A poorly attended public forum on Mendota elementary school expansion turned into an informal discussion by Mendota District 289 Board of Education on the future of three school buildings.

During the Nov. 1 meeting, a number of board members and administrators made their feelings known about school expansion, and the discussion centered around a new addition at Lincoln School while talk cooled of rejuvenating the old Mendota High School vocational building.

"The expense of the vocational building would be as expensive as adding on a new addition," board president Marty Cassidy said. "There are a lot of question marks with that building. We have a decision to make on whatever way to go."

With the blueprints on display of proposed new wings at Northbrook Middle School as well as Blackstone School, District 289 superintendent Marcia Burress was focused on the oldest school building in Mendota.

"We should start thinking about (expanding) Lincoln School," Burress said. "We have to make sure we don't build too small, and allow for growth. We have to decide how much and how to stay within budget."

A new Lincoln plan is scheduled to be introduced at the second public forum this Thursday at Northbrook Middle School. The updated blueprint will have the addition coming off the back of the school. The addition will be a two-story structure with a dozen additional rooms available. It was decided that Lincoln principal Ernie Engstrom would contact architect Russ Middleton and ask the designer to attend Thursday's public forum with updated Lincoln plans.

"I like the idea of building on the east side of Lincoln," Engstrom said.

A Lincoln addition would cost between $3-3.5 million.

"Building at Lincoln seems to be a more cost-effective measure," board member Joel Johnson said.

On the issue of financing the project, Cassidy asked the question that all district taxpayers may soon be asking.

"What does (adding) a three and a half million dollar building do to taxes?" the board president asked.

Burress promised to run the tax numbers and those figures would be available by Thursday's forum. In initial discussions, Burress mentioned there may be a "slight tax increase" but there was a chance no additional tax hikes may be needed.