District 41 explores facilities options

A group studying facilities in Glen Ellyn District 41 may recommend officials consider building another school and eliminating portable classrooms.

The committee of residents and staff members has been looking at space and facilities in the district since last fall. It is expected to make a recommendation to the school board as early as next month.

The concept of building a school on the so-called Spalding site north of St. Charles Road and east of Main Street is not new in District 41. It was one of the options presented before a referendum proposal in 2007 but turned down by the board.

That referendum question - which was rejected by voters - focused primarily on expanding Hadley Junior High.

"It's a small site," Julie Worthen, district communications director said of the Spalding property. "There are challenges to using it."

The master facility plan steering committee has been charged with developing a recommendation that would best serve the short-term and long-term needs of district students and teachers.

Debby Richardson, a resident on the committee, said the group has visited elementary districts in Geneva and Hinsdale to see how buildings work there.

The committee will meet a few more times before making a recommendation to the board, but Richardson said one of the items it has focused on is the 32 portable classrooms used at the district's five schools.

"Space has been a topic of conversation in this district probably since 2001 when we installed our first portable classroom," Worthen said.

Richardson said some of the plans that are being discussed will get rid of the mobile rooms. That includes moving children to a new school on Spalding and expanding the current schools.

"That really has been something on everybody's wish list," she said. "There are three or four designs where the portables would go away."

The committee has not taken any financial issues into account with its recommendation. The group will simply give its suggestions based on the research that's been done since October, and the board will look into financing those projects if they are deemed feasible.