Voters rejected a referendum request from Pennoyer District 79, which serves children from parts of Norridge, Harwood Heights and unincorporated Norwood Park Township, to issue $7.9 million in bonds to pay for major improvements to its building and facilities, unofficial election results show.
Those unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk show that 53% of voters voted no on the referendum, which has been a consistent request from the one-school school district since at least 2018.
The Pennoyer School building, erected in 1954, has major safety and accessibility issues, Superintendent Kristin Kopta has said.
Had the referendum been approved, the money would have gone toward renovating and relocating the science lab, media center and locker rooms and addressing the outdated stairways, school district information said. It also would have funded a replacement of the fire alarm system, an elevator and replacement of some doorways to ensure their accessibility to disabled people.
According to district-provided information, the changes would have added $261—a 13% increase—to the current $1,935 school portion of tax bills for the average district home.
Currently, most of the school’s water fountains are shut off due to lead contamination.
Parent-Teacher Council President Julie Rodriguez said the ask was focused on the necessities of running a safe, up-to-standard school.
“All we really are asking for are the basics,” she said.
In 2018, Kopta described the building problems as “snowballing.” Issues included asbestos tiles in classrooms, lead contamination and a leaking roof.
Voters that year rejected a $25 million, 20-year referendum that would have replaced the academic facility, improved the building security and upgraded the drop-off and pickup lane for the school’s almost 450 students.
The district took another stab at a referendum in 2020, this time asking for $10.9 million in bonds to make a similar set of improvements to the building.
The project as proposed two years ago would have addressed accessibility issues, heating and cooling problems and toxic materials in the building.
That referendum also failed, with 56.3% of voters saying no to the upgrades. The district moved ahead with $2.4 million worth of other bonds to replace the school’s heating and cooling system, but had to put other updates on the back burner.
Kopta said after the votes came in that the school and its students were “just going to have to live with where we’re at. Referendums are a community-driven process, and if our community isn’t going to support it, I can’t say that we would go back and put another referendum on the ballot anytime soon.”
On Election Night, Nov. 8, Kopta did not immediately return requests for comment from Pioneer Press.