Skokie School District 68 is considering new options for storing large amounts of district files and equipment in anticipation of its current space becoming unavailable, according to Supt. James Garwood.
Garwood said a handful of options for the district range from renting out space to building an addition, although school board members last week said they did not favor the latter because of cost and other factors.
The files and equipment are currently kept at the nearby MCC Academy, a school run by the Muslim Community Center, once home to Dist. 68’s Sharp Corner Elementary School. The district sold the school in 2013 after it had been occupied by Solomon Schechter Day School Early Childhood Center and then sat vacant for years.
Although the district’s lease with MCC Academy doesn’t expire until the end of June 2019, Garwood said, the contract allows either side to cancel with due notice. MCC is asking the district to move between June and September this year, he said.
“The (school) is growing and they’re asking us to vacate our lease prior to the expiration date so they can recapture the basement space,” he said. “They’re within their rights to ask us to vacate.”
According to Garwood, the district’s current annual cost to lease out 4,140 square feet of space is $16,560, which is increased by the consumer price index every year.
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“The quality of space can be described as subpar at best,” he said.
But one benefit to the current location, district officials said, is that it’s close enough to the district office where personnel can quickly stop over there — even if that doesn’t occur frequently.
Whatever option is chosen, it’s going to be a much bigger expense than what the district is currently paying, officials said. That’s true, they say, even though the space they’ll occupy is likely to be much less than the current one at the school.
Garwood said some of the stored items are obsolete and can be discarded and the district doesn’t need as much space.
Under the least expensive option, Garwood said, the district could house files in a storage unit at Lock-Up Self Storage on Golf Road. A space for files would cost $12,000 annually, and separate storage for equipment would cost $26,400 annually, he said.
If the district were to add on to its building at 9300 Kenton Ave., that cost could be between $2.1 million and $2.3 million, according to district officials. A further downside to the option is that the district would likely no longer be able to house the Niles Township Schools ELL Parent Center, which would probably have to move to another district.
The parent center is a resource for most of the districts in Niles Township.
District 68 school board members said they wanted to explore a middle option, which calls for the district purchasing property within the boundaries of District 68.
Garwood said the district has identified one building for sale on Golf Road. The building has more than 2,600 square feet, a two-car garage and an external storage unit, “all of which could accommodate our equipment storage, a maintenance workshop, and file storage needs,” he said.
The cost is listed at $474,000, but modifications the district would need to make could raise that cost to about $550,000, Garwood said.
Although there is a higher upfront cost with that option, he said, it would provide a permanent solution to the problem. The property on Golf also includes a sign that could be revamped and used for district messages, he said.
Board member Menucha Levy questioned whether it was best to sell Sharp Corner School, in retrospect, considering it sold for more than $2.1 million and the district is considering an addition for a similar amount.
“Quite honestly, I would rather be having the discussion right now, if we wanted to spend more money than (what’s) been budgeted, on how we’re supporting student achievement and bringing in reading specialists,” she said.
Levy said she would prefer considering the issue as part of the district’s larger, longer-range strategic plan.
School board members agreed that building an addition is not how they want to see the district proceed. Still, they said, there is an immediate problem, and unplanned expenses happen, no matter what preparations are taken.
“Sometimes, we want to have conversations about things like curriculum specialists, but other things come up that require us to split our time,” said board member Katrina Bell-Jordan. “Like any household budget, stuff comes up.”
Garwood said the additional expense for storage, no matter what option is decided, would not impact the current budget but be part of next year’s budget.
The school board could decide in February which option to pursue, he said.
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