Indian Prairie School District 204 is beginning the second summer of its referendum-funded safety and infrastructure improvements — and administrators say this one may be the busiest.
“We are really starting the most impactful 12 months of the Safer, Stronger 204 program,” Matt Shipley, chief school business official, told school board members during Monday’s meeting. “We are impacting almost every school in the district in some way this summer.”
$125 million of construction this summer
The district has $125 million worth of projects underway this season, making up more than a quarter of the Safer, Stronger 204 budget of $466 million.
The work includes completion of secure vestibules at 11 schools, as well as flooring replacement at six schools and five new playgrounds. Also underway is solar panel installation at five schools in Aurora, the beginnings of an addition at Neuqua Valley High School and work on the new stadium, cafeteria and auditorium at Waubonsie Valley.
Renovations to ease space limitations at Hill
Physical work isn’t scheduled to start until early 2027 on one of the largest projects in the Safer, Stronger plan. But officials said they’re excited about progress made on designs for renovations at Hill Middle School, which is one of the district’s most dated buildings at 46 years old.
Hill Principal Leslie Mitchell said the building has small, overcrowded hallways and a lack of spaces for students or teachers to meet collaboratively in small groups. She said science classrooms are undersized and the building design creates navigational problems.
“Right now, we’re very limited in what we can do because the space is so cramped,” Mitchell said.
The school is set to see $40 million in improvements to raise its cafeteria and library — currently set slightly lower than grade — to meet other first-floor spaces, build a skybridge across the library on the second floor to improve circulation and right-size spaces for science labs, cooking classes and break-out work.
The front of the building will also see a 16,000-square-foot, one-story addition to house an updated main office and student services space as well as some of the new science classrooms.
Renovations are scheduled to take place between spring 2027 and summer 2028, project architect Amy Tiberi said, with everything expected to be complete before the 2027-28 year.
‘Phenomenal’ spaces could improve student behavior
Administrators and school board member predict improvements in outcomes including use of space, collaborative work — even student attitudes — when modernizations at Hill are complete.
“The Hill community has had it rough for many, many years,” school board member Mark Rising said. “I think it’s safe to say, when this is done, they may just be the envy of the district. And it’s well-deserved because these spaces are phenomenal.”
Mitchell said she thinks student opinions of their space and themselves may improve as well.
“Right now, I don’t know how many students are really valuing their learning space because of how it looks,” she said. “When they see what they deserve to come to school and learn in, I think we’ll see a huge increase in positive behavior.
New referendum benefit: ’Modernizing Learning Environments’
There’s one more plus from the district’s spending so far since voters approved a bond referendum in fall 2024, Shipley said. Original budgets for referendum projects were drawn up conservatively, allocating funds for escalation of costs each year and contingency money in case of unexpected issues.
Because of project progress to date, the district has moved up work at Gregory Middle School to two years earlier than originally planned. The change is projected to save $6 million, which otherwise would have been allocated for cost escalation.
Shipley said the district is putting $4 million of those savings into Hill Middle School to address as many ongoing issues there as possible. The remaining $2 million is creating a new pool of money the district is calling “Modernizing Learning Environments,” which will be divided among all 34 schools to support updates as needed.
Image of Hill Middle School rendering, courtesy of IPSD 204
Stay in the know – sign up for our daily update!
