Families at Welch Elementary School will see construction crews on campus when school opens Monday, Aug. 17. The Indian Prairie School District 204 board approved emergency structural repairs at the Naperville school Tuesday, Aug. 11, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process and authorizing work to begin that same night.
Work began that night.
The board, led by President Laurie Donahue, passed two resolutions: one invoking the district's emergency expenditure provision under Board Policy 4:150, and a second awarding a time-and-material contract to Grove Masonry, IMEG Engineering and Pepper Construction. The board meeting agenda states the work will extend "several weeks into the school year."
The district has not disclosed what structural issue triggered the emergency declaration, when it was discovered, or what part of the building is affected. No cost estimate is available because the contract is time-and-material, meaning the final price depends on what crews find once work begins.
Welch Elementary, at 2620 Leverenz Road, serves families who feed into Neuqua Valley High School. Principal Sarah Nowak leads the school. The district has not issued a public statement about how the repairs will affect drop-off, parking or classroom access during the first weeks of school.
Title I waivers expand federal funding at three elementary schools
At the same meeting, the board approved FY27 Title I School-Wide Waivers for Brookdale, Gombert and McCarty Elementary schools as part of its consent agenda.
The waivers allow each school to use federal Title I dollars to improve programs for all students, not just individually identified at-risk learners. That distinction matters for families of students with IEPs and 504 plans: under a schoolwide designation, special education students can benefit from the additional resources alongside their general-education peers.
Brookdale Elementary (1200 Redfield Road, Naperville) feeds into Metea Valley High School. Gombert Elementary (2707 Ridge Road, Aurora) and McCarty Elementary (3000 Village Green Drive, Aurora) both feed into Waubonsie Valley High School. The board agenda does not explain whether the three schools fall below the standard 40% low-income enrollment threshold that normally qualifies a school outright for schoolwide status, or whether they qualify through another flexibility provision under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The Aug. 11 meeting also approved new after-school security leads at Metea Valley, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools, as we reported Wednesday, Aug. 12.
School ahead
- Monday, Aug. 17: First day of school, District 204
- Monday, Aug. 24: Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m., Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora (District 204)
