New classrooms ready at two Glen Ellyn schools

Some students at Lincoln and Franklin elementary schools in Glen Ellyn will get the chance to do their learning and exploring in a completely new setting when classes resume Monday.

Classroom additions at each school have been completed, with furniture already in place, to greet students when they return from winter break. Each school now has four new classrooms and additional storage space.

The additions make up half of Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41's roughly $15 million project to build additions at each of its four elementary schools.

The additions at the other two schools, Churchill and Forest Glen, still are under construction and will be open once school starts next August, Assistant Superintendent Bob Ciserella said.

Ciserella said the walls of the addition at Forest Glen are already up and crews are working on the roof. The foundation and rough plumbing are in at Churchill, he said.

With the additions, the district aims to reduce its reliance on portable classrooms. Ciserella said once all four additions are complete, the district will have eliminated 16 portables.

“We want all of our kids under one roof,” he said.

Ciserella said the completed additions are “our vision of what a 21st-century classroom will look like.”

The new classrooms are bigger than those typical in District 41, have higher ceilings, and promote flexibility and collaboration in learning, Ciserella said.

The teachers also appear to be enjoying the new classrooms, Ciserella said.

“They love them,” he said. “That's what I'm hearing,”