Members of a District 709 core committee spent several hours Thursday night considering the planning process for the future of the district’s educational facilities.
Come Dec. 3, the group could narrow 14 potential facility-change proposals to six after members spend time considering the plans presented by Jeff Keach of Keach Architectural Design.
District 709 superintendent Roger Kilpatrick said he hopes the group will be able to narrow the committee’s options for deeper consideration during future meetings.
The committee also heard reports from subcommittee leaders about plans for funding, communication and community surveys.
Dennis Ewald discussed options considered by the finance subcommittee to help pay for whatever facility changes are made.
“$67 million is the maximum amount the school district could borrow,” Ewald said.
Ewald also considered seeking charitable contributions from Morton alumni. He also mentioned seeking state or federal funding.
Kilpatrick said the state has not funded any projects for five or six years. However, he said he does have applications to receive funding from the state/federal level.
Communications subcommittee member Carol Jankowski discussed the importance of communicating the longterm facility planning process to the community.
She suggested providing school tours during school hours so residents and parents could get a better understanding of what is needed in the schools.
Jankowski said, other than communicating the process to local media and Channel 20, the best communication tool is the members of the core committee.
Craig Barley, chairman of the survey subcommittee suggested it may be necessary to target a group of residents for a survey to give the district a better idea of what stands to succeed in a potential referendum.
“We need to target 400 people to survey,” Barley said. “It is really critical we survey the people that do vote.”
A survey would be offered to the general public. However, gaining feedback from those who are most likely to vote on the issue in a future referendum is important, he said.
Kilpatrick added the earliest the district could do a referendum is next November.
