At the District 66 school board meeting Monday, March 25 information from DLR Group, an architectural, engineering, planning and interior design firm, presented their findings regarding the District’s infrastructure. The firm assessed and researched the buildings, which were built in the 1950s and 1960s, with the results of the assessment and research being announced at an earlier board meeting, and planned changes for each building.

At the high school, in recent years, parking has been an issue. One proposed change, to add a two-level parking garage on the west side of the school near the Senior Lot, would address this issue. Along with the possible parking change, the blue gym and pool area could see a major change. The proposed plan would redo the entire pool and then change the blue gym into the new main competition gym. This gym would be regulation-sized and have more seating than the current Main Gym. If a new competitive gym were to be added in the current blue gym location, the Activity Gym would be repurposed. In addition, an addition could be made to the theater department.

“I think that it’s an exciting time to work and go to school,” District 66 Superintendent Blane McCann said. “We don’t know what exactly is going to come out of this process, and I think that it is going to impact our [student’s] learning in a positive way.”

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss and share the ideas brought to the board by the DLR. The focus was to improve the learning environment for students across the district. DLR pitched ideas to renovate the grounds around the schools and the buildings themselves to help improve learning for students.

Along with the assessments DLR made, the firm brought staff from each of the district schools to discuss their needs, as well. The staff members were brought together to discuss the purpose of the rooms and buildings and how they were being utilized. Then they discussed how they wanted to use each room for a better learning experience. The main things discussed were the lack of early-child education space, special education learning areas, and flexible learning space. Another big issue for most district elementary schools and other buildings was the lack of handicapped-accessible areas.

Adjustments were made and assessed to each building. Check out the powerpoint that was used last night will all the prospected changes here. Also, there will be a town hall meeting held at the high school in room 220 April 3 at 6:30 p.m. The town meeting will be held so that members of the community can ask questions to the board of directors.

Update: This article was updated at 11:31 a.m. Thursday, March 27. Changes were made to paragraph two to emphasize that no decisions have been made as to what changes will occur.