Eight years after voters soundly rejected the idea of building a high school in Glendale Heights, officials in Glenbard Township High School District 87 plan to look into it again.
The school board decided Tuesday night to have its hired architect spend the next six months investigating whether the district needs a fifth high school and, if so, how much it might cost. The decision comes a month after Glendale Heights residents and elected leaders packed a school board meeting and begged for a school in their community.
“We are happy the school district took this bold step and we will do whatever we have to to help them. Our community is pulling together to get this done,” said Glendale Heights Mayor Ben Fajardo. “We are a growing community, and we believe that a high school in our community would give us a sense of pride.”
The estimated 1,800 high school students who live in Glendale Heights are split among three high schools. Fajardo and other village residents say a community high school would enhance a sense of identity and unify the town’s teenagers.
The fifth high school study will be part of a larger, long-range look at what types of renovations the district’s other high schools might need in the near future. The district is just completing a $34 million renovation program at its four high schools that added, among other things, more than 40 classrooms, science labs and a fieldhouse. Despite those upgrades, district officials say the high schools have needs that were not addressed.
Building a fifth high school will not be an easy sell.
In 1992, District 87 voters emphatically rejected a referendum that would have paid for a $58 million school in Glendale Heights and raised taxes to operate it. Even voters in Glendale Heights rejected the plan. Then, District 87 sold the only parcel of land it owned in Glendale Heights — a stretch of land on Army Trail Road near Glen Ellyn Road.
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After that referendum failed, Glendale Heights officials spent much of 1998 trying to get the matter back on the ballot. Glenbard District 87 officials rebuffed those efforts.
The school board was divided Tuesday over the idea of building a new high school. Board members argued over whether district officials should even consider constructing a new building before they address the needs at Glenbard North, South, East and West.
In fact, it was a proposal to make small renovations at the other four schools that prompted the Glendale Heights discussion. Board members had planned to talk about a proposal that would have, among other things, added an air-conditioning system at East, added four classrooms at West and revamped the auditorium at South.
Board members Lois Hince and Sandy Pihos warned that studying a fifth school could sidetrack current, more pressing needs.
“I don’t want to hold the current buildings and students hostage while we decide whether we will build a fifth high school,” Hince said. “I think we need to meet those needs first.”
But board member David Brown suggested the district should worry more about where a high school would be built in Glendale Heights.
“We’ve got a big problem. We don’t have any land in Glendale Heights and we need to have talks with the village to see where we could even look for some land,” Brown said.
But board president F. Thomas Voltaggio and board member Randy Church said addressing school construction issues piecemeal could end up costing the district more money and anger taxpayers who, two years ago, approved a $34 million construction package.
“There is no need to rush into this,” Voltaggio said. “We can afford to take a breath now. We are set for a while and it gives us time to take a deeper, more comprehensive look at what we need and what is possible.”
Fajardo said Glendale Heights elected leaders will spend the next few months looking for possible building sites. He also promised that residents and town officials will make an aggressive push for a school.