School Plan

RTA Architect Brian Calhoun addressed a 31-member audience at Tuesday evening’s third public visioning process during which room configuration and exterior design for the enlarged Lake City Community School were discussed.
Preceding Calhoun at the meeting was Hinsdale School Board President Phil Virden who recounted the start of the current process dating back to 2016 and leading up to the present $3.9-million bond ballot issue which will be matched 70 percent — $9-million — by the state toward the $13-million school renovation/addition project.
The project will increase square footage at the school to 31,000 square feet and will result in an estimated $124,000 per year in operating expenses plus a facility manager’s salary, which will be covered by school board contingency reserves. “We as a board,” he said, “take our responsibility as good fiscal agents very, very seriously.”
The school reconfiguration and expansion, according to the school board president, is based on the safety, security, and health of the school’s students and staff.
As enumerated by RTA Architect Calhoun, the school’s configuration and floorplan is based in part on a new south-facing administrative wing with an expansive view onto the playground and public areas. If the bond proposal is passed, Calhoun said the tentative schedule is to complete detailed construction documents for the contractor by late April next year; after permitting and state review, construction would tentatively begin in June, 2019, and the entire project completed in summer, 2020. The size of the enlarged school, he said, “will allow you to grow for a while,” allowing a peak student population of perhaps 120.
In his review of the most recent floorplan, above, Calhoun highlighted a design which insulates distinct areas of the school, the elementary and preschool wing to the south, separated from middle school and high school rooms which are generally grouped to the north. The design also separates distinct portions of the building, such as the commons area with adjacent cafeteria and, on the northwest corner of the building, school kitchen.
The school’s new 7,124-s.f. gymnasium, according to Calhoun, includes bleacher seating along the north wall for 225 people and opens out onto a single-story space to the east with an 882-s.f. elevated stage which will double for music and health instruction; also included within the single-story east portion of the building is a Spanish classroom, together with two 452-s.f. locker rooms.