After years of suffering due to the lack of air conditioning and poor infrastructure, Kaneland students and staff will be able to see positive changes as result
of the passing of the referendum, including added AC to the gyms.
Members of the Kaneland community are hoping these changes will increase students’ overall performance in physical education courses. Current staff members are anticipating the new improvements will make Kaneland High School a more competitive school in the near future for its academics as well as athletics.
“All our sports have been successful,” head boys basketball head coach and PE department chair Ernie Colombe said. “The reality is I think there’s a pretty good argument that we could have even more success if we had nicer facilities.”
The weights in the East Gym fitness room are continuously rusting over time. This is due to the high levels of humidity in the room.
Mark Payton, who is the district’s director of buildings and grounds, is continuously helping accomplish and plan for new and upcoming projects. He handles all Kaneland infrastructure projects throughout the entire district. Payton also provides information to the district administration on work that needs to take place before major events and on capital improvements, such as those related to the referendum. Throughout Payton’s years of involvement in the Kaneland district, Kaneland buildings have been aging and breaking down, resulting in the need for improvements that have developed over time.
Through Payton’s role in the referendum, he has to understand the importance of infrastructure projects that might seem irrelevant to someone who is not in his position. These projects involve electrical components, boilers and air handlers that provide fresh air, heated air and cool air. Payton shared what he knows based on being a “piece of the puzzle,” as he describes it.
In more recent years, students have been expressing their thoughts on the quality of Kaneland and how it has directly affected them, especially in relation to needed repairs in the school’s gyms. Sophomore Grace Brunscheen is on the varsity girls basketball team, which leads to a lot of time for her in gyms on a daily basis.
“There was one day where we had to literally move from being in PE and go into the auditorium because it was too hot to even be in the gym,” Brunscheen said. “And honestly, it’s just really uncomfortable.”
Brunscheen mentioned that when she is in the gyms, the heat is all that she can think about and that it overstimulates her during class and practice. Brunscheen describes it as a “weight lifted off our chest” in relation to the upcoming introduction of AC in gyms.
Not only are the students struggling with the poor quality of the gyms, staff members have been suffering as well. The PE teachers and coaches, for instance, have been dealing with abnormally high temperatures in their own offices.
Physical education teacher Ernie Colombe’s office temperature at the beginning of the school year was 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The frequency of these temperatures during the summer is very common and can reach extremes.
“When I’m sitting at my desk doing work, I’m not kidding, I’m sweating,” Colombe said.
Not only are the athletes being impacted by hot gyms, but so are the academic wings of the building. The lack of new equipment and up-to-date resources for students has had a drastic impact on learning. With the referendum, classrooms are going to be improved and modernized, not only gyms and athletic offices.
“Disrtrict administration and building administration will work on things like how to renovate a classroom,” Payton said. “A lot of classrooms are getting renovated, and so they would have the input there versus the areas that I would touch.”
The referendum’s target completion date is the end of summer 2027.
