Dear D64 Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. It’s hard to believe we are in the final stretch of the school year, and we’ll soon be promoting our 8th graders to their respective high schools!
For the past six months, we have been taking a hard look at our Master Facilities Plan and the needs our students and staff have now and in the future. Through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and our architects, we have identified areas where our safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting our current and future needs. Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering doing major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.
The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path we will take forward, and to be transparent about our needs, we are hosting the following community engagement events, where I will lay out the issues we face and our proposed solutions. Each one of these sessions will include time for Q&A. If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP so we can plan and have the proper setup.
We have also designed a webpage that provides information, past presentations, and other useful tools that we want to share with you. To help our community better understand the state of our facilities, we have made video tours of our buildings, the first one of which is a look at Lincoln Middle School. Those resources can be found at d64.org/2024proposal. As we continue exploring this possibility, you can always reach out to me directly with any questions at bcollins@d64.org.
Our schools are community resources that have existed for nearly 100 years (Roosevelt, Field, and Lincoln will all turn 100 soon), and we want to protect our buildings, protect our children, and preserve our future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben Collins
Superintendent
Park Ridge-Niles District 64