The Lyons Twp HSD 204 Board of Education voted to approve the district's 2025 10-year life-safety survey plan during its regular meeting; the item passed on a roll-call vote with all trustees voting in favor.

The plan, presented by facilities director Brian Stacia, organizes recommended repairs into A, B and C priority codes and breaks costs down by building. Stacia told the board the previous survey had identified roughly “$3,800,000 of work on there,” and that the current list is substantially smaller. He said the district will prioritize any A items immediately and aim to complete most B items over a roughly four- to five-year schedule.

Stacia outlined three funding approaches: paying from operating funds, shifting part of the levy into the life-safety fund (which reallocates levy dollars rather than adding a new tax), or borrowing — an option similar to prior bond financing that does not affect the debt-service extension base. He also noted state capital grants of about $50,000 per district that the administration expects to apply toward next-summer projects.

Board members asked for clarifications on specific items, including a science-lab gas-shutoff listed as an A priority; Stacia said that item would be addressed “pretty quickly.” Trustees raised concerns about rising construction costs and the district’s ability to fund multiple concurrent projects, and staff said the intent was to use operating funds and avoid drawing down fund balance where possible. Stacia said, “if we put about $500,000 a year toward those projects, we'll get those completed” within the proposed timeframe.

Next steps: the board approved the list as presented and staff will submit the plan to the regional office (West 40) and onward to the State Board of Education for review and approval. Implementation of projects will be scheduled annually as the district finalizes budgets and identifies grant opportunities.