Community Pulse: What happened to Coal City Intermediate School?

“Why didn’t the district know about this situation?” It’s the inquiry most school district residents pose regarding the failed roof truss over Coal City Intermediate School’s north gym, and it’s a fair one. Until August 2024, the district was unaware of any structural issues within the gymnasium. In fact, a required health/life safety survey—a detailed inspection of the building—completed in 2023 and presented to the Board of Education in January 2024, indicated no issues with the gym’s roofing system.

What we know is a storm system—with high winds—blew through the village on July 16, 2024, and as a result caused damage to various properties including the intermediate school campus where a large tree located just north of the gymnasium’s exterior wall was snapped almost at the base. Roughly three weeks later a crack in the north gym wall was discovered. What we believe is the impact of that storm put pressure on the roof causing the wood trusses to crack all the way through, and in turn the weight of that roof pushing down resulted in the crack that led us to the core structural issue.

This information was just a small portion of what I was able to share with residents during a pair of Town Hall Meetings. Our focus was to provide the community with information on the status of Coal City Intermediate School and take comments and questions from the public regarding its future. Over two sessions, we had approximately 90 individuals attend the presentations that outlined just what happened at the school, and the path forward.

A lot has happened since we were first notified of the damage back in August and where we are now. The school building has been closed, the damaged trusses and wall have been stabilized and most importantly our students and staff have been relocated to Coal City Elementary School.

Our fundamental principles are to ensure our students and staff have a safe, secure, and welcoming learning environment, and that as a district we are being effective stewards of our taxpayers’ interests. As we move forward, these concepts are at the forefront of all decisions.

As I outlined at the Town Hall Meetings, the Board of Education has been presented with several concepts—repair, renovate and rebuild. The proposals presented by district architects also included additions to existing buildings. However, the cost estimates far exceed those to repair, renovate or even rebuild.

As presented at the meetings, the Board of Education could move forward to repair the gym and reoccupy the intermediate school with future renovations to be determined at a later date, they could decide to demolish and rebuild the gym and adjacent space and renovate the undamaged areas, or they could determine the best option is to raze the current structure and rebuild on that property or they could move the school to land the district owns along Carbon Hill Road. They also have the option of adding space for second and third grades within a new building.

There could be other options that come forward in the days and weeks ahead. There are a lot of things to consider, and the decision is one that will be made by the Board of Education. I fully agree with Jason Smith, our chief school business official, who put it best, “it’s for our board to evaluate what the community’s tolerance is, what makes the best decision to get students back to as much normalcy as possible, what is going to be best for the district moving forward in terms of efficiencies and our district profile, and how students move through and the experience they have.”

I am thankful to the residents who joined us for one or both town halls. They posed great questions and provided necessary feedback. School district residents with insight they would like to share on this topic are welcome to email the district at feedback@coalcityschools.org. As always, any resident with a question about the school district is encouraged to reach out to me by phone (815-634-2287) or email at cspencer@coalcityschools.org.

Information presented at the Town Hall Meetings will be shared on the district website at www.coalcityschools.org.