All-Day Kindergarten Construction Projects to Begin; RHS Gets New Boiler System

will pay $833,300 to Wight & Company of Darien to begin site work to prep all 12 elementary campuses to house next fall.

The company — which is also providing design and engineering services on the program, is set to start work by April 3, according to district documents.

“The objective is to have each of our elementary schools ready this August for the start of the 2012-13 school year,” Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Gary Grizaffi said in a memo to the board, calling the schedule a “very aggressive timeline.”

Citing the “long-term benefits” of the program, the board recently signed off on plans to outfit all elementary campuses for all-day kindergarten.

Board of education members OK’d spending an estimated $599,336 to replace the outdated heating system at with a more energy efficient boiler plant on Monday.

Grizaffi said much of the existing heating system — including the two main boilers — are original to the building, which opened in 1963.

After 48 years of use, the system is showing signs of wear, Grizaffi said, and is no longer efficient.

The board approved a contract with F.E. Moran of Northbrook for a new boiler system, consisting on four boilers. The bid includes $609,000 for the new boiler plant, $13,000 to replace the damaged ceiling in the boiler room and another $100,300 to replace domestic water heater tanks — for a grand total of $722,300.

The cost is anticipated to be offset by a $92,964 grant through the State of Illinois’ custom energy incentive program, along with a $30,000 grant from a Romeoville business.

That leaves a $599,336 bill to be paid by the district’s maintenance and operations and life safety funds, according to Grizaffi.

Grizaffi estimated that the more efficient system will reduce fuel usage by 20 percent, for a savings of $30,000 per year. Additional efficiency measures including eliminating domestic hot water production pumps and reducing operating horsepower by centralizing the pumps could save another $10,000 per year. 

Just months after approving new lockers for RHS, the board agreed to spend $76,145 to replace 38-year-old lockers at in Bolingbrook.

The outdated lockers, ranging from six to eight inches wide, “make it cumbersome for storage of book bags and coats,” Grizaffi said.

In 2009, the district replaced 685 lockers at the campus with 400 new ones, mainly in the sixth-grade wing.

The remaining 1,436 old lockers will be replaced with new, 12-inch lockers over the next two years.

For now, the district will replace 832 existing lockers with 542 new lockers, serving the rest of the sixth-graders and the seventh-grade class. The remaining lockers for eighth-grade students will be bid separately next summer, according to Grizaffi.

The board voted Monday to award the bid to Lyon Workspace Products of Montgomery.