District 64 flood-control solution hinges on student safety issue

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:48AM

Park-Ridge Niles School District 64 board members reviewed two proposals at their meeting Jan. 23 to address water-retention issues at Carpenter School, but decided they needed more time to examine them.

The main goals are to mitigate draining and flooding issues on site, improve safety for students and staff, and try to preserve as much green space as possible. The board will continue to discuss the proposals at the next board meeting and possibly decide on a project.

The district would request a variance for either plan they decide on because currently the city code would require 58 parking spaces as opposed to the 37 parking spaces in the first proposal and 47 in the second proposal. The second proposal involves about 3 percent less green space.

“That takes up a lot of green space and that’s a concern,” Superintendent Phillip Bender said of the 58 required parking spaces.

Both proposals address the water-retention issues at the school. One major difference between the plans is that the second proposal includes a 13-car lane for parents dropping off students.

Director of Facility Management Scott Mackall and architect Fanning Howey, who designed both proposals, believe the second option is the safer one. The first proposal comes at a price of $1.1 million and the second would cost $1.4 million. A bus drop-off lane is an option on both proposals, but some staff at Carpenter did not feel it would be necessary.

One parent of children in kindergarten and first grade at Carpenter strongly supported the second proposal with the drop-off lane and urged the board to move forward with the plan to create a safer environment.

Some staff members at Carpenter shared their concerns with the proposals.

Sue Douglass, third-grade teacher at Carpenter, doesn’t feel the lane would make things safer for children. Douglass said that with the two playgrounds at the north end of the building she is concerned that students may chase balls into the street and believes it may be noisy for classrooms on the north end of the building.

Bender said city staff indicated they would be more supportive of the second plan. If the district were granted the variance the plan would still need Park Ridge City Council approval and approval from the Regional Office of Education.

Kathy Jozwiak, a Carpenter parent and crossing guard, spoke out against the second proposal. She did not feel the two-way traffic on Elm Street in the proposal created a safer environment. Currently, she said, Elm Street is closed off.

Mackall argued the second proposal is safer because children won’t have to cross the street.

“If it’s not broke, we don’t need to fix it,” said board member Pat Fioretto.