Naperville District 203 digs into review of facility improvements  

Exterior of Naperville Central High School
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The 2024-25 school year might just be getting underway, but administrators in Naperville School District 203 are in the early stages of assembling the fiscal plan for the 2025-26 school year — and beyond — with a look at facility improvements.

Melanie Brown, director of buildings and grounds, recently gave a presentation on District 203’s earmarked big-ticket expenses over the next five years, stretching through the 2029-2030 school year.

The types of projects each year run the gamut from behind-the-scenes improvements essential to day-to-day building operations, such as mechanical repairs and replacements and roof work, to more noticeable items such as playground improvements.

What’s ahead in the 2025-26 school year

At the board’s Monday, Oct. 7 meeting, Brown detailed a 9-point list of projects, totaling $6.97 million, that are on the docket for District 203’s next budget cycle, which will begin in July. The plan in motion is to undertake most of the projects next summer.

Several of the items on the list pertain to roofing work, and Brown discussed with the board how prioritization bubbled to the surface at this time.

“Our roofing contractor has provided us with an analysis of our roofs and provided us with a suggested restoration and replacement schedule,” Brown said. “The roofing at Steeple Run is among the oldest in the district, and the fieldhouse area at Naperville Central has historically had many issues that need a more permanent solution.”

Of the $6.97 million in proposed projects, $2.8 million is appropriated for roof work. Another big-ticket item is a collective $1.2 million allocation for chiller replacements at Ellsworth, Washington, and Beebe schools.

Meadow Glens School is also poised to have its playground replaced next year, at a cost of $500,000.

Life safety projects placed throughout the plan

District 203’s big-ticket capital projects fall within one of three buckets, according to administrators. One of those buckets — dubbed “life safety projects” — was honed in on at the recent board meeting.

Brown explained that capital projects considered life safety are “looked at through a different lens.” An assortment of factors play into these particular projects’ placement within the broader list, including code enforcement changes.

District 203’s 2025-26 capital improvement plan includes four specific life safety improvements at multiple buildings. The list includes converting corridor walls at Prairie School ($240,000), replacing and relocating a generator at Kennedy Junior High School ($180,000), installing new fire-rated doors at Naperville North High School ($132,000) and ventilation improvements at Naperville Central, Kingsley and Meadow Glens schools ($420,000).

Board member Kristin Fitzgerald said she was pleased with the long-range, methodical look at capital improvement planning — a sentiment many other board members shared. She also weighed in on the life safety projects.

“I was surprised by how much we have with life safety projects,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t remember, from the previous times, having as many life safety projects included in this annual budget.”

A look out to the next decade

District 203 traditionally has presented the board with a 5-year capital improvement plan each fall that is adjusted and refined over time. Additionally, the district commonly undertakes a once-in-a-decade comprehensive facility assessment process.

The district’s next 10-year comprehensive facility assessment is expected to take place this school year. Wight and Co., which has an ongoing contractual relationship with District 203, could complete the assessment — the last of which was completed in 2013.

The board of education will act on the 2025-26 year capital project items, as well as the 10-year comprehensive facility assessment contract at its upcoming meeting on Oct. 21.

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