$18.1 million renovation of Elmhurst school to start in spring 2020
An $18.1 million renovation and expansion of Edison Elementary School in Elmhurst will make a media center the new focal point of the 1950s-era campus.
Instead of a traditional school library, the media center will act as a hub of collaboration, technology and self-directed learning, an example of a "future-ready space" planned for Elmhurst Unit District 205 schools through a $168.5 million construction plan approved by voters last November.
A major reconfiguration of Edison Elementary will arrange classrooms in a pinwheel fashion, revolving around the media center. Architects will open up the space on all sides to give teachers and students unencumbered access to the media center - one of the highlights of conceptual designs unveiled at a Monday night forum on the project.
"We're looking at putting the media center in this building front and center," Wight & Co. architect Wendy Watts said. "It's truly at the crossroads of the building."
Elmhurst Unit District 205 officials are holding community meetings to update parents and neighbors on work to implement the first stages of a $168.5 million plan funded by taxpayer-backed bonds. The second forum will preview designs for the renovation of Bryan Middle School at 6 p.m. Wednesday at that campus.
At Edison Elementary, some neighbors took issue with the loss of green space and a baseball field that will become the site of a school addition. Several others in the crowd of about two dozen people questioned if the project will provide enough parking and stormwater detention - a perennial concern throughout Elmhurst.
Built in 1956, Edison falls within the first group of projects in the overall building plan. The newly expanded school will house Lincoln and Field elementary students in kindergarten through third grades during construction to replace those schools. The district chose to temporarily relocate those students to a reconfigured Edison instead of moving them into portable classrooms.
"If we ended up having to rent a bunch of trailers, we'd be taking away from the money that's going into the schools," Superintendent David Moyer said. "So this way we end up with permanent space for the district, too, so that there's some flexibility for long-term planning for future boards if they have space concerns or program concerns that they need to address."
Four kindergarten classrooms also will be housed in a new wing at Edison as part of a plan to provide full-day kindergarten throughout the district.
"The key element of this building is that it's one of the only buildings in our district that's not landlocked," Moyer said. "So in terms of being able to find some additional space to be able to implement all-day kindergarten across the entire district, this was one of the only options for us to realize that additional space ... And then ultimately, this school will be larger, so we'll have room at all of our schools for all-day kindergarten."
Another key characteristic of the building? A main entrance that's not immediately obvious off Huntington Lane. But the renovation will shift the main administrative offices to a Fair Avenue entrance.
The district plans to break ground on the Edison project in spring 2020. Construction would wrap up in summer 2021.
As architects develop the designs, district officials also say a traffic study will be done, taking into account bus and parent drop-off lanes.
To pay for the improvements, the district is issuing bonds in three phases.
As a result of voter approval of the November ballot measure, the owner of a $500,000 house is expected to pay an estimated $149 more a year in property taxes to the school district. The referendum campaign was the culmination of a community engagement effort that began more than three years ago with the district's "Focus 205" process.