Copyright Shaw Local Enewspapers
St. Charles District 303 officials are looking for volunteers to serve on a newly formed D303 Communitywide Education Facilities Committee to establish priorities in dealing with more than $400 million in identified facilities needs. You name it, a school or facility in the district needs it, officials say, from removing the Wild Rose Elementary School exterior balcony for $1 million to replacing the roofs at both North and East High Schools for $6.5 million each, from upgrading the Wredling Middle School parking lot for $1 million to $15 million for districtwide automation improvements. The rub is that these infrastructure improvements are unavoidable, as many of its buildings date back to the 1950s, according to a presentation at an Oct. 14 school board meeting. The goal for the committee is to prioritize what needs to be done based on condition, impact and the community’s expectations, according to the presentation. As to whether the exercise is a lead-up to a referendum, district spokesman Michael Vaughn said: “The possibility [of a referendum] came up, just in conversation about funding options.” He said school board members want to see the facilities committee’s findings. Superintendent Paul Gordon said in an email that upkeep of the district’s building and campuses needs attention. “Over the past three years, we have increased spending on the upkeep of our buildings and campuses, but it has been decades since D303 has made a significant, community-wide investment in our campuses and classrooms,” Gordon wrote. The school board has stepped forward to say this is the time to have this dialogue with the entire community, “to talk about funding and our facilities’ needs in terms of basic upkeep and maintenance, student-learning spaces, and programmatic facilities,” Gordon wrote. “This is a critically important conversation for the entire D303 community. We want all voices at the table, representing all corners of the district.” The schedule is for districtwide community engagement and continuing project estimates and scope from November to March 2026, followed by a report to the board in April 2026. Applications for the facilities committee are online at docs.google.com. The deadline to apply to serve on the committee is 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7.
