Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201 officials are in the process of embarking on a once-in-a-decade review of capital improvement projects at each of the seven buildings.
This spring, Minooka 201 officials have been compiling capital projects into one of three buckets as long-range planning takes place. The highest priority — life safety projects — are required under state law.
Items on the capital projects and operations and maintenance buckets are lower on the priority list.
Superintendent Rachel Kinder and Director of Finance and Operations Mary Robinson gave a high-level overview of the projects at a recent board meeting in anticipation of final action this spring.
Kinder said a top-down analysis of each school building’s needs has been taking place in anticipation of having in place a full, comprehensive plan.
“They’ve spent a great deal of time going through every piece of data that was collected during the facility assessment, and then starting to work that into a plan,” Kinder said, referencing the work district staffers and hired architects have taken.
According to information shared at the board’s March 16 meeting, a total of $27.14 million in life safety expenses have been identified across the seven buildings. Based on the plans in motion, the life safety projects are to start taking place this summer and continue through 2032.
Life safety projects include a range of items, depending on each school’s age, and could include roofing, walls, architectural items, mechanical, plumbing and electrical.
Further down the priority list, Minooka 201 officials have more flexibility in project placement.
“We still know that they are a priority for our district,” Robinson said of the capital projects and operations and maintenance items. “All of our buildings are starting to get older. We have some things that might not be a violation of a code.”
Based on preliminary information shared at the March 16 meeting, Minooka 201 has divided projects into multiple phases.
The first phase, which runs from 2026-2029, includes a proposed $16.78 million in life safety projects and a combined $8.88 million in capital and operations and maintenance projects.
The first of the life safety work could get underway this summer at Minooka Junior High School, based on the plans in motion. A total of $5.49 million in projects in that high priority bucket have been identified.
“The junior high has our largest dollar amount of life safety projects,” Robinson said, pointing out the school’s age, which stretches back to 1997 and has reached a point where repairs and replacements are needed.
MJHS is the only building to receive life safety work this summer, according to the proposal
The Illinois School Building Code requires districts have a life safety analysis and report generated at least once per decade, meaning Minooka 201 will next do a refresh of the plan in 2036. The plan will go to the Regional Office of Education and, ultimately, the Illinois State Board of Education once Minooka 201’s board has signed off on it.
District officials also are in the preliminary stages of considering funding options, which are expected to come from multiple sources.
“What I have communicated to our advisor is that we are looking to fund our projects with a combination of some of our fund balance and also issue some bonds, but keep property tax relief to our community in mind,” Robinson said.
Board President Emily Conquest praised district staffers for the forward-thinking manner they have taken with the capital projects planning.
“It really does help give us a framework of where we are going, beyond this next year,” Conquest said.