The Proviso Township High School District 209 school board was expected to make a decision about the location of graduation ceremonies for the 2019 and 2020 school years during its regular meeting on Feb. 12.
The board had not met by the time this article went to press on Tuesday afternoon, but District 209 Supt. Jesse Rodriguez recommended that the board approve a two-year contract with the University of Illinois at Chicago to hold the have the district’s graduation ceremonies on Sunday, May 19, 2019 and Sunday, May 24, 2020 at the UIC Pavilion.
The district has held its graduation ceremonies at the facility every year since 2007, except for 2014, when the ceremonies were held at the Rosemont Theatre.
The rental will remain the same — $32,000 per day, Rodriguez said. Parking is $10 for attendees.
The board decided on using the UIC Pavilion back in September after reviewing a variety of alternatives. Some community members had hoped that the ceremonies would be held somewhere locally, perhaps even at District 209 campuses, but school officials determined that capacity limitations, cost factors and distance made holding graduation on the district’s campuses or at other facilities, such as Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, less feasible options than holding it at UIC.
$16.7M bond transfer to capital fund
The District 209 school board was also expected to transfer $16.7 million from its education fund to its capital projects fund during the regular meeting on Feb. 12.
The transfer of cash is part of a multi-layered financial plan that District 209 officials devised in order to fund construction projects related to the Facility Master Plan that the board approved in January.
Once the $16.7 million transfer, there will be $62 million available for the first phase of the renovations at District 209 campuses — around $15 million shy of the $77 million district officials say is necessary to pay for the first round of master plan improvements.
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