District 120 officials are preparing to host five town halls at Mundelein High School for voters looking for more information about a $175 million building referendum on the ballot this April.
Administrators have forecast a need for significant renovations at the high school, built in 1959, for years. The school board paved the way for a referendum by approving a revised long-term plan for facilities in November, then reaffirming its intention to follow the plan and put a referendum before voters at its Dec. 6 school board meeting.
According to District 120, Mundelein High School’s food service areas and its spaces for performing arts and athletics date back to 1961 when the school opened.
District 120 has $50 million set aside for the projects so far, and estimates that the improvements would total $225 million to bring the school up to modern standards.
The constraints of the current cafeteria and food service space has led to lunch periods running from 10:15 a.m. to 1:40 p.m., causing odd eating schedules for many students, according to District 120.
“We are limited in these areas, and it creates scheduling problems for both faculty and students,” Superintendent Kevin Myers said after the referendum was placed on the ballot. “We don’t have the right kind of space for a variety of purposes, and we need to keep pace with our growth.”
Administrators have also identified shared practice spaces for athletic programs as another issue because of how limited space has pushed many practice sessions into early morning or late evening hours, which are not ideal. A new “competition” gymnasium and more outdoor athletic space is also included in the district’s plans.
“The early and late hours negatively impact student schedules, and affect their study time as well as their sleep,” Myers said.
The plan includes the construction of a “new auditorium, black box theater and expanded music rehearsal rooms,” along with a field house to host physical education classes and “track and court sports.”
“The auditorium is easily recognizable to alumni visiting from our original Class of 1962,” Myers said. “There has been very little change in the space, from the stage to backstage to seating. The stage does not fit the entire band, and the outdated technology coupled with poor acoustics creates a sound quality that is not conducive to learning for music and theater groups.”
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Myers also noted that onstage practices are frequently interrupted with technical difficulties, and that sets with designs larger than six feet must be built out onstage because they don’t fit in backstage entryways.
If passed, District 120 residents would see a phased-in tax increase that would cost owners of a $100,000 home an additional $95 in year one, then $160 in year two and $215 in year three.
“We realize this is a big investment by our community, so we wanted to do whatever possible to make it less of an increase in the first couple of years,” Myers said. “The hope is that as Mundelein continues to grow, there will be a greater tax base to draw from to pay off the bonds.”
The first town hall will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the school, and will start with a one-hour presentation followed by a tour of areas that will be addressed in the project. The other meetings are scheduled for Feb. 8, Feb. 23, March 8 and March 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Mundelein High School’s enrollment has swelled to more than 2,200 students after being designed for about 1,500 students in the late 1950s. Back then, it offered 10 sanctioned boys sports and just two sanctioned girls sports, according to District 120. Now, Mundelein has 32 state-sanctioned sports programs.
The school district is expecting to see its tax base grow as Mundelein itself is engaged in a period of significant development, with the Village Board discussing development plans that would bring thousands of new homes to the village’s north side in the coming decades.
The Mundelein Village Board also recently approved a proposal by the Wirtz family — which owns the Chicago Blackhawks — to proceed with a 700-acre residential and commercial development project at Ivanhoe Farms, northwest of incorporated Mundelein. Trustees endorsed the plan and decided to proceed with an annexation agreement to incorporate the land into the city’s boundaries.
People who own homes valued at $200,000 are estimated to see an increase of $210 in year one, then an increase of $360 in year two and an increase of $450 in year three; while owners of $300,000 homes in the district are forecast to see a $320 increase in the first year, a $550 increase in the second and a $690 in the third year.
If property values in District 120 decline overall, those figures could decrease slightly.
Beyond expanding the cafeteria space, athletics space and performing arts space, District 120 officials want to increase the school’s overall multipurpose space, expand common areas throughout the school and expand physical education space. Other priorities include expanding or enhancing Mundelein High School’s career and technical education programs, and adding to its “consideration of mental health and wellness” and “improved building performance.”