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Board hears plan to add grades 62D8 at Crystal Lake Elementary; asks for more data before committing to full build
Summary
District staff presented a multi-year plan to convert Crystal Lake Elementary to a K2D8 campus and seek master planning and design services; the board asked for more migration, impact-fee and cost information and directed staff to return with proposals for adding a sixth-grade class next year.
District staff presented a proposal on Sept. 16 to add grades 6 through 8 at Crystal Lake Elementary and asked the board whether to move forward with master planning and design services for a full K2D8 conversion.
Assistant superintendent/facilities lead Mark Seacrest said the plan under consideration would eventually add 288 students (4 classrooms per grade for grades 62D8) and could require a new gym, cafeteria-side expansion, upgrades to HVAC/chillers and other support spaces. Seacrest estimated a full buildout could be on the order of $30 million but said that figure was a preliminary, high-level projection and that detailed square-foot and budget numbers would follow after an architect27s master plan.
Seacrest told the board the quickest schedule would start master planning and an RFQ process for design in January 2026 and, if the board authorized renovation of four existing classrooms, the district could house a sixth-grade cohort as early as August 2026. He said the district could phase in seventh and eighth grades in subsequent years, and noted portables would be used during construction periods.
Board members stressed the need for more data before approving a major capital program. Board member Powers asked the staff to examine graduation-requirement and migration trends; other members asked for detailed information on where impact fees were collected, how many current fifth-graders at Crystal Lake typically matriculate to Anderson Middle School, and how adding sixth grade would affect enrollment and capacity at nearby middle schools. Principal Brenda Watkins told the board she had polled parents and reported "significant interest" from Crystal Lake families in having their children remain on the campus for sixth grade rather than move to a traditional middle school.
Staff and board members agreed not to vote on the full master-plan design services at the meeting. The superintendent and staff said they would return to the board with additional information and a staff analysis at an October workshop showing the cost to add a sixth grade next year and broader systemwide capacity analysis. Seacrest said the immediate next step would be an internal analysis and, if the board later authorized a full K2D8 master plan, the district would issue RFQs for architectural and construction-manager services.
No final capital appropriation or construction contract was approved at the Sept. 16 meeting; the board directed staff to prepare more detailed budget and enrollment analyses and to present options for adding sixth grade first.
