URBANA — Construction starts this month to transform the building that was once Wiley Elementary into a new Urbana Middle School Sixth Grade Center to be completed by the 2025-26 school year.
Last week, the school board approved a bid from the English Brothers Company to complete the project for over $25 million. Board President Paul Poulosky voted in favor of creating the sixth-grade center, but against approving the bid. He cited budget concerns for changing his mind.
”I voted in the majority to plan for making Wiley to be a sixth-grade center, but two things I didn’t know at the time: one was that the operational costs at the facility were going to increase our budget by (more than expected). The other one was that the overall capital costs were going to be higher than we were estimating at the time,” Poulosky said during the meeting.
Poulosky told The News-Gazette on Monday that he specifically has concerns about affording the staff to run the center. The board’s tentative 2024-25 budget showed a $2 million deficit; Poulosky expects it to be much lower by the time the final budget is approved in September, “but just my intuitive sense is that we were risking putting ourselves into a structural budget deficit.”
Since the bid for the school was approved, Poulosky said he has spoken with fellow “no” voters Jennifer Hixson and Ben Baxley, and all three are dedicated to making the new school a success and creating a balanced budget.
”There’s a lot of need at the middle school for adding additional support and, frankly, it’s by far the biggest middle school in the region so we really did have space concerns in the building,” Poulosky said. “It makes sense in a lot of ways — my personal concerns were strictly in terms of the operating budget.”
Space is a primary concern, both for safety and comfort levels, and the board also hopes to create a transitional space between elementary and middle school.
The sixth-grade center will still be considered a part of Urbana Middle School.
Wiley Elementary closed prior to the 2023-24 school year in order to abate asbestos and prepare for renovations.
The plan for the center includes a new addition to the west, which will hold a new gymnasium and stage, various arts classrooms, a library and administrative space. The addition will also become the new main entrance to the building, with a parent dropoff path and additional parking off of Anderson Street.
Wiley’s original building was constructed in 1950 with major additions in 1953, so this project also includes general renovations, window replacements, geothermal HVAC upgrades and other site improvements to maintain the old building.
The entire project is expected to take 13 months and be completed by the end of July 2025.
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