Metea Valley design returns

For some Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials, Monday night's unveiling of the Metea Valley High School site and floor plans was like reuniting with an old friend.

"It's the exact same building as two years ago," Deputy Superintendent Kathy Birkett said, referring to the plan originally designed when the district intended to buy the Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive. "Exactly the same. We're still good to go."

The 3,000-seat school will have a two-story X-shaped main building flanked on the west by the music and fine arts wing and on the east by the athletic wing's gymnasiums and pool. Two courtyards will separate the main facility from the wings.

Birkett said the courtyard outside the art wing would eventually be a sculpture garden with student art. The other, outside the cafeteria, would allow students to eat outside. The second floor features a greenhouse on the roof, computer labs and science classrooms.

When the campus is set to open to freshmen and sophomores in August 2009, it will do so with a completed football stadium and two practice fields, one baseball field and one softball field. One additional baseball and softball field will be added later, in addition to two soccer fields.

The pool, multipurpose gym, fine arts facility and the northern section of the main building are expected to be complete by late January 2010. Construction on the second phase will continue while students are in class in August 2009, but Birkett said workers would not be working near the students, ensuring their safety and keeping noise to a minimum.

"Student safety is always a big concern for us," Birkett said. "But we feel very good about the plan in place."

Board members Bruce Glawe and Jeannette Clark called the site and floor plans "amazing" and "really something to see."

With the logo and mascot picked, Birkett said construction is all that stands in the way of students becoming mustangs.

"There we have Metea Valley Mustangs, black and gold," she said pointing to a slide featuring the logo. "We're ready to go."