Hoffman Estates school gets break on sprinklers

St. Hubert Catholic School has received a tentative reprieve from Hoffman Estates' requirement that it install a sprinkler system.

St. Hubert's the Rev. Robert Rizzo said it would cost about $569,000 to install the fire-fighting sprinklers. That figure also includes ceiling work and asbestos removal.

"We just don't have the money," Rizzo told the village board Monday.

Fundraising would have to come from private donations or the Chicago archdiocese. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said all schools are up to proper national fire codes.

But it's local law that's in question. Fire codes adopted in Hoffman Estates in 1996 set forth that educational buildings would be required to install sprinklers by 2010. Violators could be fined up to $750 a day.

Mayor William McLeod, while reminding the board he went to Catholic school, said the waiver would be a "step backward." He said adopting new fire codes doesn't make anyone safer if the village doesn't require adherence.

He mentioned the infamous Our Lady of Angels Catholic school fire in Chicago that killed 92 students and three nuns 50 years ago.

Still, the board narrowly granted preliminary approval for an extension, voting 4-3. If that holds up during the final vote Tuesday, St. Hubert's deadline for sprinklers would be pushed back to 2020.

Rizzo noted that during fire drills, students have been evacuated in 75 to 90 seconds. Each classroom also has its own outside exit. Built in 1963, the school has 581 students and 62 adult employees.

But Ross Gotha, manager of the Hoffman Estates Fire Prevention Bureau, said that if a major fire did occur, it would keep students out of the classrooms for an extended period of time. Even with a 90-second evacuation time, he said, any fire has the potential to ravage and spread quicker in a sprinkler-less building. He said a fire could hurt St. Hubert's enrollment.

"If kids go to a different school, they don't all come back," Gotha said.

Trustee Cary Collins said he empathized with St. Hubert's and the difficulty in raising money. Voting in favor of the waiver, Collins said he'd support it if Rizzo felt comfortable with student safety.

During the village board discussion, Collins joked of those who don't support the waiver: "These people just don't like God."

Trustee Raymond Kincaid, who opposed the waiver, said he'd like union or trade groups to donate their time to help St. Hubert. He worried that a waiver might be unfair and could lead to long lines of residents petitioning the board for similar waivers.

Rizzo said he hoped to avoid raising tuition to cover the costs of the sprinklers.

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 spokesman Tom Petersen said all the buildings within the five-school district, including Conant and Hoffman Estates high schools in Hoffman Estates, are up to code and have sprinklers.

"We would never have been able to open if we weren't up to code," he said.