Facilities work continues at Indian Prairie School District 204, where the school board recently approved more construction-related measures, including nearly $26 million in renovation work at Neuqua Valley High School.
The district is currently undergoing a major facilities overhaul after the passage of a bond referendum question in 2024 meant to help pay for renovations across the district.
In 2024, voters approved a proposal from the district to sell up to $420 million in bonds to pay for facility improvements. The bonds are to be paid for using a continuation of an existing 37-cent property tax per $100 of equalized assessed value that would otherwise have expired at the end of 2026, meaning the tax rate for residents in terms of their contribution to capital projects will effectively remain flat as a result of the referendum question’s passage.
Since the referendum question was passed, the district has been preparing for and proceeding with work on projects across district buildings that is set to extend through 2032. The work includes school-specific renovations at Waubonsie Valley High School, Neuqua Valley High School, Metea Valley High School, the Birkett Freshman Center and Gregory and Hill middle schools, along with district-wide safety and security upgrades, LED lighting installations and other infrastructure projects.
The nearly $26 million in work at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville approved by the school board Jan. 26 is for major renovations and additions that will enable the district to bring freshman students — who for more than 20 years have attended class at the Birkett Freshman Center, a building a little less than a mile from the main campus — back into the main Neuqua high school building starting in 2027.
The changes at Neuqua also mean the Birkett building will be getting some renovations of its own, as it prepares to house several district programs — like its Supportive Training Experiences Post-Secondary, or STEPS, program and the Gail McKinzie High School credit recovery program — once it’s no longer needed for freshman students.
Included in the renovations at Neuqua are an addition to the front of the existing building for student and staff resources, and an addition in the back that will house primarily classrooms and science labs, officials have said.
In November, the school board approved the first wave of bids for the Neuqua project, to the tune of a little under $6 million.
In addition to the major renovations approved Jan. 26, bids were also approved for HVAC improvements at both Neuqua and Birkett.
In total, the planned renovations at Neuqua — which include the building additions, as well as a new chilling system, a renovated student foods lab and the installation of a new turf field — are projected to cost $96 million. Of that, $90 million is being funded by the district’s bond issuances.
Work at Neuqua is slated to start in the spring and continue through next school year, according to the district, with freshmen set to attend classes in the newly-renovated building in fall 2027.
Other construction work also received approval from the board Jan. 26.
Five elementary schools — Builta, Fry, Young, White Eagle and Peterson — will be getting new playgrounds this summer, for a total cost of a little over $700,000.
And the board also approved more bids related to the district’s plan to construct secure entryways at the district’s school buildings.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
