Cost, projects topics of Niles community engagement session

Residents will get a good look at potential bond issue projects and the cost associated with each project during Niles Community School’s second and final community engagement session Tuesday evening.

Supt. Michael Lindley said the district’s board of education would prioritize bond issue projects and come up with an overall target cost for the bond issue at Monday’s regular meeting.

Those items would then be presented to the public at the community engagement session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ring Lardner Middle School, 801 N. 17th St., Niles.

“On Tuesday we’d like to float those ideas to the extent that we’ve developed them and see what kind of reaction we get,” said Lindley, adding that they would likely discuss what would be done to accommodate students if the district plans on closing any buildings. “It is getting down to the point where we have to make some really big decisions.”

For the past several months, the district has undergone a process to document building conditions, determine enrollment projections and identify building infrastructure needs and costs.

The district plans on placing a bond issue before voters in the spring and is using this information to decide what projects to pursue with funding from the bond issue.

The first community engagement session was held Oct. 29 at Niles High School. At that session, project architects and school officials outlined the top five needs for each building within the district.

People can come to the second session even if they did not attend the first.