Dixon School Board learns therapeutic day school renovation costs escalating

DIXON — Concerned that bids are coming in greater than expected, the Dixon School Board has had an in-depth discussion about expected costs to renovate the former Lutheran Social Services of Illinois Nachusa property into the Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School.

The property, which is on Illinois 38 and was bought by the district from Lutheran Social Services of Illinois for $300,000 in August, is undergoing changes to turn it into a therapeutic day school. Plans call for it to be open in fall 2024 to provide special-education students with a small classroom setting, a high staff-to-student ratio and comprehensive treatment for mental health and behavioral issues that occur throughout the school day.

The board’s discussion on Wednesday, Dec. 20, began as it considered whether to approve an unexpected electrical service bid for the therapeutic day school. The $285,000 contract bid to upgrade the electrical service system was not in the budget, and was needed when it was discovered the current electric service is inadequate and will not support commercial grade air handlers or air exchanges and furnace and air conditioning units.

“As we’ve been working through the process we had found a couple different things we wanted to make sure we brought to your attention, just from a very transparent perspective,” Dixon School District Business Manager Marc Campbell said. “Prices are up and they are staying up.”

The original project budget was expected to come in at a little more than $2 million, but an updated budget given to the board on Dec. 20 shows the entire project coming in 40% higher than first estimated. About $94,000 in work has been done at the facility so far, school district officials said. That amount does not include contract work or the electrical service bid, Campbell said.

While the board unanimously approved the bid from Bray Associates-Architects, members asked school district officials whether an escalation of costs is manageable.

Dixon School District Superintendent Margo Empen and Campbell said the district can handle the higher-than-expected costs.

“This is a long-term project, so in other words there are must-dos we have to do to open this building,” Campbell said. “There are many things on this list that we don’t have to do to open the building.”

The district is using the Capital Projects Fund, with revenue coming from the 1% countywide facility sales tax, to fund the project. Campbell said the county facilities sale tax is whole and that the district has almost $2 million in working cash available. The district also could borrow to pay for the project, although district officials don’t want to do that.

Empen said the district also is looking at costs of other items, such as furnishings, and is carefully considering those purchases.

“There’s a variety of things that are must-haves in classrooms that every classroom in this district has; there are other things that are nice-to-haves. That is absolutely one area where we can look where we are not diminishing the equity amongst kids and their programming whether they are at Dempsey Day School or whether they are at Jefferson Elementary,” Empen said.

They also are looking at clocks and announcement systems.

“We could look and say what meets our needs and where can we, perhaps, come in lower there,” Empen said.

Campbell said district workers have done great things with already completed work that has saved the district tens – or even hundreds – of thousands of dollars, including replacing windows, replacing the front vestibule and the doors and installing a brick wall outside of an exterior wall that looks nice and will prevent water damage.

“We do want this school to be nice but we also want you to understand it’s not going to be 100% Day 1 – we’re going to open without a playground, we’re going to open probably without a new bus drive,” Campbell said.

But, he said, the school on Day 1 will have quality HVAC, appropriate technology, ADA-compliant bathrooms and classrooms, and will have full safety provisions in place. But other projects will have to wait, such as the gym floor.

“We’re going to replace the gym floor – in three years,” Campbell said. “There are parts of it that don’t look great, but it’s OK.”

He said some ceiling pieces will be repaired for now, but the ceiling will be replaced in a few years.

The district had been talking for several years about bringing students who need therapeutic day services onto a Dixon-based campus. Students currently are being sent to locations that include the Quad-Cities, Rockford and Loves Park. In March, 54 Dixon students were traveling to other locations for their education, Empen said, adding that the students could not be served here because the required programming is not available and there is not enough room in Dixon school facilities unless portable classrooms were used or extra classrooms were added.

The board also will be presented with more bids next month, Campbell said.

In other business, the school board:

• approved an updated therapy dog agreement that defines the program and its rules should more therapy dogs be brought into the district.
• approved a two-year extension with Illinois Central School Bus, LLC for transportation services.
• announced the Dixon Public School’s Foundation has given the district $58,500 – its largest allocation ever to the district – to be put toward classroom grants. “Teachers and departments and grade levels always have their wish lists ready to go,” Empen said. “Everyone was exceedingly grateful for our foundation’s generosity.”