At a Sept. 22 regular meeting, the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 school board voted unanimously to adopt a statement clarifying the referendum question voters will see on Nov. 8.
The statement notes that the board “is committed to the 5-year facilities plan that it unanimously adopted on [Aug. 16] to add new learning spaces, improve and expand performing arts spaces, and replace the school’s two 88-year-old pools.”
In addition, the board stated that it does not endorse an alternative plan that is strongly favored by the organization OPRF Pragmatic Pool Solutions.
On its website, OPRF Pragmatic Pool Solutions states, “We are not anti-pool. Most of us support improving the aquatics facilities at OPRF, but we favor a more pragmatic approach than the plan selected by the school board. VOTE NO on the bond issue that supports the more wasteful plan and send a message to the school board to follow through with Option A.”
But at the Sept. 22 meeting, several board members sought to clarify the board’s Aug. 16 vote for the estimated $44.5 million plan, which effectively eliminated any other plans from consideration.
“The board does not endorse any alternative plan, and in particular the board has no plans to pursue the options for rebuilding the existing two pools in their current location that it previously considered,” the statement notes. “If the referendum fails, the board will begin new deliberations. The risk that one or both pools will fail beyond repair would also continue, with potential implications for the PE curriculum and aquatics programs.”
The board’s plan would replace the two existing pools with a 40-meter pool and a new garage at a total estimated cost of around $44.5 million (reduced from an earlier estimate of $54 million by cutting some enhancements). No more than $25 million of that total would be funded by referendum bonds that are subject to voter approval.
Option A, which was drafted in June, calls for rebuilding the two existing pools in the spaces where they are currently located and repairing the existing garage at a total estimated cost of around $40 million (Pragmatic Pool Solutions contends that if similar cuts were made to Option A, that estimate would be less).
During the Sept. 22 meeting, District 200 board President Jeff Weissglass said he was advised by experts that it’s typical for boards to make a statement “about what happens in the event of a failed referendum.”
“I agree with the statement,” said board member Fred Arkin at the Sept. 22 meeting. “If this referendum [fails], as a board member I would look to start basically from square zero.”
