CATLIN — While students at Catlin Grade School look forward to the impending summer break, they also can look forward to some much-needed improvements at their school when they return in August.

Earlier in May, school board members opted to sell $500,000 in life-safety bonds through the First National Bank of Catlin to fund the project that will begin just after Memorial Day and has a deadline of Aug. 15.

“We’re hoping it’s all done before school starts,” Superintendent Guy Banicki said.

The project includes replacing two old boilers with four smaller ones because Banicki said they have been repairing and replacing parts on the older models for some time.

The majority of windows in the building will be replaced, with all in the 1960 and 1970 additions being removed and new ones installed. All of the main exit doors are being replaced as well. Asbestos removal also is included in the construction plan.

Banicki said the improvements will make the building more energy efficient as teachers currently report excessive draftiness with the 50-year-old windows.

“They say their curtains are moving when the wind blows,” Banicki said.

The district will repay the $500,000 bond issue on a seven-year schedule beginning in December 2009 on a graduated plan with a payment that ranges from $68,000 to $90,000 a year. Banicki was happy the school system locked in a “great rate of three-and-a-half percent.”

Taxpayers also will pay for the project through property taxes, but Banicki was encouraged by recent news that the tax rate has dropped significantly for the district.

The tax rate for Catlin has dropped the last few years from $5.20 in 2006, to $4.97 in 2007, to now $4.60 per $100 assessed valuation for the 2008 tax bill season.

Banicki said the bond issue will raise the rate by about 18 to 19 cents per $100 assessed valuation. If the current tax rate stayed the same in 2009 as in 2008, then the homeowner of a $60,000 home could expect to pay about an extra $36 to $38 in taxes due to the bond issue in 2009.

“We’re trying to make it so we spend every penny, but not much more,” said Banicki.

Long-range upgrades to the high school were not included in the plan as officials still have their eye on a possible cooperative high school with the Oakwood and Jamaica school districts that would be a permanent fix to an aging building.

“We kept everything at the grade school because we’re still hoping on the cooperative high school somewhere down the road,” said Banicki.

In other business, board members:

-- Appointed Tricia Keith to the board. She fills the vacancy left by board member Tom Koerting. Koerting has been ap-pointed to fill the position of Dan Brown, but now had to resign the position as he transferred to Colorado with his job.

Keith currently serves as a truant officer with the Vermilion County Regional Office of Education.

“She brings a good experience and background,” Banicki said.

Keith’s seat will be open for election in April 2009.

-- Increased the price of lunch to $2 for all students in the district beginning in August.

The cost for a lunch has been $1.50. Banicki said it has been more than 10 years since they have raised lunch fees.

He attributed the hike to the rising cost of milk and all food items, noting the district is not profiting from the lunch program, but just wants to balance the budget.

-- Approved the summer recreation program that has the gymnasium open daily with activities and field trips for kids involved.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Catlin School Board meets at 7 p.m. June 12 at the superintendent’s office.