Arlington Heights District 25 welcomes students back to class

Thousands of students across seven elementary schools and two middle schools in Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 went back to school Thursday.

At Ivy Hill Elementary School, students lined up outside to meet their new teachers before heading in to start the school year. A fourth-grade teacher was surprised with a dozen red roses from one of her new students.

The first day of school comes as District 25 is about to begin expansion projects to deal with overcrowding at some of its schools.

The district recently approved issuing $18 million in bonds for construction, about two-thirds of which will be used this year for expansions at Ivy Hill and Olive-Mary Stitt schools. Expansions to Windsor and Westgate could come next year.

Ivy Hill will get an additional 10 classrooms; Olive will get five. Both schools also will have new gymnasiums, new playgrounds and expanded common space.

The district also purchased mobile classrooms for Ivy Hill and Windsor to alleviate crowding during construction.

Superintendent Lori Bein said construction will break ground in October.