Lockport District 205 to use $15M in bonds for Central Campus improvements

Lockport — The Lockport Township High School District 205 Board of Education has approved issuing up to $15 million in life safety bonds in order to make improvements to Central Campus.

The board voted March 17.

Following the defeat of an $85 million bond referendum in 2024 which would have fully renovated the aging Central Campus – which was closed for most of the 2023-24 school year after a classroom ceiling collapsed in November 2023 – the board moved to use life safety bonds to address the building’s most pressing concerns.

“Life safety bonds are issued for projects approved directly by the state board of education without voter approval needed,” said District 205 Director of Business Services Stefanie Croix. “We submitted the projects to the state and they were given approval.”

The life safety bonds only cover specific items that relate directly to the safety and security of school buildings, including improvements to fire safety, electrical systems and the building’s structural integrity.

Projects included in the bond measure include replacing the decade-past warranty roof, masonry repair on the building’s exterior, window replacement, replacement of old interior and exterior lighting and wiring, HVAC improvements, and plumbing and drainage repairs.

The work is set to take place over the course of two summers starting once this school year ends in June.

“We can’t get it all done in one summer in time for school to start in August,” Croix said. “So we’re emphasizing that this is one bond for two summers.”

Work that has already been approved accounts for $2,132,670, and one additional project is expected to be approved for this year in April, according to Croix.

Taking into consideration public opposition to the larger bond measure, the district has emphasized that this much smaller project will not lead to a tax increase for residents.

“We are going to be paying it out of pocket,” Croix said. “We will waive the debt service levy for the bonds and pay it off like a mortgage by transferring excess funds from other areas of the budget year to year.”

The bond issue is slated to be paid off over 20 years, though Croix said that “depending on what happens in the future it could be paid off early or refinanced later on.”

Portions of the Central Campus building range in age from 67 to 116-years-old, and most of the campus was thoroughly inspected in anticipation of the ceiling replacement last year.

During a discussion of the issue at a Feb. 24 board meeting, the board noted that the biggest problems were actually in the section of the building built in 1928 and 1929, as opposed to the original 1909 section.

More than 40% of the building was completed in 1958, just five years before the first portion of East Campus was constructed.

“We hear often about how the entire building is over 110 years old and that it’s beyond it’s useful life,” board member Lance Thies commented. “I just want to make sure for the public and for ourselves, that we’re very clear that that is not the case. This building was built over multiple phases and much of it is in the scheme of school buildings relatively recent, which is why I would certainly support putting a new roof over this to protect it.”

“Short term, I don’t see any excuse for us not to address maintenance issues for the freshman center,” said board member Derek Patton. “It’s borderline irresponsible not to.”