There have been two summers chock full of construction across Indian Prairie School District 204 since voters approved a $420 million bond referendum in November 2024, and now the district is recapping progress toward building a “Safer, Stronger 204.”
Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley gave school board members a referendum projects update during their meeting on Monday, covering improvements made as part of the eight-year program, with a total budget of $466 million.
So far, he said, $198 million of safety, security and infrastructure projects are either completed or in progress, and another $100 million of work is scheduled to kick off in 2027.
Priorities: Safety; updates at Waubonsie, Neuqua
The district has taken the most steps forward on improving security at building entrances and refurbishing one of its oldest structures, the 51-year-old Waubonsie Valley High School. And that’s by design, Shipley said.
“Safety and security was our No. 1 priority coming out of the 2024 referendum,” Shipley said. “The work at Waubonsie was need-based with the age of that facility, that’s why we started those comprehensive projects first.”
Also high on the list has been work at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville and the adjacent Kathryn Birkett Freshman Center, in order to save an estimated $2 million a year beginning in 2027-28. That’s when freshmen are scheduled to move back into Neuqua proper and the STEPS and Gail McKinzie programs for students with disabilities and high schoolers in an alternative program are on track to move into the Birkett building.
Work completed at Waubonsie so far includes auditorium renovations, stadium replacement with a new turf field, improvements to the technology and engineering education classroom suite and an elevator replacement. Next to be completed is the cafeteria, which is on track to open to students in January, and renovations to the atrium and library.
The next phase at Waubonsie is slated to include improvements to the athletic wing, second-floor classroom and office updates and modernizations to classrooms on the school’s two separate third floors.
At Neuqua, the cafeteria modernization and renovations to forum rooms — popular multipurpose spaces — are complete, as well as turf field replacement and LED lighting upgrades, Shipley said. Additions to both the front and back of the building are underway and expected to be complete for the 2027-28 school year.
Next-door at Birkett, Shipley said the district is “fully on schedule” for occupancy next year by STEPS and Gail McKinzie students and staff, with a second-floor classroom modernization complete and work underway on improvements to the front of the facility.
8 more schools left for entrance safety updates
On the safety side, the district is two-thirds through its work to add new vestibules with increased security measures and new entrance doors across all schools.
The school board on Monday approved bids for $6.3 million for vestibule work at seven of the eight schools intended to see the improvements next summer. Schools in line for new entrances include Prairie Children Preschool, Brookdale, Brooks, Owen, Peterson, Steck and Watts elementaries, and Hill Middle School.
Already, more than 250 new entrance doors are in use.
“That ability to have doors securely close and latch is the No. 1 security piece we need to have in place,” Shipley said.
Capital funding available when needed
Referendum dollars also have allowed the district to adapt when problems arise. Late this summer, the district was able to allocate $400,000 for an emergency wall repair at Welch Elementary, required when officials discovered a masonry issue in a second-floor classroom.
Using capital funding available through the referendum under the “general infrastructure” priority, Shipley said the district paid for the work without dipping into operating funds and got it completed with minimal disruption.
“This was a challenge that became an opportunity because of the support the community gave us,” Shipley said.
School board members asked for some details on project prioritization and praised administrators for all the improvements accomplished.
“The two things we heard very consistently throughout this (presentation),” school board member Catey Genc told Shipley, “were ‘on time and on budget,’ so thank you.”
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