The doors of Eastside Elementary School will reopen once again, but it won’t be the same Eastside that Niles residents remember.

The decision was made Monday night by a vote of the Niles Community Schools Board of Education. The vote received a round of applause by a crowded room.

It passed 5 to 1; board member Mark Wortham was absent and Michael Dreher cast the solitary no vote.

Board support for the vote seemed apparent at the start of the meeting. Prior to discussing reopening Eastside as a magnet school, called “Eastside Connections School,” the board voted to approve an advance on its sinking fund. The advance, as it was explained, was to be used for certain improvement projects.

The sinking fund is a designation the district can use for improvements to school buildings or other specific projects.

The Eastside vote followed and Dreher voiced his concerns, asking Supt. Richard Weigel where he intended to come up with an estimated $170,000 to open the school.

Weigel said the advance on the sinking fund would be used for specific projects related to Eastside and he expected to save money by not offering transportation to the school.

“You’re starting New Tech this year,” Dreher said, adding the project-based learning high school was starting amidst historical debt. “We are going to take $180,000 of our sinking fund money that we don’t have to go into Eastside school.”

The school, he said, is antiquated, having been built in 1939. Dreher said what the district needs is a new school with new technology and to not pump more money into an old building.

“Niles needs a new school so bad, it’s pathetic,” he said. “The world is passing us by. I don’t think we should put money into a 1939 building.”

Jeff Curry also voiced his opinions on the vote, saying he understood where Dreher was coming, from but taking into account current interest rates and inflation, he believes the district has an opportunity to complete improvement projects at a cheaper cost than there might be in the future.

Despite Dreher’s concerns, the vote passed and the student application process for Eastside Connections School will begin as early as today.

Magnet schools by definition offer specialized curriculum to students. Eastside will serve students in grades K-5.

Its curriculum essentially mirrors the premise of the New Tech model.

Its design, as described in a promotional packet created by the district, focuses on helping students connect academic standards to project-based learning, individual children with 21st century skills and its students with the global community.

Eastside will also incorporate volunteerism into its model. In a previous interview, both Weigel and board president Dana Daniels said the district already had the support of more than 100 volunteers to help in prepping the school for its opening in the fall.

Parents of students enrolled at the school will also be expected to volunteer some time to the school’s needs.

Before moving on to other business, Daniels praised Samantha Thalman, an Eastside parent and member of the school’s steering committee.

“When Eastside closed, there was a lot of hostility,” Daniels said.

He thanked Thalman for working with the district to make the reopening happen.

As the meeting adjourned, Weigel said he was pleased.

“I’m glad we’re going to do this,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do for the kids.”

And, he said, it affirms the “hard work of the steering committee, parents, members of the community and teachers” who had a hand in what will be Eastside Connections School.