This article is based on the key takeaways from the “Preparing your Board and your Community for Construction” panel, featuring district officials, design partners, and construction professionals: Whiteside School District #115 Superintendent, Mark Heuring, and Board Member, Dr. Christine Mitchell-Endsley; S. M. Wilson & Co. Market Executive, Kerry Lorts; and FGM Architects Regional K-12 Practice Leader, Emily Spindler.
A solid foundation for any successful construction program is built on proactive communication. It is the thread that keeps stakeholders aligned with the value of the investment, prepared for necessary disruptions, and engaged from the first shovel in the ground through the final ribbon-cutting.
Even strong school construction communication programs can miss an opportunity to create real, lasting engagement. True engagement means involving the people most affected by construction, including teachers, staff, and students, early in the design and planning process. When their voices are heard, it builds ownership, helps maintain morale during disruptions, and results in spaces that truly work for those who use them every day.
Just as important, students and school employees naturally influence parents and the broader community. When the school community is engaged and informed, they often become the most credible and enthusiastic advocates throughout the project.
Using the recent successful referendum and community engagement process for Whiteside School District #115 as a case study on essential steps to prepare a community for an upcoming construction program, regardless of its size. The expansion and renovation demonstrate how to effectively engage stakeholders in the school construction process and the clear benefits of such a collaborative approach.
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Whiteside School District #115
The district engaged S. M. Wilson & Co. and FGM Architects for a comprehensive expansion, including:
- A new classroom wing to integrate early childhood and pre-kindergarten students into the main building.
- Enhanced security at the school’s main entrance.
Site improvements, including a new playground and redesigned parking and drive lanes to optimize traffic flow and safety.
1. SELECT A DELIVERY METHOD THAT PRIORITIZES COLLABORATION
Whiteside understood from the start what many districts miss: the complexity of a project is determined by budget, schedule, and student safety, not just square footage.
“Whenever the conversations come to delivery methods, these questions come up — ‘Do we need a construction manager?’ or ‘It’s just a small addition, why do we need a construction manager at the table?’ You start looking at the budget, timeline, and student safety, and when all of those three things start sliding in the direction of complexity, that’s when I think it’s important to look at what experts you can bring to your table and put them on your team,” said Superintendent Heuring.
The greatest impact that a construction manager can have, relative to a general contractor who enters the process once the design is set, occurs during pre-construction. By selecting a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) during the pre-construction phase, the district ensured cost certainty and addressed micro-level details that affect the student experience before they became costly problems.
“Preconstruction is when we’re having these conversations,” said Spindler. “It’s when we’re sitting down as a team and talking about details like student pick-up and drop-off. I can’t tell you how much a project is judged by ‘does pick-up and drop-off work during construction and after construction?’ That truly determines the success of a lot of projects.”
“We knew that if we didn’t have somebody to work with throughout the process and missed a step, it could create a snag for our programming for the following year for our littles,” emphasized Heuring. “We wanted to make sure that we had a good partner in that process, and that’s why we went with a CM.”
2. HIRE A TRUE PARTNER TO PROTECT THE DISTRICT’S CORE MISSION
For a superintendent serving 1,200 students, oversight of a construction site can be a significant addition to an already packed schedule. Whiteside evaluated the cost of a CM versus the “cost” of school leadership being pulled away from students and teachers.
Whiteside School District wanted to be actively involved in the design and construction process, but understood that, if it led the decisions and communications, the ability for school leadership to fulfill their core role and responsibility to students and teachers would suffer. One of the core discussions was evaluating the cost of a CM versus the cost of the superintendent handling oversight.
“A forethought we had was the different hats that superintendents wear. We felt like having a Construction Manager at Risk in the process would be better for the district, and it would be better for the superintendent,” stated Heuring. “It would add a member to our team. Having somebody on the ground that knows construction who could immediately step in and answer questions was pivotal for the project.”
With this goal in mind, the board led an exhaustive process to make sure the right construction partner was selected for the job. The entire board met with the final four companies and challenged them on how they would tackle every aspect of the process — the schedule, maintaining the learning environment, past experience, and various elements of their company that would benefit the process and end result. And, they went a step further. Board members challenged potential partners to prove how they would engage the community at every level. S. M. Wilson’s SKILLED program offered the perfect vehicle for this integration.
“We wanted this to be a community project,” noted Dr. Mitchell-Endsley. “We wanted everyone to be involved. So, one of the questions we had for them is how you make all the students part of this project, including our little bitties who are going to be in these buildings, to our upper grades. What can you do for us to make this a community project? How can we help everybody to feel informed, be a part of this project, and get them engaged?”
3. SOLICIT FEEDBACK FROM THE FRONTLINES
To ensure the long-term utility of the space, Whiteside assembled a team of “user experts,” including Pre-K teachers and the elementary principal.
“By involving people with early childhood backgrounds who would be using the spaces, they could think about all the really practical things to consider,” said Heuring. “For instance, at one point, someone said, ‘Can we not have a corner there because I can see that one little kid hiding there?’”
“We wanted a building and a playground that 25 years from now still looks fantastic,” Heuring stressed. “Having a team that knows the kids are going to be in that building and hearing all those perspectives was really important for us. So was having members that were not just going to dream, but also be really conscientious of costs.”
This input led to practical refinements tailored to Whiteside’s educational delivery, including adding changing tables in the bathroom, classroom storage, and an innovative playground fall surface.
4. PRIORITIZE THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
To minimize the “shock” of construction, the team established a “new normal” for students before the school year even began.
“We wanted to start before school started to get the fence set up. When those kids came out for recess that year, it’s what they knew. Those areas were under construction, and it wasn’t a big change. Even if we weren’t working all the way in the corner to that fence. Fences were established, and walk paths were established,” said Spindler. “We do that more for the psychology of those kids walking out there and saying, ‘Okay, this is my new normal.’”
- M. Wilson has been engaging students in the construction process by creating educational opportunities, facilitating job site tours, and allowing students to leave a permanent mark – their painted handprints – on a structural steel beam.
“It’s awesome to think about the core memories that these kids will have when they ‘made a mess’ and left their hand prints behind on the building that will remain long after they graduate from the district,” said S. M. Wilson Project Manager Adam Schmidt.
5. STRATEGIC BUDGETING FOR CONTINGENCIES
Unforeseen conditions are nearly inevitable in even the most well-planned renovation projects. There are elements of the site or of an existing building during renovations that can’t be seen until the ground is broken or old drywall is removed. By utilizing the CMAR process, the team built in contingencies that empowered them to make proactive decisions rather than reactive cuts.
“We talk about establishing budgets and options and tying those back to the priorities. We also tied in contingency dollars,” said Lorts. “It’s important to look at the project as a total program with design costs and engineering fees, and to track those costs up front as a total program, so that you don’t lose sight.”
“Having that contingency and those priorities crystal clear helps when you remind people, ‘Hey, we really can’t dip into that because we’re setting that aside for playgrounds or the storage building or buying new furniture instead of moving the old furniture,” Lorts continued.
6. SOLVE PROBLEMS AS A UNIFIED TEAM
The CMAR delivery method enables a team approach to problem-solving, rather than simply excluding portions of the project to allocate funds to solutions.
“Pick the people who are willing to come to the table, share their knowledge and be honest with you on what they want,” Heuring emphasized.
When soil tests revealed unstable ground conditions, the project faced a significant budgetary crossroads. Instead of accepting a remedial outcome, the collaborative team used the district’s established priorities to brainstorm solutions.
“Everybody that you had on your team were problem solvers and solution-oriented,” noted Spindler about the school district. “They’re proactive and positive. I said, ‘Hey, this is expensive. This is where we’re at. What can we do?’ It was the most productive meeting ever. And I still credit that back to the priorities that you established at the very beginning, and being solution-oriented. The function and safety was the driving principle for everyone in the group.”
“In the end, we came back to the table with a great plan that put us in budget while taking into account the concerns,” said Superintendent Heuring. ”Understand that there are going to be some growing pains at times, but overall, the board, the admin, and our teachers, along with our partners, handled it very well. And I think when this is all wrapped up, we’ll have a great project and something to be very proud of.”
7. COMMUNICATE, TRANSPARENTLY AND OFTEN
By establishing a “communications hub” and hosting milestone events, the district keeps the community informed every step of the way, avoids surprise disruptions, and ultimately turns construction into a community-wide celebration.
“You can tell people about the aspects of the project that are going to be so exciting, but still within the budget of the referendum,” suggested Dr. Mitchell-Endsley.
The team kept a pulse on the response of the community and was happily surprised by the clearest indication of the effectiveness of this proactive, inclusive, and transparent approach.
“As a superintendent in the district with our first construction project at this scale that we’ve had in 20 years, I have not received any phone calls questioning our process or the progress of the building,” said Heuring. “That speaks to the communication that we’ve been sharing and the transparency that goes with it. I also think it is a result of the commitment that our board has put forth to engagement, having the right stakeholders making decisions and moving the project forward.”
THE PAY OFF
Engaging stakeholders has already paid off for Whiteside in ways that a private, restrictive process never could. The administration is confident it will have a durable, high-utility building; students are being inspired by the process rather than burdened by it; and the community remains firmly behind the district’s vision.
“All of our discussions are about bigger priorities than just the look. So, by working as a team, we will end up with a very attractive building that is durable and going to last. Everybody’s priorities are being met, and that happened by setting those goals early on,” said Lorts.