Henry-Senachwine School District #5 - Master Facility Planning
On behalf of the Henry-Senachwine School District #5 Board of Education, I am writing to provide an update to Henry-Senachwine staff, families and the community on the District’s master facility planning. To gain a better understanding of the operational conditions of our school buildings, Henry-Senachwine High School and Henry-Senachwine Grade/Junior High School, the District conducted a maintenance study and a survey analysis of its facilities. The purpose of the maintenance study was to provide an overview of building systems and their overall condition to help anticipate maintenance, repair, and replacement items over the next ten years. The survey analysis was conducted to identify components of the buildings that are deficient and not performing as required. The survey analysis also served to identify the areas and spaces in each building that are not serving the current needs of students, staff, and curricular and extracurricular programming.
After review of the maintenance study, the survey analysis, and the estimated costs of repair and upkeep for both buildings totaling approximately $11.7 million dollars, the District decided to investigate possible renovation, new construction concepts and associated costs for each facility. The District realizes that the school buildings and facilities are aging. Ensuring that functional, quality educational facilities are provided to the students, staff, and community will require financial investment and planning. Recently, The District contracted with BCA Architects, Ltd and Midwest Construction Professionals to begin a schematic design phase for our schools.
Once completed, the schematic design will include a proposed multi-story addition at Henry-Senachwine High School and the demolition of the current main high school academic wing. The schematic design will also propose scopes for improvements and renovations at both Henry-Senachwine High School and Henry-Senachwine Grade/Junior High School. The District’s goal of the schematic design phase is to have preliminary floor plans, renderings, scopes of work regarding renovations of the existing facilities for each campus, and estimated costs that can be shared with the Henry-Senachwine staff, families, and community stakeholders for review and feedback.
The District is focused on providing quality educational facilities for our students, staff, and community, while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. It is anticipated that the schematic design phase for the facilities will be complete in the coming months, at which time the District will conduct several public forums to review the schematic designs and gather feedback from Henry-Senachwine staff, families, and community stakeholders. The District will provide updates on its master facility planning on its website at www.hscud5.org, under tab “Master Facility Planning”. The Henry-Senachwine Board of Education will continue to meet monthly and welcomes public attendance at the meetings.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Miller
Superintendent