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Board hears detailed design and construction plans for kindergarten expansions and school renovations
Summary
Architects and Pepper STR presented a districtwide construction plan including a prototypical 1,100 sq ft kindergarten classroom model, renovations and additions at multiple schools, bid schedules and permitting concerns at North School tied to floodplain approvals.
Design and construction consultants and district staff presented detailed plans July 21 for kindergarten expansions, building renovations and additions across District 62, and outlined timelines, bid schedules and permitting risks.
Alan Arbrest of STR and Kirk, project manager at Pepper, briefed the board on a prototypical kindergarten classroom (about 1,100 square feet) developed with teacher focus groups and intended to provide consistent furniture, storage (25 cubbies), an in-class bathroom with scaled fixtures, and flexible, mobile learning spaces. The prototype informed renovation plans at Cumberland, Terrace, Forest, Orchard Place, Plainfield, Iroquois, Central and North schools, the presenters said.
Consultants described site-specific work: Iroquois will receive two new kindergarten rooms, a larger art room (with added windows for natural light), locked and renovated locker-room areas for middle-school physical education, and a faculty washroom and mothering room. Cumberland, Terrace, Forest and Orchard Place will receive two kindergarten rooms each with in-class washrooms; Plainfield’s plan also reconfigures an undersized nurse’s area and adds a teacher lounge. Central’s work includes reconfiguring the library and cafeteria access to reduce lunch scheduling challenges and creating new art and music rooms. North School will receive a five-classroom kindergarten wing, a new cafeteria/multipurpose space and courtyard playground, but consultants warned North faces permitting complexity because the current floodplain elevation is about 10 inches above the existing floor and regulators require new additions to be built above the flood level; the planned additions’ finished floors will sit 3 foot 7 inches above existing floors.
Kirk from Pepper said Iroquois went to bid the week of the meeting, with a site visit and a September bid-opening; district staff hope to use the upcoming intersession to begin noisy demolition and complete high-priority items (for example, a mothering room) before the school year. North and Central were slated for a later bid package (targeting a December–January bid process), but Pepper cautioned that North’s schedule depends on multiple permits from federal and regional agencies (FEMA, MWRD, IEPA and others) and that those approvals are an uncertainty that could require a contingency plan.
Board members asked about playground surfacing, visibility for supervision in the North courtyard, the need for additional adult washrooms in older buildings, and whether the district would present a clearer cost breakout separating full-day kindergarten scope from other renovation costs. Consultants said they will refine cost estimates as Iroquois and subsequent bid packages are finalized and will return to the board with refinements in September.
