Final meeting of the facilities planning committee held

By Marty Yeakel
Staff Writer
The final meeting of the facilities planning committee was held on Wednesday, January 12 at Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond high school. Chairs Jon Day, Matt Schrock and Jason Yeakel led the meeting. Present were administrators and school board members with some members of the public from the four communities including several teachers. As mentioned in past articles, the purpose of these meetings is to gather data and input from our communities as Arthur Community Unit School District #305 identifies priorities for our schools and our childrens’ futures. Information gathered at these meetings will be presented in a summary report to the Board of Education on February 16 and will also be available on the District website.
The format of this meeting was a bit different as those in attendance were presented with two scenarios compiled from work activity results of the first two meetings. Scenario 5A – Phase 1 (as it is labeled) would involve a middle school addition at the high school which would mean a 6-12 campus at the existing high school site. Scenario 5C – Phase 1 would involve renovating the existing high school into a middle school and a high school addition at the existing site for a 6-12 campus.
Scenario 5A – Phase 1 features would tentatively include:
6-12 campus at existing ALAH high school site (as mentioned above)
Elementary buildings in Arthur, Atwood and Lovington would become PreK – 5 classrooms.
A new gym at Arthur Grade School (Atwood and Lovington have viable, useable gyms)
HS STEM (Science, Math, Engineering, Technology)/Industrial Arts section
Secured entries at all campuses
Toilet room upgrades
Finish upgrades (flooring, lighting, etc.)
Scenario 5C – Phase 1 would include those listed above PLUS:
ALAH HS FACS (what is FACS?)
ALAH HS band/choir renovation
ALAH HS library/media center renovation
ALAH HS classroom renovation
In addition, participants were given a list of other needs/wants and asked to choose those they felt needed to be taken into consideration. Those included, in part:
Arthur Grade School classroom renovation
AGS cafeteria/commons and library media center renovation
Lovington Grade School cafe/commons/gym renovation
LGS library/media center renovations
LGS site work (track/baseball/bus lane and parking)
LGS dining/commons and kitchen renovation
The committee thanked everyone for their help and participation in these meetings. This planning and looking to the future is very important for our children’s education in all our communities. Again, more information is available on both the district website and on the U-Knight 305 page on facebook.