Designer picked for Dist. 220 learning site

Barrington Area Unit District 220 now knows who will be responsible for designing the district's new early learning center.

On Tuesday, school board members approved the hiring of Perkins and Will Architects to design the new facility that will be located next to Barrington Middle School Prairie Campus.

The $770,000 contact calls for Perkins and Will to complete the design phase by the end of September.

"I think as a group we are excited about the work Perkins and Will has done in the area of early learning," said board member Cara Richardson.

With offices all over the world, Perkins and Will has completed numerous school-related projects, including those for West Aurora District 129, Cary District 26, Lake Forest District 67 and North Shore School District 112.

The new $12 million 35,000-square-foot facility, which will serve identifiably at-risk 3- to 5-year-olds, is replacing the current early learning home at Woodland School in Carpentersville.

Without comprising the cost of the facility, Richardson said they also want to make it as environmentally friendly as possible.

"We made it very clear to them that that was important to us," Richardson said.

The next phase will be to hold a designing session with those who will be using the new building most.

"We want to involve the staff and we want to involve the parents," said Superintendent Tom Leonard on the design phase.

The district had been trying for several years to replace the 60-year-old Woodland School, which officials said was no longer suitable for the state mandated program.

After two failed attempts to get voters to approve plans to move the program to Health World Children's Museum in Barrington, school board members last month decided to spend money from their reserve funds to pay for the new building.

The goal is to have the new early learning center open by the start of the 2010-2011 school year.