People around Tri-Valley tend to call their superintendent Ben.

Not always — some say Dr. Derges, and he's earned that. But walk the hallways of any building in the district and you'll hear it: Ben. It's the kind of familiarity that only happens when a leader is also a neighbor, a youth sports coach, a parent whose own kids went through the system, and a guy who lives a few blocks from the high school where he once served as principal.

"I'm not just driving in to be the superintendent," Derges said. "This is my home."

That personal stake matters right now, because Tri-Valley is in the middle of one of the most ambitious planning efforts in its history — and Derges wants the entire community, not just parents, to understand what's coming and why.

The short version: a $20 million investment across all three buildings, a new Early Childhood Center, a reimagined middle school, modernized athletic facilities, expanded STEM programming already underway — and no increase in the local tax rate.

The longer version is a story about how a district decides what it wants to become.

In 2021, Tri-Valley completed the last project in a strategic plan that had been set around the year 2000 — a high school remodel finished on time despite COVID. When that 25-year vision reached its final page, the Board of Education asked the obvious next question: What does the next 25 years look like?

Rather than answer it themselves, they went to the community.

The district partnered with architecture and planning firm BLDD and facilitator Damien Schlitt to run an extensive series of focus groups — teachers from each building, parents, recent graduates, longtime residents, community members with no children in the schools. The goal wasn't just to talk about walls and rooflines. It was to understand what people value about Tri-Valley now and where they believe it should grow.

"We ended up with a facility strategic plan," Derges said. "But it was so much more than that."

One theme surfaced repeatedly: families wanted hands-on STEM learning earlier than high school. The district didn't wait. By next year, Tri-Valley will have added a dedicated STEM teaching position at the middle school, expanded Project Lead the Way curriculum, and restructured the middle school schedule to accommodate new programming.

"We asked, they answered, and we're able to provide that," Derges said.

The facility plan has three major components, with construction expected to begin in 2027.

The first is a new Early Childhood Center housing pre-K and kindergarten, to be built on district-owned property near the unit office. It will give the youngest learners dedicated space and free up critical capacity at the elementary school, which is running at over 90 percent. But it's also designed with a longer horizon in mind: Derges envisions the center as the first phase of an eventual Pre-K through fourth-grade building, potentially a decade out.

"It'll be the start of the next elementary school," he said.

That connects to the second piece. Once pre-K and kindergarten move out, fourth grade can shift from the middle school back into an elementary setting — something the community visioning process strongly supported. Derges was candid about his own evolution on the question.

"I personally was resistant for a while," he said. "Our teachers are so great over there. We've designed it so fourth graders aren't interacting with seventh and eighth graders. We're doing it really well."

But as the process continued, he opened up. If the space exists to place fourth graders in a developmentally appropriate elementary environment, the district should do it. The move will simultaneously open square footage at the middle school for enhanced lab space, breakout rooms, and collaborative learning areas — needs identified directly in the strategic plan.

The third component is a comprehensive upgrade to the district's outdoor athletic facilities. Tri-Valley was one of the first schools in the area to install an all-weather track, but the track, lighting, bleachers, and press box have all aged past their useful life. The plan calls for full replacement, including modern LED lighting.

Funding comes from two sources: the 1% countywide school facilities sales tax that McLean County voters approved last year, and a refinancing bond that requires no new taxes. When the sales tax passed, the Tri-Valley Board made a five-year commitment to direct one-third of those funds toward property tax abatement — a promise they've already delivered on, lowering the tax rate by 20 cents this year. Derges says the plan is designed to maintain that reduction beyond the five-year window.

"We're not just going to all of a sudden say when the five years is up, oh, now it goes right back up," he said. "We're planning to maintain that commitment into the future."

The result: $20 million in improvements with no tax rate increase, and a continued reduction in property taxes.

It helps explain why people keep calling Tri-Valley a destination district. Families move here on purpose — not for shopping or nightlife, but for the schools. And the schools stay strong because the cycle keeps renewing itself: great teachers attract another generation of great teachers, and the community that forms around them becomes something people don't want to leave.

"It's been built over really great teachers and staff," Derges said. "And then that attracts another generation. And then another one."

Jeanette Clayton is a case in point — an Ellsworth native, Tri-Valley grad, and current elementary teacher who's still innovating in her classroom in 2026. She's not the exception. She's the pattern.

On the career and technical side, the district has seen enrollment in Bloomington Career Academy programs grow from roughly 20 students to 75 in just a few years, with offerings ranging from welding (hosted as a satellite campus at Tri-Valley) to healthcare, fire science, and barbering. Students earn dual credit, mostly through Heartland Community College. Meanwhile, the district continues offering AP coursework alongside dual credit — a both-and approach that keeps doors open for students headed to research universities and community colleges alike.

"We live in a culture now where career technical education is viewed very differently," Derges said. "There are a lot of options and fewer walls between pathways."

Counselor Emily Howse works with every student to build a four-year plan starting freshman year — working backwards from where they want to end up.

It's the same logic driving the district at every level. Begin with the end in mind. Partner with the community to cast a vision. Then build toward it — carefully, together, and with enough discipline to keep the tax rate down while the ambition stays high.

"People in this community care a lot about their schools and have high expectations," Derges said. "We don't want to just rest on what has happened. We want to continue to grow."