Story posted Thursday, July 2, 2009
Schools Settle On Juliette Low Expansion Plan
The Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board on Monday, June 22, agreed to design development plans for expansion of Juliette Low Elementary School in Arlington Hts.
The board agreed to a plan including eight additional classrooms, a storage area, a resource room, and needed restrooms. The cost estimate is $3.6 million. Financing will likely be through building bonds instead of shrinking the fund balances due to interest rates and the district's bond availability. School board members earlier examined two designs. One called for the construction of five classrooms, a storage room, and a small resource room for about $2.4 million. The other included seven classrooms, two of them larger kindergarten rooms, along with a storage room and a small resource room. That addition was estimated at $3.2 million.
The latest plan came from a recent board retreat when members reviewed those two, and several other options for the project. The district hopes to pour the foundation before winter and complete construction before the 2010–2011 school year.
Current enrollment in the K-5 school is between 370 and 375. Next year's enrollment projects 397 students and 438 during the 2011–12 school year. During the 2004–05 school year, there were 326 students. Statistics show that within a seven-year period, there will be an increase of 112 students.
The original Juliette Low building was constructed in 1966 and renovated in 1969 after a fire engulfed part of the structure. An addition was constructed in 1970 and renovated once again in 1999.
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