Indian Prairie School District 204 buildings will again be seeing significant renovations this summer, as the district’s bond sale-funded facilities overhaul continues.
On Monday, the district’s school board approved more construction-related measures for the summer and beyond, including bids for almost $31 million in renovations at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora.
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 proceeding with work on projects across district buildings that are 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.
Included in Monday’s approvals were bids for significant work at Waubonsie Valley.
The work at Waubonsie is the largest project in the district in terms of referendum dollars — it’s slated to receive $130 million in bond sale funds over the course of its renovations.
This past year, the school got a major auditorium overhaul, and is slated to get a new turf field and a renovated cafeteria as part of the facilities work.
The nearly $31 million in construction bids approved by the board on Monday are for renovation work at Waubonsie that will start in the spring and continue during the 2026-27 school year through August 2027, per the district. Included in the cost of these contracts are things like selective demolition, roofing, masonry, plumbing and HVAC work. Additional bid packages are coming to complete the project.
On Monday, the school board also OK’d bid packages for furniture installation at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools in the amount of $440,300, for classroom furniture for the Career Tech Labs at Neuqua and for new cafeteria tables and chairs for the renovated dining area at Waubonsie.
The board on Monday also approved flooring replacements at Clow, Graham, Longwood, Peterson, White Eagle and Young elementary schools, excluding their gyms. It also OK’d flooring replacements for the gyms, and in some cases the stage and multi-purpose rooms, at Brooks, Owen and Springbrook elementary schools.
The total cost for the flooring replacements is set to come to around $3.4 million, per a letter from architectural firm STR Partners included in Monday’s meeting agenda.
The board also approved architectural services from STR Partners to design additions for three elementary schools: May Watts, Steck and Young. Design would go on throughout 2026, with construction starting in spring 2027.
Per a letter from STR Partners, the additions are set to provide instructional classrooms, toilet facilities, intervention spaces and spaces for conferencing or offices.
Additionally, the board approved an application for building permits for the Regional Office of Education for the referendum-funded construction starting in the summer at a number of district schools.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/12/indian-prairie-facilities-overhaul-waubonsie-valley/
