Ground was broken on two new additions at Lake Bluff Middle School on Feb. 29 and administrators hope the upgrades will foster a new learning environment.
Five classrooms are being added to the west side of the building and three fine arts rooms are being added to the east side, said principal Nathan Blackmer. The fine arts rooms will host art, drama and chorus classes, Blackmer said.
In addition to the expansion, three science laboratories are being renovated and classrooms in the basement will be replaced with space for district administrators, Blackmer said. That extra space will allow administrators to move from an office building on North Shore Drive.
The library will be expanded and a STEM lab will be added along with glassed-in breakout spaces for students to collaborate or engage in oral language practice, Blackmer said.
“It will look and feel like a new building when we’re done,” Blackmer said.
The project is budgeted at $9.2 million with the cost being roughly split between a bond issue and district savings, said Superintendent Jean Sophie. The exact cost is still to be determined as only two of the four components have gone out to bid so far.
The project was first discussed in 2008 when Lake Bluff Elementary School opened, Sophie said.
“We had this beautiful elementary school and a middle school that needed to be brought up to current standards,” Sophie said.
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The changes will allow middle school students to direct more of their own learning or what is called “flipping the classroom” in academic circles. Sophie describes traditional classrooms as students sitting at lined-up desks listening to the teacher and doing assignments.
“Now, teaching and learning is all about the teacher being a facilitator of learning and kids collaborating,” Sophie said. “Best practices show kids can do a lot of directing their own learning. There will be lots of learning spaces where kids can collaborate and learn together.”
The construction schedule is condensed with work on the additions starting this week and work on the interior of the existing building starting when students leave for summer vacation, Blackmer said.
The start of school will be delayed until Sept. 7 from the usual start time of late August to give contractors enough time to complete the project, he said.
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