U-46 breaks ground on school addition; more spring construction projects planned

Spring construction is in the air as Elgin Area School District U-46 is breaking ground on several building projects to help transform the district’s middle schools into modernized sixth- through eighth-grade facilities.

Shovels hit the ground Wednesday for work on a 46,000-square-foot addition at Kenyon Woods Middle School in South Elgin. The $30 million project will increase the school’s capacity to 1,125 students — current enrollment is about 750 — and is expected to be complete by August 2026.

Construction is set to begin April 7 on a 53,000-square-foot addition at Kimball Middle School in Elgin. The $25 million project will increase that school’s capacity to 1,125 students — up from about 550 students this year — and will be ready for occupancy in August 2026.

And the district is building a new 193,000-square-foot middle school at 2604 Rohrssen Road in Elgin. Work on the $110 million project begins April 22, and the school will be ready for occupancy in August 2027. It will have capacity for 1,125 students.

Meanwhile, renovations of the 58,000-square-foot Hawk Hollow Middle School in Bartlett and building a 92,000-square-foot addition there are expected to be completed by summer.

Formerly an elementary school for 25 years until its closure after the 2022-23 school year, the improved Hawk Hollow will welcome its first seventh-grade class this fall. It will have students in grades six through eight the following year.

With $53 million in upgrades, Hawk Hollow will have a capacity of 750 students. New features include dedicated science labs, flexible classrooms, staff planning areas, a new cafetorium with a full-service kitchen, dual gyms, performing arts spaces, and rooms for culinary arts, band, choir and music. The project includes installing solar tubes for energy-efficient daylighting in interior spaces and accessibility improvements, officials said.

Abbott and Ellis middle schools, both in Elgin, will be closed after the new construction is completed.

“Ultimately, there will be two of our older middle schools that will be closed,” said Brian Lindholm, U-46 chief of staff.

The improvements are funded through the district borrowing $179 million in bonds that voters approved in April 2023 and using some of the $100 million from reserves and another $100 million in working cash bonds and debt certificates, officials said.

Among the goals of the referendum was moving to a middle school model with grades six through eight housed together, using space in elementary schools to expand early childhood programs, and replacing or renovating older elementary schools.

“We have spent a lot of time researching and planning for the transition to a new middle school model,” said Ann Williams, deputy superintendent of operations. “The research supports that sixth graders should be in middle schools. We’re very excited about how that will impact the culture of our schools.”

Lindholm said the district will be implementing a teaming model in the middle schools, especially in buildings where the enrollment is large.

Students in each grade will be organized in A, B and C teams so they can attend classes primarily with the same peer groups and teachers, creating a “school within a school” feel, he said.

The middle school renovations will improve collaborative spaces, allowing students to work in smaller groups, Williams added.

“All of our students will be moving to improved modern environments with more natural light, more green space, just awesome facilities … across the district,” she said. “These projects reflect the best of who we are as a district: forward-thinking, student-focused, and committed to excellence for all.”

Consolidation at the elementary level is the next phase. The district is moving forward with design work on several projects, including building a new elementary school in Elgin, conversion of Illinois Park School in Elgin from an early childhood center to a full elementary building, and major renovations and additions at Glenbrook Elementary in Streamwood and Century Oaks Elementary in Elgin.

U-46 now has 38 elementary schools after closing two buildings over the last couple of years. The district will close three more schools, bringing down the total to 35 in the 2026-2027 school years.

Some district elementary schools date back to the late 1800s — Lowrie, Washington and McKinley.

“They will be closed, and students will be assigned to other buildings,” Lindholm said.

Lowrie and Washington will close after next school year, and McKinley will stay open until it can be replaced with the new elementary school to be built on the former David C. Cook site on Grove Avenue, just north of Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin. That could take two more years, Lindholm said.

Much of these changes are driven by dramatic shifts in enrollment, with the district losing, on average, about 500 students per year, mainly due to declining birth rates.

“The enrollment is down several thousand from a peak 10 to 15 years ago,” Lindholm said. “We are at about 34,000 students this year. The birth rates seem like they have finally stabilized, but we know we have a few more smaller incoming kindergarten classes.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250330/news/u-46-breaks-ground-on-school-addition-more-spring-construction-projects-planned/