Student safety is St. Charles parents' priority

Students, parents and concerned community members listed classroom overcrowding and school safety as their chief concerns at the fifth meeting of the St. Charles school district's Summit 303.

Designed to engage and foster communication between the community and the school district, the meeting asked attendees to form groups to prioritize their concerns about the district. Approximately 300 people attended.

"Our No. 1 concern is being able to control access and monitor who's in our schools," said attendee Jesse Mills. "Our No. 2 is the additional classrooms to reduce class size. It needs to be done in a cost-effective and fiscally efficient way, especially for K through third grade."

Steve Gallaher, a father of three District 303 students, echoed those concerns.

"There needs to be safety and security in terms of walking into the building, so they don't have free rein in terms of walking into the building. Students also need adequate spaces to conduct their learning," Gallaher said.

Attendeees also viewed a presentation by Armstrong Torseth Skold & Rydeen Inc., a Minnesota-based architectural firm specializing in educational facilities.

"We are going to evaluate over the next several months and then report back our findings and recommendations to help the district design a master facilities plan," architect David Maroney said.

The development of such a plan, Maroney added, would involve community group involvement as well as a comprehensive assessment of all existing schools.

"How a facility is used by a community has a big impact on its design," he said. "Facilities should be designed so that they are flexible and adaptable. Things are changing in education constantly."

According to Maroney, the architectural firm will take changing demographics, technology, community needs and student learning styles into account when assessing district facilities.

Buildings will be evaluated on educational qualities such as best learning options, kindergarten options and educational program delivery, as well as operational qualities, such as operations and maintenance costs, energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

Facility meetings at each ischool will take place during April and May. These meetings will provide an in-depth look at buildings' strengths and weaknesses.

Past Summit 303 meetings addressed staff diversification, the performance of District 303 in relation to other school districts, and school and community demographics.

The next Summit 303 meeting is scheduled for April 17. For further information go to www.d303.org.