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Yorkville District 115 wants building referendum support ‘driven by the community’ · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville District one fifteen once building referendum support driven by
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  the community. Written by Joey Weslow, this article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  With the vote on a school building referendum less than
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  two months away, Yorkville School District one hundred and fifteen
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  is hosting a series of town halls to provide the
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  community everything it needs to know before casting a vote.
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  Voters will decide on the March seventeenth primary ballot whether
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  to grant the district's request for issuing two hundred and
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  seventy five million dollars in bonds to build new schools
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  and expanded facilities to meet the demands of the district's
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  growing population. The six town halls will be held over
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  several weeks beginning January twenty eighth. The proposed project includes
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  constructing a new middle school and a new elementary school.
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  The designs also include a new performing arts center and
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  a fieldhouse auditorium outside Yorkville High School. A new academic
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  wing also is designed for the high school, with other
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  renovations throughout the entire building. The plan also includes converting
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  a current elementary school into an early childhood center. If
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  the two hundred seventy five million dollars bond plan is approved,
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  the owner of a home with a median market value
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  of three hundred and twenty three thousand, seven hundred dollars
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  would pay an additional fee thousand seven dollars annually in
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  property taxes to pay for the construction. According to the district,
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  a tax calculator is available on the district site. Student
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  enrollment across the district grew from six thousand, three hundred
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  and fifty six in twenty twenty one dot twenty two
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  to seven thousand, three hundred nine students in twenty twenty five.
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  Over the next five years, the district is projecting another
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  eight hundred and twenty five students, according to a district
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  funded demography study. This this has led to what school
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  officials have called a capacity crisis, with classrooms bursting at
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  the seams. The study found several current school buildings are
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  not adequate for current and projected enrollment. During the state
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  of the District address, Superintendent and At Zedeker said the
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  current school facilities fall far short of what the community deserves.
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  Classes are being taught in hallways and other programming is
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  taking place in inadequate spaces. Zedeker said, we have special
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  ed classes held in math classrooms that don't have proper
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  accessibility to bathrooms. We're not able to offer all the
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  extracurricular activities our kids and families want. Enrollment has tripled
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  in the past twenty years, according to an Illinois State
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  Board of Education report. Zedeker said the series of town
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  hall meetings or an opportunity for residents to engage, listen,
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  and ask questions to ensure each person has the factual
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  information they need to make their decision. Any decisions this
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  large that impact the entire community need to have a
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  commune voice in it and be driven by the community.
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  Zedeker said in an interview. It's been really important for
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  my team to make sure transparency and communication are prioritized.
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  Zedeker said, in addition to new school buildings to address overcrowding,
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  expanding facilities helps the district standardize grade levels across all
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  its school He said, the referendum represents an investment in
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  the community. Communities are only as good as their public
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  school system, and public school systems are only as good
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  as the community support that surrounds it. Zedeker said. Even
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  folks that don't have. Students in the district will benefit
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  from a safer community and a thriving community. Also, one
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  of the leading connectors to increasing property values is a
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  strong school system. Zedeker said. Feedback gathered during a series
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  of earlier public listening sessions led to the district incorporating
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  some of the community's main desires, including a new performing
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  arts center and an athletic fieldhouse. He said it was
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  important to ensure the community's input was constructed into the
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  overall plans. Within the plans, the freshmen located in the
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  academy would be transferred to the expanded main high school building,
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  with the academy possibly reimagined for technical education spaces and
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  continued use for extracurricular activities. In city meetings, there have
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  been some talks of District one point fifteen potentially giving
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  some of its recently purchased one hundred and six acres
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  for a new school to the Bristol Kendall Fire Protection
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  District for a new fire station. Zedeker said discussions still
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  are in the early stages and the district will know
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  more after the election. He said the proposal represents that
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  the district wants to be good collaborative partners with other entities.
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  If the building referendum passes, construction is anticipated to begin
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  in fall twenty twenty six. The district said. The goal
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  is to welcome the first students into the new schools
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  in the fall of twenty twenty eight. The six public
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  meetings will be held on the d the following dates.
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  Six thirty pm January twenty eighth at Yorkville Middle School
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  nine to twenty Prairie Crossing Drive, six thirty pm February
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  third at Circle Center Grade School nine oh one Mill
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  Saint six thirty pm February nineteenth at Grande Reserve Elementary
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  School thirty one forty two Grande Trail. A Spanish language
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  session will be held at seven pm February twentieth at
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  Autumn Creek Elementary School two three seven seven Autumn Creek Boulevard.
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  Ten am February twenty first at the Yorkville High School
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  Academy seven oh two Game Farm Road, a virtual session
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  on eb twenty four. Residents can register for the virtual
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  meeting and learn more about the other meetings on the
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  district's website.