High humidity at two Flossmoor elementary schools is causing problems, and administrators want to delay plans to update classrooms at Flossmoor Hills and Western Avenue until the issue is resolved.

At the Aug. 4 Flossmoor District 161 Board of Education meeting, Associate Superintendent Fran LaBella and Matt Verdun, a mechanical engineer from Wold Architects and Engineering, explained the issue to the school board members. 

The primary concern is that water is dripping onto the ceiling tiles, floors and carpets at Flossmoor Hills, causing damage and potentially creating an unsafe environment. Western Avenue has also experienced high humidity levels, but has not had as much condensation. 

Flossmoor Hills and Western Avenue Schools have seen elevated humidity levels during the late summer months since they were retrofitted with air conditioning in 2020. 

According to board documents, “As the summer humidity has increased, so has the damage and impact on each of the schools.” The estimated cost of this summer’s incident, including replacing damaged material, dehumidifier rentals to solve the problem temporarily, and an air quality survey to make sure the buildings are safe, is around $20,000.

The condensation at Flossmoor Hills is forming on insulation around the chilled water pipes in the building’s ceilings. These pipes are part of the HVAC system that cools the building. 

The systems maintain a comfortable temperature in the buildings, but the sources of the increased humidity remain somewhat of a mystery. Multiple attempts to improve the situation over the last few summers have failed to eliminate the excessive moisture on the most humid days of the year. 

Verdun explained a plan to bring a forensic architectural and engineering firm to the schools to assess the problem and recommend solutions. LaBella and Verdun intend to update the board and recommend action at the next board meeting. The cost for the assessment and repairs is unknown. 

”I don’t know if anyone can tell you what that may or may not look like yet,” LaBella told the board. “It could be a simple solution. It could be a really expensive one. We just don’t know at this point.”

Both schools are expected to open on time, and humidity levels have dropped to tolerable levels with the help of dehumidifiers in every room. 

The district had planned to renovate the schools next summer, but will likely postpone the work for one year. 

“We need to get the humidity issue under control first,” LaBella said. “If we’re having this level of humidity, a number of things could go wrong, I mean, first of all, we’re not going to get paint to adhere to the walls if they’re wet. We’re not going to put in brand new ceilings with brand new lights and brand new tiles, only to have them destroyed within a week because of all of this moisture.”

Updates to the classrooms and technology at Parker Junior High will continue as planned in the summer of 2026. The same classroom refresh is happening at Heather Hill and Serena Hills this summer. 

Superintendent Dana Smith reminded the board that they had initially planned on refreshing the district’s classrooms over three years, and a delay of one summer at the two schools would keep them within that timeline.