School District 120 officials will present an updated facility improvement plan and gather public input during a pair of Town Hall Meetings at Mundelein High School on Wednesdays, Oct. 25 and Nov. 1.
The Town Hall meetings, which will run from 6:30-8 p.m., will offer a tour of the school and present a funding proposal that has been downsized from April’s failed building bond referendum. The decision to place a referendum on the ballot in 2024 will not be made until December, providing time for additional community input.
“While our needs have not gone away, our plan for addressing them has been trimmed significantly,” said Kevin Myers, Superintendent of Districts 120 and 75. “We want to show our residents the work we’ve been doing, answer their questions and solicit their feedback.”
Mundelein High School originally opened in 1961 when enrollment was smaller, technology was virtually non-existent and educational practices were considerably simpler. The school has 700 more students than the building was originally designed for and the building systems and core infrastructure have reached the end of their useful life.
The updated improvement plan would create a safer and healthier learning environment and address the school’s most pressing facility and site needs.
The district has cut more than 36,000 square feet of new construction from its previous proposal. By trimming scope instead of cutting projects altogether, the new proposal addresses the school's highest priority capital facility needs while keeping fiscal stewardship at the forefront. In making the changes, District 120 reduced the cost of a bond referendum from $175 million to $149.5 million.
Changes include reducing the number and size of multi-use, open spaces, moving to a single-level media center, reducing the scope of the north gym reconstruction and adding Career & Technical Education space inside the school instead of constructing a new CTE building.
Some of the elements remaining in the plan include: repairing or replacing outdated, inefficient mechanical, electrical, plumbing and air handling systems; upgrading the kitchen and cafeteria servery to alleviate space, health and safety issues; adding a ring road around the campus to improve traffic flow, decrease congestion and increase safety and security; creating a multi-purpose center (fieldhouse) that would support multiple physical education classes and provide space for expanded educational programming, school assemblies, robotics tournaments and more.
For more information on the MHS facilities proposal, including images, videos, frequently asked questions and financial implications, visit www.d120.org/mhs-facilities/.