New look for Naperville's Mill Street School

Mill Street Elementary School students won't be studying in the hallways or even mobile classrooms any longer.

Renovations to the building at 1300 N. Mill St. in Naperville wrapped up just as students were returning to school this week.

"We feel very blessed to have a facility that is much larger and renovated in all the right places," Principal Mark DeMoulin said.

Final costs for the project are not yet available but are expected to be several hundred thousand dollars below the budgeted $7.3 million.

Crews broke ground in September 2008 on the school that had the lowest square footage per student of any Naperville Unit District 203 elementary building.

"Many times when I went to Mill Street I saw kids in the hall," said Ralph Weaver, director of facilities and construction. "That's not my desire to have kids in the hall to be able to have an educational program."

The newly renovated building has eight new rooms for learning, including a new kindergarten room, computer room, music room and classrooms for the English Language Learner program and Project Leap literacy program.

The school also received a 15,000-square-foot addition that houses its new gymnasium, multipurpose room and cafeteria.

DeMoulin said it was a struggle in the past to fit everyone into the gym for all-school events. Likewise, at evening performances, parents often would overflow into the hallway and struggle to see their children.

Students also will have more room in the renovated learning resource center. The area has been reconfigured to make better use of the space and computers were moved into a room of their own.

In addition, the front office, administrator offices and teachers lounge have been revamped and expanded.

Outside, kids will quickly spot the new playground equipment and parents will notice the new parking arrangement.

Buses are now dropping students off and picking them up on the southeast side of the school, away from other vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Parents will enter off Mill Street near the baseball fields and be able to drop students off right in front of the building which also has a new front entryway.

"In the past we had very little space, we were backed up onto Mill Street often with our cars," DeMoulin said. "The architect that worked on this is very confident it will get more traffic off the street and have a longer car lane to drop kids off near the curb in a more reasonable way."

The renovation was part of $114.9 million in facilities projects around the district. In 2008, voters approved a $43 million bond issue to help pay for the improvements.

School board member Terry Fielden said the renovations blend in with the rest of the building and complimented architect Wight and Company as well as the school's staff for their input and patience.

"I think it's an outstanding facility," Fielden said, ''And a real testament to what this program was all about and what we wanted to do as a district."