help offset the construction project.
Land Cash funds are collected by the county for residential developments located outside the city of Yorkville’s boundaries.
“The Land Cash funds will significantly offset the district’s out-of-pocket expenses for this necessary capital improvement,” the district states in official documents.
The board approved the use of the funds in May, with final endorsement and processing necessary by county officials.
The district approved the restoration project at the May 19 board meeting. Construction is scheduled for over the summer months when most kids are home from school.
Yorkville Middle School provides education for students in grades seven and eight.
The building is remaining open for summer school and other activities during the work.
A typical roof is expected to last two decades, but leaking on the middle school’s facility is prompting officials to restore the building early.
Heather DiVerde, the district’s director of facility operations, previously said that the district has been replacing one school building roof for each of the past five years.
“Just like a home, when a school roof falters, everything inside the building is susceptible to damage,” DiVerde said. “The roof is the glue that holds all of our operations together. It’s one of the most important parts of facility upkeep because if you have a leak over the gymnasium, for example, then we have to fund replacing the expensive gymnasium floor.”
The restoration process does not involve a complete roof replacement. The district is instead favoring using a technique using a polymer-enhanced coal tar along most of the roof, which helps seals and protects the roof for another 15-20 years.
The district previously paid for the same technique when restoring Circle Center Grade School’s roof in 2023.
Two-thousand square feet of the middle school’s roof will not undergo the tarring application, but will instead be completely torn-off. This is because moisture was found in the insulation of that part of the roof, requiring full-repair.
The district completed a bidding process with Garland Commercial Roofing for the project.
DiVerde said the roof projects are an integral part of the District’s overall facilities master plan.
The facilities master plan upgrade involves construction projects designed to better accommodate the district’s growing student body that is outpacing the available space at the current schools.