School might be ending May 30 at S.E. Gross Middle School, but once students leave for summer, the real work will begin. Literally that day.
A $2.2 million project will commence that afternoon, which will renovate four early childhood classrooms and relocate the school’s Family and Consumer Science (FACS) lab. The work is expected to be finished two weeks ahead of school’s start on Aug. 21.
New superintendent Ryan Evans, who is replacing the retiring Dr. Mark Kuzniewski July 1, isn’t wearing his hard hat quite yet, but he’ll have to as the work begins in earnest.
The end date might seem a bit close to the start of next school year, but Evans isn’t worried.
“I feel really comfortable with it, because the construction management firm that’s running this is the one that did our $35 million project a few years ago,” he said of Executive Construction Inc. of Hillside. “They are fantastic to work with.”
He added: “They manage it through a site superintendent with us the whole time. He will shepherd the project through and all the subcontractors, and he’s there to make sure all those timelines are hit.”
The project is being paid for through the district’s general operating fund, Evans said.
“The district is in a healthy financial position at this time, and we knew there were capital projects that had to be done,” he said. “Through the budgeting that’s been done over the past couple of decades, District 95 holds the money to do this project.”
Evans also said the district bid out the specific portions of the project, like windows, concrete, electrical and flooring in early 2024, to get it done last summer. The bids weren’t favorable to the district financially, however, so it pivoted, re-bidding the project last September. That process brought in more bids and ultimately saved the district about $800,000.
“It was a very popular bidding process,” said Jim Gay, district director of buildings and grounds. “We were early enough in the year, so this was a manageable project. There aren’t a whole lot of companies that can bid on schools that have the manpower to ramp up and finish everything in an eight- or 10-week period.”
District architect of record Cashman Stahler Group in Lombard drew up the pages and pages of plans that will guide the project, centered on the first floor of the south end of the school, facing Lincoln Avenue. That area combines the building’s original 1920s core with a 1950s addition.
The current FACS lab, which was renovated in 2003, will become a fourth early childhood classroom and will be part of a section that will be sealed with doors on either end of the hallway to contain the school’s three- and four-year-old learners. The area will feature two classrooms serving Brookfield-La Grange Park District 95 early childhood students, with the other two serving La Grange Area Department of Special Education, or LADSE, children of the same age. Combined, the space will handle about 100 youngsters.
The new FACS lab, specifically for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, will be located just outside the contained area but will be adjacent via a sensory room for early childhood students, including climbing and touch activities.
The new FACS lab will be a significantly larger space and include six workstations, refrigerators and freezers and electric induction ovens. Since S.E. Gross was built in a triangle design, it also provides a nice view of the internal courtyard. Each student spends a trimester in the FACS lab, Evans said, which focuses on careers, cooking, family and early childhood.
Additionally, a new entrance with double doors, compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, will be built within the contained space, so the early childhood students won’t intermingle with middle school students.
Finally, the district is working with the village of Brookfield to build concrete bumpouts on Maple Avenue at Lincoln Avenue to prevent impatient drivers from cutting around traffic waiting to turn. There will also be enhanced signaling.
The work that will begin May 30 in that space will be asbestos abatement, Evans said, which will include removal of every piece of tile that was installed back in the 1950s.
It’s a lot of work, but Evans is confident that there won’t be any surprises along the way.
“This is a renovation project, so while you can come across things that are unexpected, they’ve done a lot of due diligence prior to it, to make sure they aren’t running into huge unknowns,” Evans said.
Another interested party this summer will be new S.E. Gross principal Lauren Colberg.
“My role will be to make sure we open our doors on Day One, kids know where they are going and teachers know where they are teaching,” she said. “My role will be to make sure we have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, because the new year waits for no one.”