Facility master plan for St. Charles schools taking shape

Creating equitable spaces among the schools in St. Charles Unit District 303 was a common theme in a report unveiled by the committee tasked with developing the district's first facility master plan in 13 years.

The Findings and Needs update presented to school board members at Monday's business services meeting was based on recommendations and committee tours of eight district schools. A team comprised of parents, students, staff and community members created a vast list of needs based on the condition of learning and community spaces as well as the physical condition of the campuses.

"We realize this is your first opportunity to see this information," District 303 Superintendent Jason Pearson said of the committee update. "What you're seeing is a result of some really thoughtful conversations that they've had together as a group."

In addition to addressing equity issues with learning, community, athletic and performance spaces, the committee noted the need to phase out mobile classrooms for safety reasons, create a second prekindergarten location to achieve full community access, remove classroom partitions for better sound isolation and install an instructional technology coach at each building.

After meeting several more times in the next two months, the Educational Facility Planning Committee will present its formal recommendations to the school board at its meeting on April 12. That'll be the culmination of 17 months of work since the board approved a $166,500 contract for Palatine-based Wold Architects and Engineers to guide the district through the next decade of building upgrades.

"I want to thank the whole committee and recognize the hard work they've put into this process to get to what I call a real milestone," said Dan Kritta, a partner at Wold Architects and Engineers. "The board and administration set a charge for this committee and I think they've been following it just perfectly."