May Whitney students start at new site
The sign at the entrance to the Annex driveway reads "Welcome to the New May Whitney."
At roughly 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the pitter patter of little feet filled the former Lake Zurich middle school at 100 Church St., which has largely been dormant for 18 months.
Roughly 430 anxious students huddled in the school's cafeteria awaiting the official start of the academic year. Excited parents looked on as students were matched with teachers. Then the students were off, finding their way through hallways and classrooms that had been unfamiliar to them until Tuesday's orientation.
It was like any other first day of school -- but for the nine-day delay in starting the academic year.
May Whitney Elementary School was shut down Aug. 16 because of flooding, asbestos and mold, forcing a last-minute relocation of students to the Annex next door. Wednesday was the first full day of classes for first- through fifth-grade students. For kindergartners, there was orientation.
"I'm very relieved," Principal Deb Bruemmer said after the morning hustle died down. "It went amazingly well. Everybody's thrilled. It was very smooth considering it was a new building and we didn't know what to expect."
Brightly colored posters in hallways and classroom and name labels on lockers give visible proof of how the Annex has been transformed into an elementary school. There are other changes, such as stools in the boys bathrooms to give younger kids a boost.
Parent volunteers and teachers played a huge role in getting the building ready.
"We never would have been able to get there as quickly as we did without just the phenomenal support of the May Whitney community and the District 95 community as a whole," District 95 Superintendent Brian Knutson said.
Hundreds of parents and students walked through the building Tuesday night to get used to where classrooms, lockers, bathrooms and the cafeteria were located.
"I think it looks great," said Sandy Moskal of Lake Zurich, who was checking out the kindergarten lockers with her 5-year-old son, Logan, who will begin classes today. "The teachers did a great job. I think they pulled it together fairly quickly."
The Annex will serve as May Whitney's home for this academic year, and likely the next five years or until a new school is built.
District officials don't intend to use May Whitney as a school again, even though asbestos and mold remediation has been completed. The building now is being used for storage, but there are no definite plans for its future. The administration has recommended it be demolished.
The district plans to shift resources initially earmarked for May Whitney to the Annex for life-safety repairs at that aging building.
What parents should know
• The Lake Zurich Unit District 95 school board will discuss facilities options, including what to do with May Whitney Elementary School, during a Sept. 13 meeting.
• District officials will reveal how they plan to make up for lost instructional days by the end of the month.
• A back-to-school party for students and their families, hosted by the May Whitney parent-teacher organization, will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Annex's big gym. For more information, call (847) 726-1826 or e-mail scout64@lillyengineering.com.