Growing early education program leads District 102 to revise expansion
Increasing demand for early childhood classes has led Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102 to revise plans for an expansion project.
The price tag will likely surpass the $24.9 million plan school board members picked in late May because the proposal doesn't yet include costs for administration office space. Space initially intended for the administration office at Meridian Middle School will now be used for early education programs.
To remain accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young People - which works to ensure high-quality early education programs - and to accommodate a long waiting list of families, the district is nearly doubling the number of preschool classrooms from 3½ to six, Superintendent Lori Wilcox said.
The district has experienced an influx of early childhood students it's required to educate under state law. As the number of special needs and at-risk students increases, the district must similarly increase the number of "typically developing" students instructed to remain accredited, Wilcox said.
Initially, the district planned to have early education classes at Pritchett and Tripp elementary schools, but this would've left less room for kids in kindergarten through third grade. Now the plan to move the programs to Meridian Middle School has forced the district to find another spot for its administrative offices.
A team is studying options, including occupying space off school property or adding more space to Meridian, the only school with enough available land to expand.
"We don't want to spend our money on the district office," spokeswoman Vickie Walter said. "We want to spend it on the kids."
The plan chosen last month was the least expensive of three options considered, but its cost is at the high-end of the district's plan to spend between $19 million and $25 million on the expansion. The other options cost $28.1 million and $31 million.
School officials hope to have a plan for the administration offices that can be voted on during the June 26 meeting.