On Tuesday, June 2 – the last day of school – Joliet Public Schools District 86 hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in front of 450 Thomas Jefferson Elementary School students and staff to mark the start of construction on an addition to the school.

The addition is the last major project being funded with the assistance of the 2023 referendum approved by voters.

The other large projects include the new 142,700-square-foot Gompers Junior High School and 171,000-square-foot Hufford Junior High School, which will be completed this summer, in time for students to return in August for the 2026–2027 school year.

The 14,900-square-foot Thomas Jefferson addition will provide four new classrooms, a gymnasium, parking lot improvements, a new main entrance, and school offices. The project will also include accessibility upgrades and additional restrooms. The addition will be finished in time for the start of the 2027-2028 school year.

“It is exciting to begin construction of the new Thomas Jefferson addition,” said Joliet Public Schools District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse,” in a press release. “The District has been discussing this much-needed addition for more than 20 years.”

“We are so thankful to the city voters for approving the referendum to get these projects completed,” said Matthew Pritz, President of the Joliet Public Schools District 86 Board of School Inspectors, in the release. “We are excited to get everything going.”

Healy Bender Patton & Been Architects of Naperville is the architect on the project, and Nicholas & Associates of Mount Prospect is the construction management firm overseeing the construction.