EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 Board of Education spoke about how to spend the remaining $10 million in the 2023 bond and how the money could be used to address abatement and construction at Hamel Elementary School.
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Superintendent Dr. Patrick Shelton explained that the district held community engagement sessions in 2022 to get a better understanding of their facility needs. At this point, there were also conversations about consolidating Hamel and Midway Elementary Schools.
Through these engagement sessions and surveys, the district identified the top three project priorities. These priorities were installing double-entry doors at the remaining schools and rebuilding Lincoln Middle School on-site. The district finished both projects this past summer.
The third priority was Hamel Elementary School asbestos abatement and classroom build. The district decided not to move forward with the Hamel-Midway consolidation at that time, which meant Midway Elementary School also needed repairs. There were eight total projects identified.
Shelton explained that the district prioritized the top five projects as Phase One projects and the remaining three as Phase Two, with the understanding that they might not be able to complete all eight projects with the 2023 bond money.
“The way a bond works is, if you don’t put it into the bond, you can’t pay for it with the bond. So you want to over-plan a bond, not under-plan a bond,” he said. “You want to make sure you run out of money, not have money left, because that’s how you maximize what you’re doing with your facilities.”
With this in mind, the Board asked for feedback from Hamel Elementary school staff. Damien Schlitt and Justin Placek with BLDD Architects met with staff members on Sept. 18, 2025, to learn more about their needs.
During the meeting, Placek presented several design options for the Board to consider. The Board asked questions about the design options and what could be done to redesign Hamel Elementary School.
“The construction is one piece of this, but I think there are staffing concerns and potential consolidation conversations that are important for us to be having before we make any decisions on what avenue to take,” said Board member Alma Carver.
Shelton responded that the district can still have conversations about consolidation Hamel and Midway, but the abatement and construction are necessary. He said the district previously looked into consolidating the schools but paused the conversation because they needed a transportation study to work out how to bus kids to and from the schools.
“This is something that has to happen regardless of what happens with consolidation,” he explained. “Consolidation was an active conversation for about a nine-month period, and we halted it because we cannot solve the transportation problem.”
Board member Matt Breihan asked how similar the current construction plan is to “the promised plan.” Shelton clarified that the “promised plan” was accounting for the consolidation, so it included additional classroom and cafeteria construction.
Shelton asked the Board to identify their top priorities for the remaining bond money and to provide direction on Hamel Elementary School’s abatement and construction. Board President Bob Paty said the top three priorities are Hamel, Columbus Elementary School’s gymnasium, and the addition of a media center at Edwardsville High School.
“We can’t do all of them, and we can’t do two of them,” Paty said. “We can do a little bit of one and all of another.”
Carver asked for more information about staffing and the possibility of consolidation, noting that she doesn’t want to build “the wrong building now for what the actual need is in a year or two.” Shelton noted that the funds from the 2023 bond must be spent by April 2028, and Paty pointed out that they still have time to figure out the projects.
“I don’t understand why we keep kicking the can down the road,” Breihan said. “The priorities are out there. They’ve been out there since 2023. We know what the priorities are. We have to have a direction…We only meet every two weeks. And then we have a pointless conversation about things and say, ‘Maybe we should think about things a little bit longer.’ We need a clear direction of where to go.”
Board member Scott Ahart voiced his concerns about asbestos in Hamel and asked when the transportation study was started and completed. Shelton responded the transportation study was started in 2023, and the district anticipates providing a conclusion to the study in the fall or winter of 2025. Ahart said there is “no excuse” for why the study isn’t completed yet.
“We made promises and we break promises,” Ahart said. “We told them we were going to do something to improve the conditions that the kids were in out there in Hamel. We need to honor those promises.”
Board member Jill Bertels asked how much it would cost to build a new school, noting it is “a lot of money” to spend on a few hundred students. Carver agreed that the spending of the money must be “well-planned.” Breihan voiced his opinion that “we’ve got to start somewhere.” Paty said that the Board must agree on one priority and “go all-in.”
Board member Sara Bauer clarified that there are also safety issues with the Columbus Elementary School gym, but she believes Hamel is a bigger priority.
“I wouldn’t take my kids to school at Hamel because of asbestos. I just wouldn’t,” Bauer said. “If the building sneezes wrong, I wouldn't want my children in it. To me, that’s a bigger safety issue.”
Breihan and Bauer agreed they need a direction. Ahart said the priority is what the voters voted on in 2023. Shelton said they will return to the Hamel Elementary School discussion during the Board’s work session on Oct. 6, 2025.
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