Regardless of what happens with the idea of adding on to Lake County’s oldest school building, its drop-off students will almost certainly not have to walk across any streets to get there. The staff might, though.
For months, the School Board of Lincolnshire-Prairie View Elementary District 103 has been considering options for creating new space, possibly at all three of its buildings. No plans have been decided yet, but during its July 13 meeting, the board looked at the idea of building a new wing atop what is currently a parking lot frequented by parents.
“We’re pretty landlocked in here, as for areas we can build,” superintendent Scott Warren said after the meeting’s conclusion.
Accredited by the Lake County Discovery Museum as the county’s first school building, Half Day has been added on to several times already. It currently houses District 103’s third and fourth grades; one of the growth plans the district is considering would move the fifth grade out of Daniel Wright Junior High and into a new Half Day wing, built on what is currently the western parking lot.
That lot holds 40 spaces, three handicapped, but during activities and pickup times, parents can stuff about 45 minivans and SUVs in, using its corners and edges for extra containment. It attaches to the drive-up/drop-off lane, where the line of awaiting moms might sometimes back up onto Olde Half Day Road.
The area could be big enough, Warren told the board during their meeting, for the fifth grade’s needs: nine or so classrooms, plus a few other instructional areas. If the board ends up voting to build there, he said after the meeting that the drop-off lane should be able to remain open, allowing kids to walk straight from their car door to their school door.
The staff, however, might have to make a trek.
Half Day has a second parking lot, along its northeast corner, which packs in another 40 vehicles, but Warren and the board discussed what they may need to do with the excess crowd.
One possibility would be to buy some land on the north side of Olde Half Day, possibly from the small church or a private property owner along Indian Creek Road. Another idea could be to borrow some spaces from the Vernon Area Public Library, the school’s immediate neighbor.
On July 14, library spokeswoman Catherine Savage said District 103 officials had broached the subject with them, but that the Library Board had yet to discuss it. Their next meeting is scheduled for July 20.
“All of this is very tentative,” Savage said. “We are willing to have a dialogue. We share a constituency, and we’re always looking for ways to improve efficiency among governments.”
Warren said after the meeting that he hoped to avoid forcing staff or parents to park along the sides of Indian Creek.
“It’s a fairly thin road,” he said.
He noted that there does not appear to be anything left on the district’s property to add impervious surface to. The paved basketball and four-square courts to the east likely need to remain play areas, and the grass to the south is meant for more games and drainage.
Warren said after the meeting that the board hoped to hear from its residents, and possibly vote for construction proposals at all three buildings, in September. Should it approve additions, he said he hoped that they would be ready in time for fall 2016.
@RonnieAtPioneer
