Pingree Grove charter school adds building for 2010

Soon, students at the Cambridge Lakes Charter School won't have to paint watercolors or rehearse marches in makeshift classrooms.

The Pingree Grove school, open to students in kindergarten through eighth grade who live in Community Unit District 300, is installing an annex this summer that will contain dedicated art and music rooms.

The expansion comes as the school, which opened in 2007 in the Cambridge Lakes subdivision, is again seeing an increase in student enrollment. School officials expect enrollment to top 550 next year, up from 490 this year.

"Currently, art and music are in standard classrooms," said Sylvia Polletta, director of admissions for Cambridge Lakes. "Because of our growth and enrollment we need to turn those into homerooms."

Cambridge Lakes officials expect the annex to accommodate the school's needs through the 2011-12 school year. The school has a capacity of 627 students, officials said.

The 5,000-square-foot annex, which would connect to the existing building for the third and fourth grade, would also contain a classroom that would house the school's virtual and adult learning programs.

That classroom would be secured so that adult students would not be able to access the children's rooms or the rest of the school, Polletta said.

Officials expect the annex to cost just more than $1 million raised through the sale of bonds. The annex should be ready for fall 2010 because of its "modular" design, which allows much quicker installation than conventional buildings.