Kenosha facilities staff outline $1.5M major maintenance plan; board discusses using reserves for playgrounds

Facilities staff presented the Kenosha School District’s 2025–26 capital-maintenance plan Thursday, describing the district’s priorities for asphalt, roofing, HVAC and other safety-related projects and asking the board to include specific funding amounts in an upcoming motion.

Pat (facilities staff) told the board the district is working with a $1,000,000 major maintenance baseline plus a proposed $500,000 supplement from utility energy savings, and noted the presentation assumes a 4% contingency (policy allows 5%). “The major maintenance budget has been reduced by a million dollars as of last year's fiscal year, and we are working off a $1,000,000 budget plus $500,000 that we have from savings from energy projects,” Pat said.

The presentation included condition assessments and interventions: the district estimates about $36 million in parking and pavement assets, and Indian Trail High School alone contains roughly 661,000 square feet of asphalt hardscape; the targeted Lot A is about 207,000 square feet. Facilities recommended installing perimeter drain tile at the Indian Trail lot to improve subsurface drainage and extend pavement life rather than an immediate full reconstruction.

Roofing was highlighted as another large asset: presenters estimated roughly 1.47 million square feet of roof area across the district with an approximate replacement value of $66 million. The Whittier roof — described as a 34-year-old single-ply membrane — is on this year’s replacement list. The district said its prior revenue-limit-exemption and ESSER funding allowed substantial HVAC upgrades over the past decade and reduced an earlier HVAC backlog (previously described as about $64 million). Presenters said six schools still do not have central air conditioning.

Board members also raised an urgent facilities need at Frank School, where playground equipment had been removed because it was unsafe. Dr. Weiss said the district historically has not funded playground equipment — PTOs and fundraising have covered those costs — but he proposed creating a district baseline standard and using one-time funds (for example, proceeds from property sales or reserves) to address critical shortfalls at schools that cannot raise sufficient funds. Board members suggested options including a line item in major maintenance or a one-time approval from reserves.

The board asked facilities to include explicit dollar amounts in the motion at the next meeting so the scope is clear: “I would just recommend that we put the amounts in there something to the tune of, that the board's approving the $1,000,000 plus the annual supplement of the additional $500,000 from the utilities energy budget,” a board member said. Facilities staff agreed to add photos, before-and-after documentation and a clearer numbering of projects for the regular meeting.

No formal spending vote occurred at the organizational meeting. Facilities staff said they will return with the recommended motion language, itemized amounts and supporting photos at the regular board meeting.