GL_041918

8 | April 19, 2018 | The glenview lantern news
glenviewlantern.com
Glenbrook District 225 Board of Education
Pyramid Packaging teardown gets green light
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
The Glenbrook High
Schools District 225 Board
of Education will send a
letter to the Northbrook
Board of Trustees in support
of Pyramid Packaging’s
proposal to tear down
its 8,092-square-foot building
at 2901 Shermer Road
and replace it with two
joined buildings that would
occupy 6,500 and 5,455
square feet.
The District 225 board
was asked to submit a letter
either for or against the
proposal, and it made the
decision at its Monday,
April 9 meeting after hearing
an explanation from
Dr. R.J. Gravel, assistant
superintendent for business
services.
Pyramid Packaging —
which is a supplier of packaging
supplies, machinery
and services — wants to
take advantage of a property
tax break under a Cook
County program providing
an incentive for industrial
development.
During the lifetime of
the incentive program,
property taxes would be
reduced from approximately
$742,000 to about
$334,000. Its tax rate
would dip from 25 percent
of the assessed valuation
to 10 percent for 10 years,
after which they would be
gradually increased until
they returned to 25 percent
in 15 years.
When Pyramid Packaging
made its proposal to the
Northbrook Board of Trustees
in January, only one of
the members objected. The
dissenter was Jason Han,
who said he couldn’t support
it because of its impact
on District 225 and Northbrook/Glenview
School
District 30.
However, at the District
225 meeting, Gravel and
Superintendent Dr. Mike
Riggle pointed out that the
area in the vicinity of the
Pyramid Packaging building
has become dilapidated
and needs a facelift, and
suggested that the proposed
upgrade would increase
the potential for other improvements
in the area,
eventually increasing total
tax revenue.
School Board President
Skip Shein also brought up
the possibility that Pyramid
Packaging might leave the
Shermer Road location if
its proposal to expand is
denied, thereby eliminating
a source of revenue.
“We don’t want to give
up revenue, but (on the other
hand) it gives them an incentive
to stay,” Shein said
in support of the project.
The other board members
concurred, agreeing
with Schein and Gravel
that the loss of tax revenue
to the schools wouldn’t be
significant, and that the expansion
had the potential to
be a catalyst for development
in the area.
District trending away
from textbooks
Dr. Rosann Williamson,
assistant superintendent for
educational services, and
teachers from Glenbrook
South and Glenbrook
North spoke to the board
about the trend away from
textbooks in favor of digital
learning.
Consensus among the
science, foreign language
and mathematics teachers
was that, in general, the
curriculum is no longer
guided by textbooks, which
are instead being used as a
resource.
Williamson also said the
shift away from textbooks
has lead to “unbelievable”
savings for the District and
parents.
Security discussion
During the closed session
that followed the regular
meeting, board members
and staff members
discussed the safety and security
updates at GBS and
GBN that are under consideration
in the aftermath
of the shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High
School in Florida that took
the lives of 17 people.
Members of the public
and the media are barred
from closed session deliberations.
“It’s just that we need
to have a discussion in an
atmosphere that doesn’t
breach our security,” Dr.
Riggle said in explaining
the rationale behind the
closed session. “We’re surveying
staff and students
on safety. We’re moving
forward.
Please see D225, 12
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