Valley View School District 365U’s school board has approved a plan to buy about $439,000 worth of video surveillance and lockdown systems.
The purchase is made possible through an Illinois School Security Grant from the state’s Emergency Management Agency, according to a briefing by Assistant Superintendent Garrick Grizaffi and safety head Leroy Brown at a recent meeting.
A “lockdown alert system” expansion will cost $79,325. The system provides an immediate alert to local police when a school panic button is pushed and also provides audio and visual alerts, such as blue lights, on the exterior and interior of the school once a button is pushed.
That installation is in progress and is expected to be completed by the end of the school year.
The lion’s share of the grant money will go toward a new video surveillance system with cameras installed at the entrances of every high school, middle school and elementary school, according to the district. Such a system was deemed a priority after an assessment by district security staff and the Romeoville and Bolingbrook police departments.
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The system includes monitor and recording equipment that will be installed in school offices. The cameras will be viewable by the village police departments via online streaming, according to the district.
The grant does not cover the total cost of those two systems, leaving the district tol pay $11,234 from the operations and management fund, the district said.
The school board also heard an information report from Grizaffi on $2.2 million in planned upgrades to the auditorium and music areas at Romeoville High School.
Those spaces “are in need of various renovations that would eliminate deficient conditions, impacting curriculum delivery and student performances,” Grizaffi said. “The renovations would drastically improve the acoustical and lighting characteristics of the auditorium and music suites, enhance the performance capabilities in these spaces, and provide a greater degree of safety in the production and support spaces.”
The facility operations department has been meeting with the high school’s choir, band and musical director, as well as with the principal and a design team, since the fall to develop “a comprehensive scope of work,” as well as plans and specification for pricing and bidding the project.
Improvements include replacing auditorium house doors with acoustically-sealed wood doors, a permanent sound control booth and acoustic panels, new speakers and a stage thrust, according to documents. The majority of the project has been awarded, with the sound equipment being procured as a separate package, but part of the approximate $2.2 million pricetag.
Construction Solutions of Illinois was the project’s low bidder, and discussions have begun on start times.
“The preferred construction schedule would involve work to commence this summer, making use of the summer break for the renovation of the band and choir suites as well as the mechanical infrastructure,” Grizaffi said. “This would be followed by the auditorium renovations in the fall and winter, with project completion before spring 2016.”
District officials plan to bring refined cost and construction estimates before the board in the near future for a vote.
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