District 220 parents push for new learning center

Parents of children attending Barrington Area Unit District 220's Woodland Early Learning Center are tired of being patient.

For more than two years, the parents have been pleading with the school board to find a new facility to replace the aging Carpentersville school, which serves identifiably at-risk 3- to 5-year-olds.

After hearing for the last few months that there's money in the budget for the project and a possible site has been located, the parents want action.

Now, they just might get it.

Dave Holt was one of more than a dozen parents who urged board members this week to move ahead with plans to build a new facility on district land next to Barrington Middle School Prairie Campus.

"When is this going to be solved?" Holt said. "There are very clear solutions here."

Woodland, which houses the state-mandated early childhood program, doesn't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, has bathrooms that aren't sized for preschoolers, as well as electrical problems.

"Woodland is not a suitable environment for little kids," said parent Paul Conover.

Jacob Bulandr, a 13-year-old whose brother attended Woodland, told the board he's been to almost every school in the district and the early-learning facility is clearly not on par with them.

"It smells and looks gross on the inside and outside," the teen told board members. "Keeping kids at this school isn't right, and you know it."

School board President Brian Battle said a vote on a proposal to build a new facility next to the Prairie campus could happen as early as next month.

"Our plan all along was to make a decision in April or May," Battle said.

Superintendent Tom Leonard said the district has worked to repair the 60-year-old building this year by, among other things, improving the ventilation. He added that later this month, window air-conditioning units will be installed.

"That will help in terms of the one issue we continually heard about, which is the heat," he said.

Despite those improvements, both Battle and Leonard said the school is not in the same condition as the others in the district.

"It doesn't change the status of it being a building that is flawed in the long term," Battle said. "The responsible thing is to find another building."

One thought was to renovate Woodland, but Leonard said that would cost too much money and would not solve the problem of the school not being in the center of the district.

"(Woodland) is not a central location and it never will be a central location," he said. "This would allow us to cut down on some of those long bus rides."

The board is scheduled to discuss and possibly take action on the issue at its April 1 meeting. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Barrington High School.