Glimpse of new Washington School presented
CHAMPAIGN – Teachers, staff and administrators need to look "very, very critically" at the draft plans for a new Washington Elementary School to ensure the design will meet the school's needs, said Champaign school board member Kristine Chalifoux.
The school board and the public got a look at the draft design plan for the school Monday night.
Several school board members said they were pleased with the look of the proposed two-story school. But they had questions about the details.
Plans for the new school call for "academies" of grade-level classrooms, each with their own common space, or "piazza." A central "STEM studio" would provide a large space for science experiments.
A large commons area with a lot of daylight would be at the entry to the building, separated from the gym by a stage.
A music and art room on the second floor would overlook the commons area.
One concern related to the openness of the building and how it could be made secure if it were open to the community in the evenings or for school events.
"We have groups we'd like to partner with to use the facility after school," said board member Greg Novak. "Now, the core of the central area is open. There's no way to close it off. If somebody is using the gym and the library is open, we have a security problem. We have a liability problem."
Some board members asked about noise issues, if the art room was open to the commons below, and if there could be problems with students dropping things they shouldn't down to the first floor.
Board member Sue Grey was concerned about noise between the lunch/commons area and the gym, as well as gym activities disrupting lunch.
"I can just see a big red rubber ball flying across the stage and landing in somebody's lunch tray," she said.
Novak also noted that with the music room on the second floor, the school's elevator needs to be large enough to move a piano down to the first floor and back.
Some board members also thought the piazzas would be too long and narrow to be useful to classroom teachers.
The architects, from OWP/P of Chicago, said the draft design plans are the first phase of the design process, and they will be looking at the details of the design now.
They also plan to hold more meetings to share the design, and board members asked that the preliminary drawings be on display at the school and perhaps in other places in the community, such as the library.
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