Barrington School District 220 board pore over survey results after asking taxpayers about possible referendum

Residents and taxpayers of Barrington School District 220 rated safety and security, and a new auditorium at Barrington High School, as priorities for the school district, officials learned as community input was collected in preparation for a potential multi-million-dollar referendum that would be placed on the ballot in the November election.

The data was shared with school board members April 2 by EO Sullivan Consulting, which was hired by the district to collect community feedback through phone and online surveys, four public engagement sessions and referendum advisory committee meetings.

Information had been collected in three phases and began earlier this year. A final report by consultants is expected in June in preparation for an August board vote on a referendum.

“We’ve said from the very beginning that this should be a community-driven plan and we did receive a high level of engagement from a number of participants from our community,” said Superintendent Craig Winkelman.

Further, the consulting firm recommended the district combine projects in a way to connect “the desires of the public with those most in tune with the needs of the schools.”

Community members were asked to rank 10 projects district officials identified as needs in the school buildings. Stakeholders were to offer feedback on three funding plans that range from $45 million to $76 million.

To date, consultants collected 921 community member responses that offered their preferences for SD220 projects – a response rate they considered “among the highest we’ve seen in Illinois,” the firm reported. A total of 396 responses were received from online feedback forms used at the four community engagement sessions and posted on the district’s website. Also, an additional 525 phone surveys were completed.

“A big thank you to the community,” said Winkelman.

District 220 includes 12 schools and enrolls more than 8,100 students in pre-K to 12th grade.

According to the data, community members ranked safety and security as a No. 1 priority, followed by mechanical systems, a new Barrington High School auditorium, and science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) labs. They also supported a medium spending level, which has been estimated at $59 million.

However, the referendum advisory committee rated a new high school auditorium as its No. 1 priority, followed by music and fine arts rooms, according to the consultant’s report. Safety and security being ranked fourth. The committee also supported spending about $76 million.

Collin Corbett, who represented the consulting firm at the meeting, reported that support for enhanced fine arts programming was not as high among community members. He said overall, safety and security and a new high school auditorium were the top priorities selected by the public.

As part of the final information-gathering efforts, the school district plans to do a phone survey April 29 seeking to get community opinion on three options selected by district leaders as the top priorities. Then, a May 1 referendum advisory committee meeting is scheduled to discuss and also rank those three options.

Winkelman said 56 respondents to the online form expressed desire for a new fieldhouse.

“We do not currently have space on any property that would accommodate a fieldhouse addition,” Winkelman said.

He said a new standalone fieldhouse could cost $40 million to $50 million, based on estimates provided by DLA Architects, which is also working with the district on referendum plans.

However, the superintendent said, the question of a fieldhouse will be added to the next round of surveys.

A board update is planned for May 7, and the referendum advisory committee is expected to meet again May 20 to review additional survey results and craft a board recommendation.

Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.