Voters approve financing for addition at Belleville school. Here are the next steps

Kelly Smits
·3 min read

Voters in Belleville, Shiloh and Swansea headed to the polls Tuesday night for the primary election and passed a referendum on the ballot from Whiteside School District 115.

The district asked voters whether it should issue about $10.6 million in bonds for an addition to Whiteside Elementary at 2028 Lebanon Ave.

The referendum passed 863-400, clearing the required 50% majority. Results are unofficial until the St. Clair County Clerk completes its election canvass, which must be done by April 9.

The addition will allow Whiteside Elementary to eliminate aging mobile classrooms that currently house the early childhood and pre-K programs and bring them into the main school building, alleviating concerns related to accessibility, safety from active shooters or intruders and extreme weather.

“Yesterday, our school community provided a clear message about the importance of school safety,” Superintendent Mark Heuring said in a statement Wednesday.

“Whiteside School District #115 is excited about this endeavor and we look forward to seeing our smallest learners move into a permanent classroom space,” he wrote. “This provides them an environment to grow and learn while remaining safe and secure.”

What’s next

The district is talking with its architect about next steps, which will include developing an architectural plan, civil engineering and surveying, and identifying utility needs for the new school addition, Heuring told the BND Thursday.

The school board’s buildings and grounds committee as well as some of the elementary school teachers will work together to finalize a plan for the addition’s layout.

The goal is to bid contracts for the project in the fall and break ground on the addition by Jan. 1, 2025, depending on weather.

The end date of construction isn’t set, Heuring said, but it will take about a year to complete.

A conceptual rendering of the forthcoming addition to Whiteside Elementary that will be funded by a $10.6 million bond referendum voters passed in the March 19 primary election.
A conceptual rendering of the forthcoming addition to Whiteside Elementary that will be funded by a $10.6 million bond referendum voters passed in the March 19 primary election.

Currently, the district’s early childhood special needs program is in trailers located near the southeast parking lot of the elementary school, situated in a U-shape with a semi-enclosed artificial turf playground.

The morning and afternoon pre-K programs are in trailers off the west side of the school that has a playground behind them.

The tentative plan for the addition is to build an approximately 15,860-square-foot, L-shaped hallway on the southwest corner of the existing elementary school. The hallway will contain six classrooms, a room for therapy intervention services and additional bathrooms.

A new, 15,000-square-foot playground with soft and hard play surfaces will be added in the empty space created between the L-shaped addition and the southwest side of the existing building.

The project also aims to improve traffic flow on the south end of the campus along Southwind Drive by adding parking spots to the existing lot on the southeast side accessible from the road, creating a new parking lot on the southwest side that will also be accessible from the road and connecting the two.

Additionally, the board is exploring the possibility of adding a solar array on the roof of the elementary school to reduce the district’s utility costs and carbon footprint. A similar effort with other funds is already underway at Whiteside Middle School. In doing so, District 115 joins others in the metro-east going solar to save money.