Listen Live
Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – One part of the new additions to Springfield High School is officially open.
Two new gymnasiums including a new competition gym, a new band area, and a much larger, and much more soundproof, choir room, all were shown off to the public as part of a ribbon-cutting Saturday morning.
Superintendent Jennifer Gill says the current building, which opened in 1917, was starting to show its age.
“We were operating in a system that wasn’t built for today’s student or today’s activities,” said Gill. “We knew that we needed to increase space for the students and staff, to be able to teach and be able to learn in a way that is required of today’s times.”
What opened officially is only a part of what is being done on the campus, with 20 new classrooms slated to be open next year.
“It’s all part of a phasing plan of a project of this size,” said Max Dirker, Operations Director, O’Shea Builders. “We see the new…Duey Gym, get moved into that, so we can take the other one down and do the site work out there. Same thing with the classrooms. As we’re renovating inside, we have to vacate some of those so we can do the renovation. The new classroom addition will come online, we can move into that, freeze up more space for more renovation work to be done.”
The new space now open includes a common area, cafeteria, Duey Gym as the competition gym with more competition and practice space, a second gym called “The Chamber” that will serve as both a practice gym and a competition gym, a new weight room, a new band room that’s just off Duey Gym, and a new choir room.
It might be that new choir room that is nearest to Gill’s heart.
“Our fine arts spaces at Springfield High were very small, although great memories in those rooms from all of the performances and things that we have done in the past here at Springfield High,” said Gill, an SHS alum and former member of the choir. “To be able to see those facilities for our fine arts program is very exciting, similar to Lanphier High School. Their program has grown because of those new rooms.”
District 186’s proceeds from a county one percent sales tax for school infrastructure is paying for the work, even as board members now start to be concerned about just how much more work district-wide can be done, as plans are in the works to issue more bonds that the tax revenue will pay for.
