Post by title1parent on Aug 9, 2009 6:11:53 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1707396,District-203-reconstruction_na080909.article
Mill Street school on target, Central work ongoing
August 9, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
"They're going to go back to a whole new school," Ralph Weaver, Naperville School District 203's facilities and construction manager, said Friday upon completing a tour of the renovated and expanded Mill Street Elementary School.
The $7.3 million project broke ground last fall.
It is supposed to be finished before this school year starts Aug. 19. For the next week, construction crews will add the finishing touches while Mill Street's staff moves in.
"(We'll do) whatever it takes to get it done, to get it ready," he said.
The finished project will provide a new, 15,000-square-foot multipurpose room, gymnasium and cafeteria, a remodeled learning resource center and classroom space, and expanded offices, as well as a reconfiguration of the way vehicular traffic moves through the site. Students will no longer have to pass in front of cars and buses to get to and from their classes.
While there's plenty to be proud of with regard to this project, Weaver seems most pleased by the additional classroom space that has been carved out of the school's old gymnasium, the computer lab that stands where its stage once stood, and the old multipurpose room's transformation into a music room. These renovations will add much-needed instruction space to the district's largest and most diverse elementary school, where space had been so cramped that instruction was occurring wherever teachers and students could find a little free space.
"It's going to get the kids out of the halls," Weaver said.
And even though the project expanded and redesigned the school's administrative offices, Mill Street Principal Mark DeMoulin seemed most excited by the new gymnasium and multipurpose room.
"Really, during a lot of after-school and evening events, we were just so crammed in there. For assemblies, if it was a whole school thing, we were just absolutely packed in there, and to have a nice, big facility like that to have those whole-school events is just going to be a real blessing. I'm looking so forward to it … Everything is just so spacious and nice."
Naperville Central
While work at Mill Street is just now wrapping up, it is just beginning at Naperville Central High School.
The $87 million expansion and renovation project provides for roughly 170,000 square feet of new space and 370,000 square feet of renovations. And it starts with the addition of a three-story academic wing at the southeast corner of the school.
This wing, combined with existing space that will be renovated next summer, will create the three-story academic loop that will house most of the school's students once the project is complete. The new kitchen, cafeteria and commons area will be situated in the center of the loop, with loads of natural light to be provided by an atrium to be built atop it all.
Timely completion of this, the bulk of the expansion work, will be key, Weaver said.
"When school starts up next year, this has to be done before we can bring all those classes and everything over here so we can start gutting the science area," Weaver said.
Work on that wing began this summer, along with asbestos abatement work in the other half of the school, the installation of synthetic turf and an eight-lane track at the school's stadium, and the creation of a bus drop-off and pick-up loop just outside the new construction area, which is situated atop the old bus stops.
The loop will be done in time for the start of school; the turf is a different story.
"If all goes well, if the weather cooperates, I hope to have homecoming here," Weaver said.
Inside the school, the main differences students will see are boarded-up windows in classrooms adjacent to the construction, and cement floors left over from the asbestos abatement.
"Everything will be functional," Weaver said. "You'll be able to get to everything. It's just that everything will be ugly."
It may also be noisy from time to time, he added.
"You're throwing steel and concrete around out there," he said. "You're going to have some noises."
The most important things — what Weaver constantly tells parents who are worried about the project — is that students will be safe.
The scene will remain the same throughout the entire school year, he said. Construction will be isolated to that corner of the campus, and access to it will be limited.
Portions of the school won't look too pretty, and there will be noise and even vibrations from time to time.
"Like anything else, you have to put up with some bumpy things to get what you want to get," Weaver concluded.
Mill Street school on target, Central work ongoing
August 9, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
"They're going to go back to a whole new school," Ralph Weaver, Naperville School District 203's facilities and construction manager, said Friday upon completing a tour of the renovated and expanded Mill Street Elementary School.
The $7.3 million project broke ground last fall.
It is supposed to be finished before this school year starts Aug. 19. For the next week, construction crews will add the finishing touches while Mill Street's staff moves in.
"(We'll do) whatever it takes to get it done, to get it ready," he said.
The finished project will provide a new, 15,000-square-foot multipurpose room, gymnasium and cafeteria, a remodeled learning resource center and classroom space, and expanded offices, as well as a reconfiguration of the way vehicular traffic moves through the site. Students will no longer have to pass in front of cars and buses to get to and from their classes.
While there's plenty to be proud of with regard to this project, Weaver seems most pleased by the additional classroom space that has been carved out of the school's old gymnasium, the computer lab that stands where its stage once stood, and the old multipurpose room's transformation into a music room. These renovations will add much-needed instruction space to the district's largest and most diverse elementary school, where space had been so cramped that instruction was occurring wherever teachers and students could find a little free space.
"It's going to get the kids out of the halls," Weaver said.
And even though the project expanded and redesigned the school's administrative offices, Mill Street Principal Mark DeMoulin seemed most excited by the new gymnasium and multipurpose room.
"Really, during a lot of after-school and evening events, we were just so crammed in there. For assemblies, if it was a whole school thing, we were just absolutely packed in there, and to have a nice, big facility like that to have those whole-school events is just going to be a real blessing. I'm looking so forward to it … Everything is just so spacious and nice."
Naperville Central
While work at Mill Street is just now wrapping up, it is just beginning at Naperville Central High School.
The $87 million expansion and renovation project provides for roughly 170,000 square feet of new space and 370,000 square feet of renovations. And it starts with the addition of a three-story academic wing at the southeast corner of the school.
This wing, combined with existing space that will be renovated next summer, will create the three-story academic loop that will house most of the school's students once the project is complete. The new kitchen, cafeteria and commons area will be situated in the center of the loop, with loads of natural light to be provided by an atrium to be built atop it all.
Timely completion of this, the bulk of the expansion work, will be key, Weaver said.
"When school starts up next year, this has to be done before we can bring all those classes and everything over here so we can start gutting the science area," Weaver said.
Work on that wing began this summer, along with asbestos abatement work in the other half of the school, the installation of synthetic turf and an eight-lane track at the school's stadium, and the creation of a bus drop-off and pick-up loop just outside the new construction area, which is situated atop the old bus stops.
The loop will be done in time for the start of school; the turf is a different story.
"If all goes well, if the weather cooperates, I hope to have homecoming here," Weaver said.
Inside the school, the main differences students will see are boarded-up windows in classrooms adjacent to the construction, and cement floors left over from the asbestos abatement.
"Everything will be functional," Weaver said. "You'll be able to get to everything. It's just that everything will be ugly."
It may also be noisy from time to time, he added.
"You're throwing steel and concrete around out there," he said. "You're going to have some noises."
The most important things — what Weaver constantly tells parents who are worried about the project — is that students will be safe.
The scene will remain the same throughout the entire school year, he said. Construction will be isolated to that corner of the campus, and access to it will be limited.
Portions of the school won't look too pretty, and there will be noise and even vibrations from time to time.
"Like anything else, you have to put up with some bumpy things to get what you want to get," Weaver concluded.