Community Pulse: Summer a time for school improvements

It was author Leo Tolstoy who said, “spring is the time of plans and projects.” A statement that perfectly describes the activity taking place around our school district as the Board of Education continues to work through items outlined in the Facility Improvement and Health and Life Safety Plans.

Over the summer break contractors will also complete restroom facilities upgrades at our various academic buildings and the first phase of K-5 classroom furniture replacements will take place. A new storage building with restrooms and concessions will be constructed on the middle school campus and much needed renovations to the maintenance buildings at the high school and intermediate school will also be completed over the course of the next few months.

Those who have visited Coal City High School in the past couple of months have likely noticed the work taking place at Dzuris Stadium. The track and grass field have been removed and the site prepared for the installation of a turf playing field. Contractors are scheduled to begin installing the new playing surface in mid-June. The project includes enhanced drainage, new running track, stadium lighting and a video scoreboard. The construction schedule has this project slated to be completed in early-August ahead of the fall soccer and football seasons.

A resurfacing of the high school tennis courts is slated to get underway in mid-June and renovations to the high school baseball and softball fields to turf surfaces is expected to commence in mid-July. The field renovations will also include new scoreboards.

The original bleachers in the auxiliary gymnasium at the high school will be replaced and updated scoreboards will be going in at the middle school baseball and softball fields. Additionally, a new scoreboard with video will be installed in the competition gymnasium at the high school. These improvements will enhance the overall experience for our student athletes and fans.

In response to a Health and Life Safety study completed late last year, it was determined that due to the physical condition of the building it was best to demolish the former district office building located on the Intermediate School campus and that will be completed in the weeks ahead. Identified Health and Life Safety projects will be completed over the course of the next several years.

In addition to all the planned construction projects, our custodial and maintenance crews have started and will spend the next several weeks preparing our buildings for the return of students in August. Teachers and our paraprofessionals don’t get summers completely off, as many of them are currently working our summer school and teachers are completing summer curriculum work in preparation of the 2024 – 2025 school year.