Unit 40 Board Discusses New Construction, Repairs to Existing Buildings

Effingham Unit 40 school board members Monday discussed constructing an elementary building, as well as renovating existing facility. No decision was reached, but the Board wants to hold a special meeting in January to further consideration its options.

That special meeting will also be the venue for a decision on whether to place a Public Facilities Tax question on the April 4 election ballot. The sales tax revenue generated by the question is seen as a way to help finance new construction or renovation work and not raise property taxes.

Unit 40 Superintendent Mark Doan said a new building for grades Pre-K through 5 would house about 1300 students. It would also cost upwards of $30 million. If bonds were sold to help finance the project, they would likely be issued for 30 years. The bonds could finance no more than 80% of the project cost, a provision included by the State in case sales tax revenue dipped. The likely scenario would then be to retrofit Central Grade School as a Grades 6-8 building and continue to utilize the high school building. The 20% balance realized from those bonds could pay for projects at the junior high and high school buildings.

If the Board decides in January against pursuing new construction, renovation of existing buildings would be pursued. Doan said new estimates on the cost of new construction and renovation should be available to the Board later this week.

In the meantime, health/life safety work on both the Central building and the high school building needs to be completed. At Central, Doan said the work would include replacing a portion of the roof, asbestos abatement and replacement of the single-pane windows throughout the building to reduce energy costs. At the high school, much of the roof is the original surface that had a 15-year life expectancy and needs replaced, along with replacing the HVAC systems and perhaps extending climate control into the gyms.

Doan said the payment plan would be to extend the existing bonds originally issued to pay for the high school building and other renovations, and earlier extended in 2010 to finance repairs at Central School.

A date has not been finalized for the Board's special meeting to be held in January.

Also Monday, the Unit 40 board recognized teacher Kelsey Baker, who was honored as Community Support Systems' Educator of the Year, and heard from teacher Kristyn Bowman and some of her students on an effort known as "Umbrellas for Peace".

The effort involved giving students an amount of money and letting them "invest" it in various ways. Some purchased useful items for less-fortunate students, but perhaps the most unique idea involved placing a dollar bill on a gas pump at a local station. Doan said one motorist took the dollar bill and replaced it with a $10. Another person took the $10 and replaced it with a $20. The next person was a woman who needed gas to get to work to help provide for her family. The woman purchased a tank of gas with the $20, but then put a new $1 bill on the tank to keep things going.

Doan said it was an impressive presentation, and pretty emotional, too, as students learned about the impact their giving could have.