Dixon School Board approves therapeutic day school bids

DIXON — The Dixon School Board on Wednesday night approved several bids for work that will turn the former Lutheran Social Services of Illinois’ Nachusa property into the Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School.

The board approved the following bids:

• Mechanical work, MO-ST Plumbing and Mechanical of Rock Falls, $563,000.
• Plumbing, MO-ST Plumbing and Mechanical of Rock Falls, $172,500.
• Electrical, Helm Group, Rockford, $276,335.

“These are the big ones. There won’t be any bids next month,” Dixon School District Business Manager Marc Campbell said.

The property on Illinois 38 was bought by the district from Lutheran Social Services of Illinois for $300,000 in August and is undergoing renovations to turn it into a therapeutic day school. Plans call for it to be open in fall to provide special-education students with a small classroom setting, a high staff-to-student ratio and comprehensive treatment for mental health and behavioral issues that occur throughout the school day.

The board on Dec. 20, approved an unexpected electrical service bid for the therapeutic day school. The $285,000 contract bid to upgrade the electrical service system was not in the budget and was needed when it was discovered that the current electric service is inadequate and will not support commercial-grade air handlers or air exchanges and furnace, and air conditioning units.

The original project budget was expected to come in at a little more than $2 million, but an updated budget given to the board Dec. 20 shows the entire project coming in 40% higher than first estimated. Dixon School District Superintendent Margo Empen and Campbell said the district can handle the higher-than-expected costs.

The district is using the Capital Projects Fund, with revenue coming from the 1% countywide facility sales tax, to fund the project. Campbell said in December that the county facilities sale tax is coming in as expected and the district has almost $2 million in working cash available. The district also could borrow to pay for the project, although district officials don’t want to do that.

The district had been talking for several years about bringing students who need therapeutic day services onto a Dixon-based campus. Students currently are sent to locations that include the Quad-Cities, Rockford and Loves Park. In March, 54 Dixon students were traveling to other locations for their education, Empen said, adding that the students could not be served here because the required programming is not available and there is not enough room in Dixon school facilities unless portable classrooms were used or extra classrooms were added.

School district officials said Wednesday that the project is on schedule and contractors would start showing up 30 to 60 days from now. The hope is to have the building ready to go by mid-August.